Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Lately all thats been on my mind is IBD. None of my animals show symptoms, but i have taken the time to build a small but very slective collection and just the thought of my whole collection being wiped out in one sweep makes me queezy. I own a Schneller Redline that is so beautiful that i cant help but to open his draw and take him out into natural light at least once a day just to stare in awe at his colors, and everytime i do so i think about how IBD could wipe him out. Since I've heard about it i havent even gone to my local reptile swap (Lee Watsons) which was always a manditory thing for me, even if i wasn't planning on buying anything.

I've read about theories that this disease can be contracted simply through the air, so say this theory is true, and one or even more animals at a show had it, wouldnt a good portion of the animals at that show get it?

Maybe I'm not searching hard enough, but from the sources I've read IBD still seems like a very unkown subject to herpers and even vets. I felt like bringing it up because everyone here most likely owns boas, and i would imagine like you this problem can make any one of you a little paranoid. If anyone has ever delt with this condition first hand and would like to share their quarentine methods/ or guesses of how it spreads based on how their collection was effected it would be appreciated.

Again none of my animals show any symptoms, and the conditions their kept in are optimal, every one of them is very healthy so its not like im reaching out for help or NEED any input on the subject, but I'd like to hear how the rest of the boa communtity feels about it. I'd like to be as edjucated as possible, because this seems like a very serious issue, and from the looks of things it can only get worse. Sounds like IBD is the Aids of the boa/python world, and just like aids it will just keep spreading.
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2.3 Bearded Dragons
1.0 Pastel Ball Pythons (NERD Line)
0.0.1 Water Monitors
1.1 Pastel Red Tailed boa Het. for Albino
1.1 Yellow Ackie Monitors
And Counting...

You're right, it is scary, especially because so little is known about it.

However, if it were EASILY contracted via airborne exposure at shows, I think many of our collections would be dead.

As long as you follow strict quarantine procedures with new animals and try to obtain animals from trusted sources, you should be ok. It'd be great if there were a simple test to determine if an animal has it, but the cost associated with testing, added to the fact that the tests may be falsely negative (if the animal has IBD but hasn't developed the inclusion bodies yet), makes it unrealistic for collectors to test new animals unless it's suspected that a particular animal DOES have it.

I guess you can only do what you can to try and lessen the chances as much as possible, but just like safe drivers still get in accidents, until more is known, there's still that slight possibility there that even the most conscientious keeper could have an infected snake as long as outside animals are added to the collection.

In the same token - it's unrealistic to NOT drive a car because of fear of getting in an accident. It's good to be cautious, but try not to let the fear of IBD haunt you too much! All you can do is take good care of your animals, try not to worry about all the what-ifs.

Washing or disinfecting your hands between holding animals or cleaning cages, and not switching feeder rodents between cages helps decrease spreading anything between animals.

I wish this were a higher priority in the research community! But warm fuzzies, especially wacky primates, always come first it seems .
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.0 BP, 1.0 Hog Is., 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 GTP

Whats funny is IBD has been on my minda alot lately as well, but for different reasons...

About 4 months ago I sold a perfect snake to someone, and after 4 months I get an e-mail saying its showing Nuerological problems, and that he is taking it to the vet, well the vet agreed that it MIGHT be IBD, only furthering the fear the guy had that it was IBD. So I contacted him, and asked when the symptoms started showing...he said basically it was out of the blue, and started on Saturday...I asked what the temps where...a few days later he came back with..that he has always used Zoomed Heat pads, and when he temped the pad it was readying 136-149 depending on where he temped it, but when he temped the inside of the enclosure it read 108.....

Well I know that extreme temps with small snakes can cause leathal results, and some of the symptoms of extreme heat exposure is nuero problems...I know the snake doesn't have IBD, its just the whole Idea is Scary...as the guy has a nice collection of snakes...

I really wish IBD was talked about more, as its so easy to freak out...and I am not saying people shouldn't freak out, its just there is so much confusion about it...And what miffs me is that it seems many vets are quick to pull the IBD thing...without asking more questions...I wonder how many snakes have been put down only to go on and find out it wasn't IBD...I would like to see some numbers of snakes put down...as to how many actually proved out to have IBD and how many proved not to have it..it would be interesting to see how many actual cases of IBD there are, as it seems like IBD is one of those "Mystery" sicknesses, that looms over everyone...but no real numbers have been shown as to how big the problem really is.
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

Wow! Assuming the snake had IBD and taking it to the vet, all without noticing elevated cage temperatures?

It's easy to jump to conclusions without looking at all the information. I hope the overheated snake recovers...
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.0 BP, 1.0 Hog Is., 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 GTP

The problem I think is, that many people jump to IBD as the diagnosis for anything abnormal in Boas and Pythons, and Vets are one of them.

There are many Morphs in other snakes that exhibit Nuero problems but do they have IBD? Such as Spider Ball Pythons, and Some Jaguar Carpets exhibit very simular symptoms.

I recevied an e-mail last night saying the little snake was going to be put down, and a necropsy done, but I know its not IBD, and it really depresses me...As it was a beautiful, healthy snake. It just sucks that the fear is there, and then a vet confirms the fear by saying it could be, before any other questions are asked. Its one of those things I really wish there was more information out there for people, so IBD wouldn't be used as the excuse for why thier Boa or Python is acting strange..

Example....We all know and have read the symptoms of IBD, but in IBD cases...do infected Boas and Pythons HAVE to exhibit all the symptoms? or can an infected snake only exhibit one, example...Regurging..but not nuero problems...or vise versa...or do infected Boas and Pythons exhibit all the symptoms?
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

It has been a couple years since I heavily researched IBD. I had read about IBD in a few books, and wanted to see how concerned I should get before investing further in boas. You will hear many things from many people. I spoke to several vets and plenty of research facilities. I wanted to know all I could to protect my boas.

At that time, blood tests and biopsies were inconclusive. They could show a positive match for IBD, but anything negative meant nothing. Negative results simply meant that the disease was not active. I spoke to a few vets (and a couple leaders in IBD studies) that wanted to peg anything with neurological symptoms as IBD. This was hard for me to take. I think IBD is a concern, but when the so-called experts want to throw it around, that bothers me.

Also, from my findings, I find it interesting that during IBD discussions, paramyxovirus never enters the converstaion. This virus has very similar symptoms.

IBD or something similar has hit some big collections and zoos. IBD is not licked scientifically. I am no vet, and I am not claiming to be an expert, but even findings and results pointing to IBD does not mean IBD.

What I'm expressing is that even though there are researchers and "experts", I'm not convinced any of them know as much as they claim. Also, I do not want anyone to get a false sense of security by receiving good results from inconclusive testing. Just as in any other field, some of these vets, in my opinion, were simply trying to be the first, or the leader, in the area of IBD. If someone claims to have documented 1,000 cases of IBD, he/she may be considered the leader in the field. How many of those were actually IBD?

I did read some theories that IBD was airborn. I have never found a case study that supported this. The studies I read supported transmission by transfer of fluids.
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Phil Goss
www.GossReptiles.com

IBD seems to loom over all Boa and Python keepers, It really would be great to get some real data on the issue, example, how many actual confirmed cases have been recorded, like you said. So people can really see how big of a problem it really is or isn't. You would think like mentioned above, that if IBD was transmitted via Airborn, that shows and expos would be nonexistant, who in thier right mind would take thier animals to a show and risk getting IBD and bringing it home...? And you would think that IBD would spread SUPER FAST, that way, and it would be talked about more, and more of an issue if it spread via Airborn Transmition.

It just seems there is a ton of information still needing to be discussed, or revealed, if there is people working on it, I would love to hear more. As IBD can be a scary thought, but is it something to freak out over?? and be paranoid about? Any slight abnormality in a boa or python could possibly be IBD? This is a really good disscusion, and hope it continues...I would like to hear from people who have experienced IBD first hand...

The problem is, most people don't even want to be associated with IBD, its like a Stigma, you don't want to admit you have been in contact with it, as you might be looked at like a leapor...or something...But if someone has the guts to post I would love to hear some first hand experience..
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

Hello everyone,

IBD is a scarry topic and disease/virus/protein or whatever it is right now according to the leading research. Please remember that most evidence thus far points to one word... ASYMPTOMATIC! This term refers to an affliction that does not show ANY symptoms other than those that MAY be verified through testing.

Man... is that scarry. Just think that you may have some IBD symptoms in your collection so you take the proactive approach and you euthanize the animals with the symptoms, meanwhile there is a perfectly healthy boa (or it seems that way) in your collection that is spreading this affliction through several different methods... defication, breeding contact and drinking from the same water bowl. In a perfect world this affliction may work itself out through captive evolution if there were no commercial breeding trade on these afflicted species. As breeders, we have to keep the animals together. They WILL deficate in the same enclosure, they WILL have blood contact through coitus and they WILL drink from the same bowl. I think the air-born thing has been mostly ruled out but I'm not 100% sure.

Here is another question... Does anyone have any verfiable data that a percentage of wild collected Boas that test positive for IBD from a brain biopsy exists? I ask because I have heard from many sources that there have been tests done on imported Boas that show that a signifigant percentage of them have been infected.

This will be a long conversation that will be looked at from every different angle. Opinions will be formed, arguments made, friendships damaged and business relationships broken. All of this MAY happen while we discuss an issue that, as PGOSS stated perfectly... "when the so-called experts want to throw it around, that bothers me!" We are dealing with a problem that NO ONE really knows much about.

Should we accept IBD as a form of natural selection in the species that it affects or should we blame ourselves for the problem and take the proactive measure to kill all the animals that we have?

I find myself in the same spot as I was in 1995 when I first read some studies on IBD. Heck... most people don't know this but there has been a few colubrids that have suffered from a Inclusion Body affliction. There is even a scientific paper on the subject.

I'm eargerly awaiting more posts to this thread as I think everyone will have a unique opinion on what is going on and what we should all do about it.

Thanks...
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Sean Bradley
Owner : EbN
www.ExoticsByNature.com
www.BallPythonMorphs.com
www.BoaConstrictorMorphs.com
www.CornSnakeMorphs.com

Hold that thought right there . . . . .
I struggle with this point right here,why is it people believe
everything about IBD yet fail to understand just how inconclusive
this airborne theory is ?
Assumptive speculations at best !People need to get that BS outta their heads and off their lips when discussing IBD.
It has never been proven,so why quote such a thing ?

Standardized Quarantine protocols are a joke as well,unless your one of the extremely rare keepers that exceed 18-24 months in the HOT House your only "acting out" a quarantine protocol and desperately need to improve on your comprehension of reports you are reading in regards to IBD.
Once you get this type of clutter from your mind its easier to move on to better understand the other "confirmed" aspects of the disease

Airborne IBD exposure/contraction DOES NOT EXIST !

TnK

>>I did read some theories that IBD was airborne. I have never found a case study that supported this. The studies I read supported transmission by transfer of fluids.
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>>Phil Goss
>>www.GossReptiles.com
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This subject is scary but good to talk about. I wish there were some more definitive answers out there.

Check out the link below, Dr Elliot Jacobson, University of Florida, has some information. He is the only one that has done this type of research that I am aware of.

Also, you can do a search on the b, o, well can we mention that site here? I'm not sure... -i? B W smith had some bad luck with IBD from a snake he bought and details in depth the process, steps he took and testing. I don't think it wiped out his collection. It's a very interesting read.

I try to follow some precautions, not moving feeders between cages, washing instruments (tongs, hook) between uses with snakes. I usually quarantine for 3-6 months in a seperate room, time based on how I feel about the person or place I am purchasing the boa from (one exception was for a breeding loan). Luckily I have a small collection so don't buy new snakes too often (well.. I guess, not luckily as I would love to own more).

-April
IBD virus info

Excellent topic and discussion, and hopefully more information and knowledge can be brought to light. If anyone would like the links to BW Smith's tragic story of how IBD ravaged his collection, feel free to shoot me an email. I'm not sure if the Kingsnake forum admins would appreciate me posting links to websites outside of Kingsnake.
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Kevin Blumenthal
www.blumenboas.com

I think that the last paragraph is worth noting, specifically the part where Dr. Jacobson writes...

"Hopefully as the significance of this disease is apprecaited, more money will become available.

How could we, as an industry, develop a way to raise more money for this cause? I know personally that the NARBC shows have raised over $100,000.00 for PIJAC (Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council) which is a great cause as it funds lobbyists to fight for our rights to keep and breed animals in the U.S.A. Does anyone know of a way that we can raise this kind of money for Dr. Jacobson's research? I have NO time available to spearhead this type of action but I would be happy to donate animals or supplies to an auction or something to benefit this cause. It wouldn't have to be a reptile show, it could be an online auction or something like that. I know that all of us in the boid community could and would donate to this fund we just need to find someone who could launch this type of action.

It makes me sad that that I have to write about action and not do it because as a friend of mine always says... "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem!"
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Sean Bradley
Owner : EbN
www.ExoticsByNature.com
www.BallPythonMorphs.com
www.BoaConstrictorMorphs.com
www.CornSnakeMorphs.com

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."

Another thing I havn't seen mentioned anywhere is the time frame?

How long does IBD take to kill the specimen its infected? Are we talking about days, weeks, months...from the time of symptoms? does it vary?

How long should someone wait to put an animal down after noticing abnormal behavor?

Have thier been boas die suddenly with no symptoms that prove out to have IBD?

I brought this up before, but do usually all the symptoms accure? or can only some symptoms happen? Example, regurge, but no Nuero, or Nuero no Regurge...ect..ect..

There are so many questions...But it seems anytime I have seen anything wrong with a Boa or Python, the first thing people revert to is IBD...I would like to know just how serious it really is? How many cases have been reported, or documented? You would think there would be many people talking about it or expereincing it, if it was that wide spread, or that easily transmitted, just think how many snakes come and go, or are sold in the classifieds, and how many of those are resold down the road....Thats alot of snakes exchanging hands, you would think people would be expereincing IBD first hand alot more than I see...I don't know anyone who has expereinced it, at least anybody that would admit to it..lol
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

I just want to touch on one quick thing that you said...

"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?

It seems that young, strong animals can be resistant to the symptoms of the IBs (inclusion bodies) and that the symptoms only come on when the animal undergoes a stressful life change such as a breeding season where it refuses food and loses weight or when a female gives birth and loses wieght. The immune system seems to take a hit and that is when the symptoms really start to come in. I think the occurence of symptoms in young animals is going to be much rarer than in older, reproductively active ones. But then again... is that going to be because of stress or because they are being given the ability to infect others?!?

Again... this is all based on what I know of working with boas for the last 12 years, what I have learned from Dr. Jacobsen's research as well as some research done by others (mostly the staff of research veternarians at LSU) and other commercial breeders' personal commentary on their experiences.
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Sean Bradley
Owner : EbN
www.ExoticsByNature.com
www.BallPythonMorphs.com
www.BoaConstrictorMorphs.com
www.CornSnakeMorphs.com

Thats why i am sceptical of the airborne theory, one show could infect so many animals in such a short period of time, and then those animals would be returned home only to infect the breeders entire collection, just doesnt sreem very plausible. A snake can be infected and not necissarily die, i still don't know much about IBD but think of chicken pocks. It has a very different effect on the young then it does the old. And with any living organism immunity is lessened with age, this could be the case with boas.

Assuming that immunity "could" vary with age or even the conditions the animals are kept in... well, we have a very flimsy subject on our hands. If younger boas were more immune to IBD and you purchased a cb baby that had IBD, he might have some time before it actually kills him, let alone shows any symptoms, but some kind of accidental cross contamination of your 04 female might show symptoms in her in a matter of months. And even kill her before the symptoms in the baby even express themselves(all speculation of course, but still in a common sense kind of way).

Seems like the biggest problem is keepers that don't pay enough attention to husbandry, as well as the vets immediatly diagnosing any snake with motor skills/ defecation ect. as IBD positive when the same symptoms can be exhibited from neurological issues that can be cause by too much heat, too little heat, lack of food/water, as well as a number of other things. i also am curious to how many of these diagnosed snakes actually have IBD, rather then an owner that simply doesnt care well enough for their animals. Thats an important question, it could be alot less common then people think.

i could see alot of unexperiecned keepers buying heat pads from their locale pet shops as well as an animal from the same place that most likely isnt cared for well enough anyway and baking it to the point to where it "star gazes, flips over on its back, has problems striking, defecates, wheezes" i could also see this snake brought to the vet and put down immediatly after being incorrectly diagnosed with IBD.

And we've read from these forums before, we've all read the posts by that group of people that think their husbandry is good, when its cleary not, and they are sometimes too stubborn to be open minded to more professional advice. I beleive IBD is a good excuse for this group of people. Rather then excepting the fact that they took one too many shortcuts in providing the right conditions for the overall health of their snakes, they can simply point their finger at the disease. Then they become victums of the IBD as well as their animals, rather then their animals being victums of poor husbandry.

This could cause huge discrepncies on the population that was truly infected, to the population that was wrongly diagnosed.
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2.3 Bearded Dragons
1.0 Pastel Ball Pythons (NERD Line)
0.0.1 Water Monitors
1.1 Pastel Red Tailed boa Het. for Albino
1.1 Yellow Ackie Monitors
And Counting...

"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?"

The problem may be that IBD is probably caused by a retrovirus, the unpredictable bastards of the microbe world. I am not a biologist, so if there are any on here, please feel free to correct me, but, my understanding of a retrovirus is that it hijacks the cells of a host animal to convert RNA to DNA, which means that the organism doesn't "proofread" the DNA in the typical manner, resulting in very frequent mutation. Viruses mutate frequently anyway - that's why the flu vaccine has to be updated every year - but retroviruses put other viruses to shame, which is why researchers can't find an HIV vaccine.

The result is that, if IBD is in fact retroviral, there's probably countless wildly different strains of it out there, and the more it gets passed, the more it's going to change. If Boa A passes IBD to Boa B, Boa B may have a radically different strain of IBD than Boa A. Boa A might have a strain that appears asymptomatic for years and never show signs, while Boa B might develop terribly symptoms within a few months and die. Or it might be the other way around.

Because of this, it's unlikely we'll ever find a cure or vaccine for IBD. Our best bet is to push for a reliable test (from what I last heard, you could only confirm diagnosis with a chunk of your boa's liver - yikes) and cull our collections accordingly. But considering herps aren't a big priority in the veterinary research world, I guess I'm not holding my breath...
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0.1 Boa constrictor imperator
0.3 Ball pythons
1.1 Crested Geckos

Just let me start by saying that this topic is at the front of everybody's minds, especially if they are serious about keeping any sort of high end animals.

OK. I'm going to transverse a bit here back to my days with “first aid” which I'm hoping will help out with a few of the topics presented.

For starters, according to many of the books, IBD is caused by a Virus, which I believe we all agree on here. One book goes as far as to state: “IBD is caused by a virus, and the infection becomes systemic, affecting all major organs of the body”. Many IBD carriers do not show even the slightest signs of the virus until their immune system is compromised which can be triggered thru poor husbandry practices or other froms of stress. Some of the books also go as far as to identify other forms of illnesses that may appear to be IBD but are not IBD at all.

In order for a virus to be transmissible, there needs to be some sort of transmissible medium which allows the virus to remain in tact until it is picked up by a new host. That means that there must be some method that keeps the virus alive long enough to have the correct contact to enter the new host. Correct contact usually means that the virus must somehow come in contact with bodily fluids that have some way of making it back into the mainstream of the body.

From my First Aid days:
1) Bodily Fluids: This is the easiest and foremost way for the virus to be transferred and was mentioned previously. In order for the virus to be transferred in this manner, one snake would have pick up the virus from another snake thru some sort of exchange of fluids. This could happen with multiple animals housed together that are allowed to wallow in their own mess, thru breeding attempts and also quite possibly thru communal water bowls which was also pointed out. General contact between animals is most likely not enough to allow transmission of a virus. This has been proven in humans with HIV. Casual contact such as hand shaking or patting someone on the back or even kissing someone on the cheek that has HIV does not allow for the transmission of the virus. I believe that would also hold true with Boas.
2) Vector Transmission: In this form of transmission, some sort of secondary host transfers the virus from one animal to another. This has been proven in humans as well with the Hepatitus and West Nile Viruses. In both cases, mosquitos are just one “Vector” that can be used to keep the virus alive while it is transferred from host to host. For the Herp community, Mites are the culprit that gets the publicity. I would venture to bet that there are other possible “Vector’s” such as lice that feed off skin tissue and possibly others that could be viable vectors as well.
3) Airborn Transmission: This is the least likely possibility, as most but not all viruses need to be contained within some sort of vesicle to remain viable. Most viruses die off after a certain amount of contact time with air. It has been proven in humans that the common cold can be transferred from one individual to the next thru sneezing and coughing directly into another persons face. In order for this to be a viable method of transference for reptiles, the animals that contract the virus would have to be in very close proximity of the animals carrying the virus. This proximity could happen at a show if the animals at the table next to you had the virus. However, normal breathing does not release sufficient amounts of fluids into the air to be a viable means and air is not an efficient media for transference of the virus. Now, if an animal at a table next to you were to sneeze or cough with enough force to release liquid particulates into the air AND there was enough air movement to get those particulates over to the cages that your animals are in AND your animal is in the process of inhaling AND actually inhales the particulates in the air, then there is a very slight probability however very unlikely that your animals could pick up the virus. One possible means of preventing this could be the use of an ionizer behind your booth/table at shows or in your reptile rooms. Ionizers are very good at removing airborn particulates from the surrounding air including molds, allergens and quite possibly any airborn viruses. I don’t have proof that this actually works, it’s quite simply a theory that I have that seems to make quite a bit of sense.

OK. So those are the basic modes of transmission of viruses. Simple precautions can be taken to minimize the risk of allowing your collections the chance of contracting this virus. Quite simply, sanitize and disinfect any common apparatuses and use good quarantine and husbandry practices when making additions to your collections. Also remember to use common sense. For example just last week I was offered a yearling female RTB het Albino that I could have purchased for less than $100 and just tonight I was given the opportunity to purchase a 5 to 6 foot adult male Longicauda for about $50. While both were excellent deals and both animals appeared to be in good but not ideal health, I currently don’t have any additional space to lend to them without putting them in my main room with the rest of my collection and possibly placing the rest of my collection at risk. The smart money was in saying no to the offers and simply walking away. Especially since I am hoping to have several females ready for the next breeding season. I would really hate to bring something in at this point that could take me out for the next season.

Chris

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