Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just reading the Ball Python Forum.

There's a thread (Dec. 10th) about some new (new to me, anyway) Raptovirus (sp?). Related to rabies. No cure. Usually fatal. Contagious. Respiratory infection. That's some of the scary stuff I read in the thread. Texas was also mentioned. I live in Texas.

I don't keep Ball Pythons, but I know a lot of you do.

And a lot of you know a good deal more than I do regarding technical, physiological, medical things, too.

Anybody on this forum know anything about this virus?

I do know Ball Pythons and Boa constrictors are both Boids.

So what's the chance of this stuff getting into the Boa constrictor population?

Concerned.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Near as I can tell after doing a search on Google, there is not such thing as "Raptovirus". Perhaps they meant "Retrovirus"...
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Boaphile Home
All Original/Boaphile Plastics
The Boa Network

It could be. I couldn't find anything either. I wrote the author for more info. It's supposed to be related to rabies.
I'll go back to find the exact thread.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Well, that one is new to me and I'd like to know too if it is real myself if you dig up more information on it.

The only thing I'm familiar with that is fatal to BPs and other pythons pretty quick, but transfers to Boas too, is IBD. They wouldn't be referring to that would they?

Hope someone can shed light on that for you... I will be keeping an eye on your thread myself!
Thanks!
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Steph S.
Boas...
1.1 Albino boas (Loki & Hope)
1.4 07 Het. albino boas (Petty & Lady,Sierra,Madeline,Lola)
0.1 Reverse stripe poss. het albino (Cookie)
0.1 Salmon/hypo (Scarlet)
0.1 Anery poss. het snow (Missy)
1.0 Anery (Reno)
0.1 DH Sunglow (Bonnie)
1.0 Het. Anery (Guy)
0.3 Normals (Ophelia, Sasha, & Lulu)
1.1 Surinames (Solomon & Surreal)
1.2 Hogg Isles (Mr.Orange & Peaches, Apricot)
0.0.1 Central American (Sassy)
0.1 Emerald Tree boa (Jade)
1.0 ATB (Satan... seriously!)
Pythons...
2.1 GTPs (B., Monty & Jewel)
0.0.3 BPs (MJ, Precious, Houdini)
1.1 Carpet Pythons (Jackson & Charlotte)
0.1 Blood python (Akaia)
Misc.
1.1 Mandarin Ratsnakes (Jack & Jill)
1.0 Boxer/Pitt Mutt (Tyson)

I think you are referring to rhabdoviruses that belong to a family of RNA viruses called rhabdoviridae that also includes rabies. I did a quick search on this in reptiles on a veterinarian site my practice belongs to and found nothing. From reading the thread on the BP forum though, it looks like just one pathologist is hypothesizing that the poster's animal had contracted a rhabdovirus, not that anything was definite yet.

You're right. Guess it's something to keep in mind.
All I could find were European sites concerned with fish viruses with that search.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Its been around for years. It comes and goes, and it will be an afterthought in a few months. Quarantine is your best friend, and was put in the back seat in this instance. I really don't get all the hype that is being put forth, after all it's really no different than other virus's and bacteria.

There's a huge thread about this over on the b... o. i It seems pretty scary. The girl that was dealing with it didn't own any boas, so no idea if it spreads between species like IBD. As of a few days ago, I believe they were saying it was viral and she was sending out more of her bps for testing/necropsy/tissue samples.

Yeah, and it IS scary.

Possibly shoddy quarantine aside, if things happened as told, this illness spreads easily through the air.

THAT, in my opinion, is the frightening part. After all, even though all the vectors of transmission of IBD are not yet known, it seems unlikely that it is transmissable through the air.

Aside from that, some of the conspiracy theory parts of the story seem far fetched, unless someone starts naming names.

And in reply to one of the posts above - If it's been "around for years", how come very few people have heard of it? If it has been around for years, how can it just be "forgotten" within 6 months? If it's been around for a while, even if it only happens occassionally, it will pop up AGAIN, and it sure would be nice to be able to identify it and know what the general means of treatment is, even if this isn't a widespread contagion.

IF this is airborne, that's what frightens me. I have a separate-room quarantine area, but air can and does flow through the whole house, like most other houses. I can't vacuum-seal my doors.
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.1 Ball Python, 1.0 Hog Island Boa, 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 1.1 Saharan Sand Boa

Here's the problem: This XXXXX treatment may work for this one breakout/situation, but when it comes back around the same treatment may not be effective. These Bacteria/Virus's constantly change, so I don't believe in the hysteria that is being drawn up about this virus. Figure it out, salvage what you can, and publish your findings. Thats all that needs to be done, not start some long drawn out opera that goes back and fourth and is full of opinions/emotions. That is how mis-information is created. I do know that alot of Vets are starting to go back to the old school anti-biotics and virus killers, because alot of the new stuff that came out in the ninties doesn't work too well anymore.

I don't want to get hysterical, but this is something we all need to take seriously until it's confirmed one way or another. It could be nothing. It could be something.
I'm following it closely myself.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

n/p
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.1 Ball Python, 1.0 Hog Island Boa, 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 1.1 Saharan Sand Boa