Risks of owning pythons and boas?

I was just thinking about the second snake that I may get myself in a year or two, sometime after college is done with anyway. I particularly want a rubber boa or an Egyptian sand boa, but then I remembered that whole IBD business.

For the foreseeable future, I and all my animals (one male ball, one female/two unsexed tarantulas) live in one large room of a four-person apartment. So quarantining would be hard, since the disease is airborne. Just how prevalent is this disease? I know boas are likely to be asymptomatic carriers if they have it, which makes things even harder. I'd be getting the second snake from one of the "good guy certified" well-reviewed breeders, but even then I guess there's a risk, right?

Are there any particular other airborne health hazards the two types of snakes might give each other? If the risk to my first baby, Rorschach, is unavoidable, I just won't do it. He's the most important thing.

You may just want to wait until you have room to porperly quarentine. One RI that is basic and controlable for the ball python may kill a boa. IBD is serious, but from a "good guy" you should not have any problems. IBD is a disease too know, do some research and learn, things will be okay.

as far as i know, IBD hasnt been diagnosed in an erycine snake. with a cbb snake and proper sanitation, all should be fine. scott erycine1@aol.com

I have not ever heard of IBD in either sand or rubber boas. And even it's occurrence in Columbian or Central American boas is rare. Ask the thousands of people that visit this site how many of them have boas and how many have had a proven, correctly diagnosed case of IBD. It is not a common ailment and it is not something you should worry about without a reason.

Originally Posted by evansnakes

I have not ever heard of IBD in either sand or rubber boas...It is not a common ailment and it is not something you should worry about without a reason.

Ah. The way I was hearing people talk about it elsewhere, it sounded much more common and like way more boas were prone to carrying it. That's a big relief!

What about what junkyard said in the second reply, about RIs in one snake maybe killing the other? Rorschach's never had an RI in his life, and hopefully it'll stay that way, but you never know.

If you have a sick snake you simply wash your hands after you go in it's cage before you touch another snake or cage and you stay consciencious about not transfering anything from cage to cage. Snakes don't often just die. Usually a respiratory infection in a snake will give you visable and audible symptoms and take time to progress. In fact it typically incubates in the animal for weeks before you even realize they have it at all, much like in humans or any other animals. AND, repsiratory infections are VERY treatable. Increased temps and good humidity will level things out and antibiotics will solve the problem. Everyone who keeps and breeds any number of snakes will tell you that it happens. Especially when you cool snakes for cycling. So you take it in stride and solve the problem. People who freak out over mites, repsiratory infections, etc., are unrealistic and very much a novice. Those who do this every day realize that they are just things that are going to happen and you do everything you can to avoid it and then fix it when it does happen.

you definitely dont want anything from a sick snake coming into contact with anything else in your collection. with proper temps and husbandry, an RI isnt generally something to worry about either. use proper sanitation between cages to prevent any transfer of bacteria, etc. also if youre going to get a sand or rubber boa, never use crushed walnut for substrate. it causes health problems. scott erycine1@aol.com

My vet did some work on a biopsy test for IBD and said that 50% of the boas they tested had it. Now I don't know how random his sample was (where these symptomatic boas or a bunch from pet stores). I'm also not sure if it's been demonstrated to spread airborne, he blamed lax mite control for the worldwide spread of IBD in boas. I suppose it also certainly doesn't help that they can live with it long enough to spread it to breeding partners and even offspring. He also indicated they don't know where it originated from in the wild but it is not known in wild boa populations (i.e. if you could somehow get imports before they go through mite infested facilities you might actually be better off than cb as far as IBD goes).

has the study been published anywhere? scott erycine1@aol.com

Randy, that is a very misleading statement and I will tell you why. 1) To do a liver biopsy on a snake it must be just recently deceased or sent to the lab live where they will euthenize it. 2) In all the time I have been around this business I know of only one breeder who sent off a bunch of his animals to be killed and tested to confirm or dispell that he had an issue in his collection. 3) the cost of the procedure and testing along with the added cost of the shipping involved makes it a rather expensive procedure and the only places in the country that have proven able to do the work needed correctly has been a couple large labs that I beleive are University labs if I recall correctly in California and/or Florida. Not just any vet can do the procedure and not just any vet is capable of correctly diagnosing the results. SO what you have in the end is only animals that are very very likely to have the infection are biopsied, so it then leads that the percentages of the positive results from the procedure will be skewed greatly in percentage toward a positive outcome as snakes either suspected or known to not have the infection will never be tested.