Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am about to acquire a female four to five foot long boa from a fried. she has been raised from a baby by this friend of mine, and i have watched it grow. i currently own six ball pythons. my question is about ibd. what symptoms should i look for. is it contagious (i heard that it was) to balls. how do boas get it. (poor husbandry? something else?)
thanx for the input.
joe

Boa species can be asymptomatic carriers, sometimes not being affected at all, but they can pass it to other boids. To Pythons it is nearly always fatal.

Proper quarantine procedure should help you by looking for the typical signs, if possible a live liver biopsy would rule it out for sure.

I assume you do not plan on keeping the boa in the same cage as your Ball Python, nor do you plan on breeding the two together, so unless your care is unsanitary you shouldn't have a problem even IF the boa had IBD. Exchange of bodily fluids can transmit it, the virus is very unstable outside of the host. Not sharing water bowls; using gloves to clean cages; washing hands between feedings, handleing, cage cleaning, or any other maintainence task (as should be done no matter what) will make contamination nearly impossible.

BTW, I am recalling this from memory, so do not take it as full fact. If anything I said here is incorrect or not 100% accurate please correct me.

thanx a ton chris. the boa will be in a rack by herself. eventually, the rack will have other snakes in it, but of course in seperate tubs. anyone else have anything to add?
joe

>>. . .the rack will have other snakes in it, but of course in seperate tubs. anyone else have anything to add?
>>joe

IBD is a bloodborn disease, so mites will spread it. Use mite prevention, don't wait till they show up.
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slitheringserpents.com

Thanks for bringing that up. If a mite bites a snake with IBD and bites another it can pass it on. Similar to lyme disease in mammals with ticks.

I usually assume people don't have mites and left that out. I guess I shouldn't assume.

thanx guys. my snakes surely dont have mites. the boa is cbandb, and has never been around another snake, so HOPEFULLY she doesnt have them either. she will be quarantined completely.
thanx again
joe