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Jon.....I am so teribly sorry to hear this. Testing must be done right away, of course....I pray that it will not end up being IBD.
Allen keeps saying that pythons will always die from IBD within 35 days, and show signs within 10 days? I'm not sure where he has gotten his(mis)information.....but from everything I have read, yes, pythons will have as a rule a much more rapid decline than boas, but the time frame is usually given FROM THE ONSET OF SYMPTOMS, not from the time of exposure.
Quoted from the Merck Veterinary manual:
Pythons are thought to be an abnormal host to the IBD retrovirus because the course of disease is more acute and neurologic symptoms more profound. In most pythons the acute symptoms that boas exhibit will be missed, and they will be presented with severe neurologic disease. While the active disease can linger for months or more in boas, most pythons die within days or weeks of the onset of clinical signs.
This again, confirms a 3 month time period from exposure to death, reinforcing the 10-35 days would be only AFTER the onset of physical symptoms:
Quote from Dave Barker (pers. com., 28 Jan. 2000),
“Python keepers have had a much easier time [than boa keepers] with IBD, basically because it appears to affect only the brain and death comes more quickly. The advantage is that the snake may show symptoms in weeks after exposure, (star-gazing, poor motor control, loss of appetite, coiling or constricting uncontrollably when they are stimulated) and so far as is known, pythons do not live longer than three months after infection. Python keepers are usually able to nip the problem in the bud very quickly.”
Jon, when did you get this snake?
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