I am posting this as an informational service to help people understand this virus better. It is not a slam on anyone I have bought dragons from so therefor I will not be posting who the dragons came from and DON"T EMAIL ME AND ASK. I will not release any of that info to avoid confusion or problems that could arrise and hurt innocent people. That is the worst thing about this virus. It is to easy to pass dragons that are infected on to others with no knowledge of them being sick untill it is too late. Please don't make the mistakes I did.
Back in early 2002 I purchased an adult Snow and a female Hypo from two different people. The guy that had the feamle told me on the phone he had no background on her as he had recieved her in a trade. ( This was my first mistake!) Never purchase an animal without background on it and its parents and if available who the person has been buying other dragons from as well.
I threw these 2 together right away so they would breed because that's why I had bought them right? I wanted to be a breeder.... Second and worst mistake... I didn't do enough research on the diseases that can affect them and I didn't isolate them for any period of time to observe them. So I believe the feamle infected the male right away. She showed absolutely no signs of being ill right up to the point I sold her however. Which is the scariest thing about this virus.
They produced 4 clutches totaling 99 eggs with 95 hatching and all but one that died from the 3rd clutch survived at least untill 6 weeks of age when I sold them. The first two clutches I noticed about half of hte babies were not growing much and this was the only symptom that arrose untill after I had sold them. Later I found that some died of "siezures" some stopped eating and died and there are still I'd say 60 to 70% of the first 2 clutches still alive. The second two clutches I wholesaled out at 4 weeks of age and can't obtain good info on their health or demise.
I sold the male adult snow and a baby female to a couple and they told me recently when my last clutch died off (which is when I began to suspect adeno thanks to CEHRI and this forum) that the male passed away 4 months after purchase they said he had become very lethargic and in the end would not eat and finally died. This was roughly 12 to 14 months after exposure to the female. The baby was put n with two other babies from another source and all three died the babie from me was the last to go. I did notice his decline into lethergy but thought it was just that he was going into brumation after breeding. The female rcovered well after each clutch.
During the time I was raisng the last two clutches I purchased four other subadults and all were exposed to the female hypo in some form. After a couple weeks I noticed that these high colored animals had kind of dulled in thier color and weren't as bright as when I'd bought them but I thought nothing of it. Two of these high end beardies did end up breeding before I sold all but the fmale that was gravid and she laid 15 eggs out of which one went bad. She seemed to recover fine as far as weight was concerned but became very lethargic after laying and her appetite was less and less and her overall appearance became sickly. I treated her 3 times for coccidia and it would come right back after treatment. I do know how to sterilze so I know that it was not reinfection from her surroundings.
When the 14 eggs hatched all the babies were very active and very colorfull and were absolutley ravenous eaters all but one. So I thought "runt". Well, by their 3rd week one had developed a infected looking swelled up vent so I took it to the vet. All fecals were clear and he put this guy on antibios and he responded, but another one quit eating bacame very letheargic and passed during his treatment. Then 3 days after he was off meds he quit eating, became lethargic and died as well. Then it was like a big hand of doom fell on them. Some started "rolling" as though they were having a siezure or something, other acted dizzy and would wobble when they wlaked and fall off there climby things when attempting to go bask, and some just quit eating and bacame lethargic and died. The end result with all of them was the latter, lethargy and lack of appetite 2 or 3 days before death. SOme had the other symptoms 1 or 2 weeks before the lethargy and lack of appetite took them. I put down the remaing two and the mother because I was so sad and didn't want to watch them die too. They were all showing signs of the virus.
I sent one of the babies in for necropsy but didn't heed sound advice once again and it was sent to a lab in OK CIty where the necropsy came back negative for Adneovirus. I have found out though that there are 2 of the babies still alive from this clutch. I sold 3 to a lady for pets for her kids and she had told me that one died and i misunderstood and thought they were all dead. I am working on getting with her to obtain a stool sample for REAL testing and hopefully this will shed more light on the subject. She has told me, however, they are not growing at all and so I'm fairly positive this had to be ADNO. Too many similarities to the symptoms described in the posts on ReptileRooms.com.
I hope that someone can learn something from my mistakes, if so it will be easier for me to swallow this jagged pill. It really sucks to watch something you love die in front of you and there is nothing you can do about it. Very helpless feeling and what is even worse if I'd just educated myself better and listened to the experienced people in this forum instead of thinking "That won't happen to me" I oculd've avoided this possibly. This totally destroyed everything I'd been building for over a year. It is REAL and WILL happen to you if your not smarter about the way you handle things than I was. VERY hard lesson.
I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my posts and especially CheriS, Chris ALlen, Rob and Vicki Dachiu, and Tracey at Traceys Beardies for takeing time out of there VERY busy lifes to help me through this and lend an ear and for the wealth of info and support. It is greatly appreciated!!
The only way we can stop this is by responsible breeding and husbandry practices through educateting ourselves and others and honesty when something like this happens. We can't cover these type things up and move on or it will only fester and become a larger problem for us all.
Sincerely,
Robert Wood
Tulsa, OK
