Dave Weldon
Avid Member
Howdy All,
I created some live action )) videos of microfilaria (worms) that I found in a chameleon's blood sample as well as flagellates in a fecal sample. This was my excuse to create a YouTube account . I took the samples during the DIY necropsy.
A good friend and fellow chameleon keeper found her WC male Oorana Mena Panther chameleon dying early this morning . It was only a couple of hours later that he was gone. He had been fine the previous night. Being WC, parasites are always a concern. I don't know much about blood-borne parasites but you can bet they weren't doing him any good. I also found large adult nematode-type worms (1" to 5") in tissue samples as well as a single ~3" long, fat roundworm in his gut.
The fecal smear was loaded, wall-to-wall, with swimming flagellates. The last time I saw that many flagellates, it was also while doing a necropsy on another keeper's panther that had dropped dead too (hummm ).
This WC had been in captivity for at least a year. What looked to be a healthy WC chameleon one day and dead the next made it clear to me that a WC needs a blood test for parasites along with the usual fecal tests. It only takes a tiny drop of blood to look for this kind of parasite.
Like I said; I don't know if the parasite loading killed him or not. If the parasites had recently exploded in population then I'd say that the smoking gun was found.
(The things that look like coccidia are actually the blood cells (I hope .)
(As we all know, YouTube compresses the videos in a way making the images look poorer than the originals. Oh well... At least I have the originals to watch over and over .)
Blood samples showing live microfilaria
100x magnification
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_jzQ9ND6gY
40x magnification
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdd0NWqTtNo
100x magnification
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpvOfNZ4lJI
Flagellates in a fecal sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BvzjySnL0s
The sub-q nematodes and the roundworm:
Here's a good article covering almost exactly the same blood situation:
http://www.matthewbolek.com/publications/mattspapers/Foleyella.pdf
I don't know about you but these videos beginning to creep me out compared to looking at coccidia, pinworm eggs and other things that don't swim .
I created some live action )) videos of microfilaria (worms) that I found in a chameleon's blood sample as well as flagellates in a fecal sample. This was my excuse to create a YouTube account . I took the samples during the DIY necropsy.
A good friend and fellow chameleon keeper found her WC male Oorana Mena Panther chameleon dying early this morning . It was only a couple of hours later that he was gone. He had been fine the previous night. Being WC, parasites are always a concern. I don't know much about blood-borne parasites but you can bet they weren't doing him any good. I also found large adult nematode-type worms (1" to 5") in tissue samples as well as a single ~3" long, fat roundworm in his gut.
The fecal smear was loaded, wall-to-wall, with swimming flagellates. The last time I saw that many flagellates, it was also while doing a necropsy on another keeper's panther that had dropped dead too (hummm ).
This WC had been in captivity for at least a year. What looked to be a healthy WC chameleon one day and dead the next made it clear to me that a WC needs a blood test for parasites along with the usual fecal tests. It only takes a tiny drop of blood to look for this kind of parasite.
Like I said; I don't know if the parasite loading killed him or not. If the parasites had recently exploded in population then I'd say that the smoking gun was found.
(The things that look like coccidia are actually the blood cells (I hope .)
(As we all know, YouTube compresses the videos in a way making the images look poorer than the originals. Oh well... At least I have the originals to watch over and over .)
Blood samples showing live microfilaria
100x magnification
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_jzQ9ND6gY
40x magnification
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdd0NWqTtNo
100x magnification
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpvOfNZ4lJI
Flagellates in a fecal sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BvzjySnL0s
The sub-q nematodes and the roundworm:
Here's a good article covering almost exactly the same blood situation:
http://www.matthewbolek.com/publications/mattspapers/Foleyella.pdf
I don't know about you but these videos beginning to creep me out compared to looking at coccidia, pinworm eggs and other things that don't swim .