Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have not heard anyone having a ball python with IBD. Anyone ever had a ball python that got IBD??
Actually, with so much talk about quarantining your new arrivals......I want to hear some horror stories. Who has had a healthy ball that got sick after exposed to a new arrival???
I keep all my ball pythons in separate cages, but what are the chances of them catching the kooties just because I have a new ball in the same room with them???
Thanks,
Bryan

Yes they do get it and actually die very quickly. Boas can have the disease and hang on for years but ball pythons usually succumb within weeks or months at most. I've known some boa keepers who have used ball pythons as a test to see if their boas had IBD.

Mark

>>I have not heard anyone having a ball python with IBD. Anyone ever had a ball python that got IBD??
>> Actually, with so much talk about quarantining your new arrivals......I want to hear some horror stories. Who has had a healthy ball that got sick after exposed to a new arrival???
>> I keep all my ball pythons in separate cages, but what are the chances of them catching the kooties just because I have a new ball in the same room with them???
>>Thanks,
>>Bryan

...IBD must have a blood vector such as mites to transmit. And yes BP can succumb very quickly to IBD. SJM

IBD isn't carried through the air, but you have to be very careful with water bowls, reused prey items, bedding, and stuff like that. My vet said that since it's a retrovirus it doesn't last very long in open air. He also calls it 'infectous boid disease' so none of us are quite sure how much to trust him .

The only horror story I read involved a lady who, if I got the gist of it, bought a bunch of snakes and tossed them in the same cage without quarantine. I think it's on Melissa Kaplan's site.