It seems to me that not much research is being done on IBD. The research that has been done leave many unanswered questions.



There are too many people that "blame" IBD for a death in a collection "without" having had a necropsy done.



I do believe that IBD could be a problem. I also believe that it's more "selective" than most diseases. At least, it seems to be. For example:



Some animals can "allegedly" be carriers, without showing any symptoms. Well, if they carry this disease, "WHY DON'T THEY GET SICK". Could it be that some boas are immune? If a carrier of the disease is immune, couldn't they work on finding out why and find a cure?



Mites have been targeted as a source for transmission of the disease. Yet, this means of transmission have never been "proven". It's mearly suspected that this is how it "could" be transmitted. At least, that's what I've gotten from what I've read on IBD. Besides if mites were the culprits then I think IBD would be a more widespread epidemic.



Then you have the "random" animals that pops up with symptoms. Sometimes a necropsy is actually done. The vet sees "inclusion bodies" and determines the snake died from IBD. The thing is that "most" animals that are diagnosed with IBD didn't die from it. They die form a secondary infection. Most if the time it's an RI. Could it be that IBD was present, but dormant, and the infection caused the IBD to be active and impare the immune system?



Why do some animals get IBD and the one in the next cage over not get it?



Is IBD the "only" thing that can cause "inclusion bodies" in tissue or blood? I don't know. I'm not a vet. Are inclusion bodies present in seemingly "healthy boas"? Since nobody is ever going to sacrafice healthy boas, we may never know.



I think if everyone just has good quaranteen procedures, then you're probably not going to ever see an animal with IBD. BTW a 1 year quaranteen period is the minimum I would do.



Of course, there are people out there that do breeding loans, buy an adult breeder on impule and "not" quaranteen, take in rescue animals, buy whole clutches at wholesale prices for resale, and who knows what else. That's just asking for problems.



Now we can't live in a bubble and neigher can our boas. All we can do is protect them as best we can and deal with any health issues the may come up.



I'm not worried about IBD. Of course, I buy all my boas as babies and quaranteen until they're breeding age. In most cases that's a 2 to 4 year quaranteen period. I have 1 room for my adults and another room for babies that are growing. Maybe that's a little extreme, but that's just the way I do it.



"BTW there are some that believe that IBD doesn't exist! I wish some of them would chime in and give their opinions."

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