I don't think it's two different things because the ones that survive usually retain lifelong symptoms. Also the number that actually die from the disease may actually be alot smaller than the number that end up getting euthanized.



It is odd that some display neurological symptoms first and some display skin conditions first but I think there have been plenty that eventually display both symptoms. I see nothing unusual about some snakes dying and some snakes surviving from it.



If it is two different things then I think it might be two different strains of the same thing, kinda like there are many species of salmonella. Another possibility is that if this disease is something that many, or most, wild zonata carry then possibly different populations of zonata have differing resistance to the "disease". Or maybe it's a pathogen that can be transmitted through different routes and infect and/or migrate through different parts of the animal. Perhaps if they injest it orally it will infect the skin first and if they breath it in it infects the brain first.
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