Diseases of young captive crocodiles in Papua New Guinea

SUMMARY To identify causes of mortality in young captive crocodiles, detailed necropsy and laboratory examination was done on 54 (30 Crocodylus porosus , 22 C. novaeguineae , 2 of unrecorded species). Although multiple infections often confounded interpretation it was concluded that the major infectious diseases, of approximately equal importance, were coccidiosis, bacterial septicaemia with Gram‐negative organisms, and metazoan parasitism including ascariasis and pentastomiasis. A range of other lesions and agents was recognised, including keratitis, enteritis of unknown aetiology, non‐suppurative encephalitis, traumatic peritonitis and trematodes located in renal tubules, gut and blood vessels. Some crocodiles in poor condition had only mild lesions associated with metazoan parasites and the cause of death or illness could not be clearly determined, although it was considered likely that adaptation failure was a contributing factor.