I completely understand what you went through. This is actually my second time dealing with a Cryptosporidium-positive individual.
The first time I encountered this disease, I completely disassembled my rack system and used high-temperature steam treatment to disinfect everything. Although I feel more prepared and experienced dealing with it this time, it is still extremely frustrating and unsettling.
Over the next few months, I will continue PCR monitoring, including pooled testing for the higher-risk exposed animals, to make sure I do not overlook any potential infections.
I really hope that veterinary medicine and researchers can eventually find a better solution for this disease, whether it is a reliable treatment or a more practical way to manage infected animals. Crypto is such a difficult challenge for reptile keepers.
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This is just my .02 having done a lot of research on it after I was sent a positive animal and that ended up spreading to at least one additional animal. All told I euthanized three animals, the positive animal I was sent, the animal is for sure spread to, and one I feel like was almost certainly positive but testing negative consistently. Fecal exams in my experience are not that reliable. A positive probably does mean positive but a negative does not mean negative, It just means it was not detected that time. It’s very difficult to know if an animal is negative via a fecal exam. I think a gastric swab using the brand continental and sent to the zoo lab @ UFL would be a much better plan. There is a study showing 100% accuracy of detection this way and it’s much for feasible than gastric biopsy. The only thing is remember when people are generating research they probably test the technique many times first, so if you have someone whose never done this before the technique might not be so refined. Combining the gastric swabs of all animals with at least a few fecal exams would be a good idea imo. Heres what I would do if I were you.I would euthanize any snakes that came in the shipment with the positive snake and just assume those are positive. If you didn’t already, a necropsy to double confirm the original animal was positive would have been a good idea. I would have a vet come to my home and swab every animal and send those off. If they all come back negative, I would actually get rid (very careful not to stir debris around) of the rack itself. While there are ways to decontaminate things this disease spreads easily and is hard to detect. IMO it’s not worth the headahe and I would certainly use 12% hydrogen peroxide to clean anything you can in the surrounding area. Anything cleaned needs to be free of dust and debris first then apply the solution and let it sit. Personally Id let it sit for 20 minutes even with the stronger solution. I’d rather go too far than not far enough. There’s not much information on how long dessication would take to kill C. serpentis that I can find. I would never trust those rack slots again no matter how much disinfection protocol you apply. It’s just not worth the risk. I’d be tempted to just replace the entire rack honestly. For the flies make sure any feces is picked up daily. Get a zevo bug catcher at lowes or home depot. They work better than the fan ones in my experience. Finally order something called biognat and put that anywhere that is moist like cages with cypress or moist hide boxes. Mix it with a little spring water which doesnt killn the bacteria like tap water. It prevents the larva from being able to survive and the bacteria will likely spread around anywhere moist where the lives can live. The flies need poop, moisture, or both to survive. They cant live in a bone dry aspen bedding where the poop dries up in hours, but they will grow like crazy in a cypress substrate with the low ventillation of a rack system (or honestly even in a viv). I apply it once every three months or so or anytime I notice any flies whatsoever at all. Once you’re all clear, just keep testing everything. Finally when you eventually add more animals use a gasket sealed box with mesh that will prevent flies from isopod dealers. You can find them on etsy. Get something with a mesh size too small for flies to fit through. Put that thing as far away from the existing animals as you possible can, service it last, and have a gastric swab done on all incoming animals if possible. If not possible (for example theres no way to do that on a hatchling scarlet snake!) then I would keep them in the gasket box as long as possibly can or until they are large enough to accept a gastric swab.
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