Snake with neuropathy- I really need help!!!!

[meretseger]

Ok, here's the story. I just got this Kenyan sandboa shipped to me UPS overnight. He was nice and warm when we got him, and well packed and insulated. But we knew something was wrong when we took him out of the bag. He has almost no muscle tone, can barely hold his head up, and has trouble moving himself forward. His righting reflex is weak. We have 20 other sandboas and I've never seen anything like this. We called the vet and got him there in under two hours. After looking at him, the vet said there was definately a neurological problem. He pointed out lumps on his body that were formed by his GI tract being partially paralyzed. The only symptom the snake really has is this flaccid paralysis, no convulsions, no stargazing that I've seen, no mouth rot, no respiratory infection. He was sent to me with some retained shed. The vet says he thinks it's either IBD, paramyxo virus, bacterial encephalitis, or poisoning. The seller says the snake was just fine before he was shipped, and says its either shipping stress or some chemical that was on the truck with him.
Have any of you guys ever seen a sand boa with these symptoms? Or any snake? Is there a blood test I should have the vet run? The seller did offer a refund if I want to ship him back if he's not better soon. I'm a little worried about the ramifications of some of these diseases on the seller's collection, but right now I have no proof of what the snake is sick from. I almost wish he'd let me euthanize the snake and still give me a refund. This is just a mess, at any rate, I'd appreciate any advice.

Erin and Jason Benner

[Andy_G]

It really sounds like IBD to me...quarantine this snake in another building if you can and use completely different instruments for feeding and so on. Any boid with neurological problems that you are unsure of the cause of need to be quarantined immediately.

My advice is :treat it like it has IBD until you know for a fact that it doesn't, and if other typical side effects of IBD show up(i.e. mouthrot, respiratory problems, body contortion, star gazing), I would euthanize the snake and ask for a refund. If you explain the situation to the seller and that that you can't take the risk of something like that in your or anyone else's collection, you are fully entitled to a refund, and last but not least, keep in contact with the breeder for updates on his own collection.

[meretseger]

Oh yeah... update...

I sent him back, I got a refund, he died, the seller didn't necropsy, cause of death unknown. The other snakes didn't catch it. Since them I've had another mysterious death of a sand boa with neurological symptoms (a snake which I didn't own at the time of the other snake) but I couldn't afford the 200$ they wanted to test for pathogens. SO whether or not sand boas can get it is still up in the air to me, but we all learned an important lesson about quarantining.

Erin B.

[Sand&SunReptile]

I almost learned the hard way with quarintining.
I had some balls shipped to me, and did a quick once over on them, and plopped them in the tank.
They started showing horrible signs, and one the 1st night, other was euthanized.
I received a full refund, plus vet bills from the seller, which makes me wonder if it was an honest mistake, or if the seller knew full well the snakes conditions.
Luckily for me, the established collection didnt catch anything from them.
That taught me though, and everything is quarintined now.