A healthy, non-stressed boa will not acquire an RI from contact with an infected boa. If it does, then it is under the same stressors that compromised the infected boa. More than 95% of all captive boids are already carrying the gram negative bacteria that are the cause of most RI’s in captive boids. If one of the boas in a collection has an RI, then the entire collection has already been exposed to that causative organism well before the symptoms showed. This would be primarily from previous exposure from the source it was acquired, or from simple maintenance procedures within your own collection. The reason that these organisms typically don’t cause issues is that unless the animal is physically or environmentally stressed in some manner, the organism is kept in check by the snakes immune system. The main stressors include sub-optimal temps, high or low, sub-optimal humidity, high or low, or lack of security causing nervousness, etc., to name a few.
The organisms all already present, so if RI’s are showing up in a collection, then look for the stressor source that is compromising the animal and weakening it’s immune system to the point that the bacteria is able to multiply unchecked. Too low humidity is probably almost as common a stressor as temps that are too low or too high as far as respiratory issues with boids. The biggest issue is in the winter when temps are kicked up slightly in collections and the warm cage interiors rapidly drive humidity out into the low humidity room. Because the amount of water vapor the air can hold increases rapidly with temperature, the relative humidity actually decreases rapidly with increasing temperature, unless the evaporation potential can be met. This means that unless the rate of evaporation can keep up with the demand for moisture brought on by the rising air temperature, there will be an increasing rapid net loss in relative humidity within the cage. Unless you have a good source of cage humidity in the drier winter months, you could risk RI’s in your collection even when maintaining optimal temps. And that brings up the point that you should never lower humidity on a boid with an RI. Low humidity air dries the lung tissue of tropical boids and this damages the tissue making it more susceptible to bacterial infection. I’m not saying keep it high, but in the 60% to 75% range depending on the species. When temps are good, sometimes, the appearance of initial RI symptoms are caused by lung irritation due to low humidity, and many times it can be resolved before progressing into an actual RI by raising the cage humidity slightly and maintaining temps in the proper range. However, observe closely so the appropriate action can be taken if the problem progresses.
Kelly
