The faecal microbiome and carriage of Salmonella in Australian captive pythons

There is a growing interest in keeping exotic pets such as pythons in Australia. Reptiles are known asymptomatic carriers of Salmonella in their digestive tract. This study investigated the microbiome and carriage of Salmonella in faeces from captive Australian pythons (n = 28). This study also aimed to determine the effect of temperature and nutrient availability on monospecies biofilm formation of python-associated Salmonella isolated in this study (n = 10) as a possible indicator of persistence. A total of 23 Salmonella strains were identified from 28 captive Australian pythons, representing diverse serovars of subspecies enterica, namely S. Bergedorf, S. Havana, S. Jangwani, S. Java, S. Kottbus, S. Muenchen, and S. Umbadah, as well as subspecies S. diarizonae and S. salamae. The composition of the microbial communities differed according to sampling location, diet, and Salmonella serovars or subspecies. Bacillota, Bacteroidota, and Pseudomonadota were the most abundant taxa across the faecal microbiome. Strains belonging to subspecies enterica were generally poorer biofilm formers than strains belonging to subspecies salamae and diarizonae. This study shows that microbial communities are variable depending on the environmental factors, which could increase the risk of acquiring reptile-associated salmonellosis while handling captive pythons.