IBD disease / My ball and my boas

SPJ WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD YOUR SNAKES TESTED? I 'LL SEND YOU MY RESULTS YOU SEND ME YOURS.

I BET YOU HAVE BEEN TO A SHOW THOUGH, I BET YOU HANDLED SNAKES TOO. OK LETS HEAR IT, YOU ARE CAREFUL YOU ARE AN EXPERT, ITS NOT POSSIBLE THAT ANY SNAKE YOU OWN OR HAVE HANDLED HAS IT.

AS FAR AS MY POSTS TELL ME HOW TO REMOVE THEM WHEN IT AND I WILL...BUT IT WILL NOT LET ME, IT SAYS I AM NOT AUTHORIZED FOR THAT ACTION

Originally Posted by Seamus Haley

I do not have a fax machine. I have not had a fax machine in years. I could probably set up one of those internet email linked fax accounts, but it'd probably be just as easy for you to post things here.

Or, come to think of it, there may be someone reading the thread who has a fax machine and a scanner- who could possibly clarify a great many things if they don't mind relaying information. Volunteers anyone?

DONT KNOW HOW TO POST LIKE THAT. I WOULD BE GLAD TO SEND TO ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED. LEFT A MESSAGE FOR THE DOC.

SO THIS ONLY FURTHER CLARIFIES MY POINT IF THE BALL IS NEGATIVE, ALL OF THE OTHER BOAS WERE PURCHASED FROM REPUTABLE PEOPLE. MY OTHER BOAS IN MY COLLECTION I HAVE HAD FOR 5 PLUS YEARS AND THEY ARE PERFECT. SO ARE THE BOAS THAT CAME BACK POSITIVE??????????????????????????????

I think the reason other boa owners are not grabbing their snakes and dashing out the door to go to a vet is because they have no impetus to do so. These boa owners have no indication that there is a need to worry, due to buying from reputable breeders, precautionary quarantine and husbandry practices, etc. etc. In a perfect world, when someone identifies snakes with IBD, they let others know that may be at risk, ie people who have handled their snakes, people, whose snakes have been handled, people who bought the seller's snakes, people who bought the seller's products, and so on. If the boa owners that haven't tested their snakes have not been contacted by a person known to have IBD infections, then their should be a slim chance for IBD infection and hence the lack of lines at the vets to have boids tested for IBD.

I hope this makes sense to you, Mike. Just because animals are not being mass tested does not mean the owners are scumbags for not wanting to know. It may be the simple fact that they have no indication that there is a problem with their collection. Now, this could be a little naive in believing everything a breeder says, but that is where trusting a reputable breeder comes in to play.

The same thing happens in the human population. Have you been tested for diseases that may or may not manifest themselves with symptoms?? Sexually transmitted diseases are a perfect example. There are some diseases that present with outward symptoms in women, while men are asymptomatic. However, both can transmit the disease. Just because a man says he is disease free and shows no symptoms, does not mean he is not a carrier and lying through this teeth. Without a hint or indication that someone has a disease, there should be no need to be tested for everything under the sun.

I guess my point from all this rambling is that if the other boid owners have no suspicion that they may have been exposed to IBD, then there is no need to do mass testing on all their animals.

Originally Posted by Seamus Haley

Or, come to think of it, there may be someone reading the thread who has a fax machine and a scanner- who could possibly clarify a great many things if they don't mind relaying information. Volunteers anyone?

Mike, You have a PM

Originally Posted by mjcnj

SPJ WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD YOUR SNAKES TESTED? I 'LL SEND YOU MY RESULTS YOU SEND ME YOURS.

I BET YOU HAVE BEEN TO A SHOW THOUGH, I BET YOU HANDLED SNAKES TOO. OK LETS HEAR IT, YOU ARE CAREFUL YOU ARE AN EXPERT, ITS NOT POSSIBLE THAT ANY SNAKE YOU OWN OR HAVE HANDLED HAS IT.

AS FAR AS MY POSTS TELL ME HOW TO REMOVE THEM WHEN IT AND I WILL...BUT IT WILL NOT LET ME, IT SAYS I AM NOT AUTHORIZED FOR THAT ACTION

I don't test for IBD but do for other things. I've had animals tested last Nov, this past May, and as a matter of fact, sent the FULL medical file on the last snake I sold to the buyer.

I don't keep boas any more. I only have pythons. They would show symptoms relatively fast and since I don't want to jeopardize them, I will not add a boa to my collection.

As far as a show is concerned, I have not been to one for over a year and the last time I did go, I did not handle anything except the BP that came home with me.

When was a blood test for the IBD virus developed? I know the University of Florida was working on one which seemed to have possibilities, increased enzymes present or something like that, but I did not know it was used commonly. Can anyone post any info? Thanx

Back in 2000, some researchers correlated the presence of the inclusion bodies with an over-abundance of a 68 kDa non-viral protein. The earliest that I could find any published research was from 1980.

The inclusion bodies are intracytoplasmic, which means they are developing in the cystoplasm (or fluid portion) of affected cells. So by doing a blood test, they have to isolate cells then examine them microscopically for the presence of the inclusion bodies that would appear as dark masses inside the cell.

The inclusion bodies are intracytoplasmic, which means they are developing in the cystoplasm (or fluid portion) of affected cells. So by doing a blood test, they have to isolate cells then examine them microscopically for the presence of the inclusion bodies that would appear as dark masses inside the cell.

I wonder how many veteranarians are aware of, or capable of performing these tests?