**3. Results**

During the study period, twenty-six specimens of *B. lanceolatus* were captured and their oral cavity sampled for bacteriological culture. Twenty snakes were captured from the "wet" zones versus six from the "dry" zones. All samples obtained from the snake mouths tested positive for bacterial growth.

In 20 cases (76.9%), the sample was polymicrobial. The most frequently isolated bacteria were *Aeromonas hydrophila*, *Morganella morganii*, and *Klebsiella pneumonia* (Table 1). *A. hydrophila* was isolated in 50% of the samples (13 cases). In four cases (15.4%), pure cultures were obtained or the bacterium was quantitatively predominant. *A. hydrophila* was isolated in 60.0% of cases from snakes captured from a "wet" zone compared to 16.7% from snakes captured from a "dry" zone (*p* = 0.06).


**Table 1.** Bacteria isolated from the oral cavity of *Bothrops lanceolatus* in Martinique and their susceptibility to beta-lactams.

S, susceptible; R, resistant; AMX, amoxicillin; AMX-Clav, amoxicillin/clavulanate; CTX, cefotaxime; CAZ, ceftazidime.

In 66.7% of the cases, the isolated microorganisms were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanate, while bacteria isolated were more frequently susceptible to the third-generation cephalosporins including cefotaxime (73.3%) and ceftazidime (80.0%).
