For those that don't know what happened -- Respiratory Virus in Ball Pythons

Jen Harrison, you are jumping the gun. There has been NO necropsy done on ANY of the deceased animals. You are creating a panic where there shouldn't be one.
I don't appreciate being dragged into this I am MD Reptiles (dropped the rescue early this year). I am NOT in Maryland, I am in NC. (See where ASSuming gets you?)

My partners (SlytherinHiss Exotics & one other) and I have NOT had any sick animals or deaths since the Nov show.

You are hunting zebras where there aren't any.

When the necropsies have been preformed, it will show a bacterial RI and not paramyxovirus.

Suffolk Selects has a closed collection, nothing comes in.

I know Solomon & feel for him, it's a terrible thing to lose your animals. I know, I lost my collection many years ago to something they could never pinpoint.

Here is my question, Solomon sold all the animals he brought to the show ... how did he bring it home?

Let me clear a few things up since I just lost my entire collection.

First of all, I am heart broken. I just lost a collection of animals that were my heart and soul over something horrible. I am devastated and physically sick to my stomach.

Here is what happened.

I had 2 RI's pop up early September due to a humidity problem in the snake room. We had so much rain that I could no longer keep the humidity inside at a decent level. These were both simply typical respiratory infections. My Female albino died because of my stupidity. I had her in a separate area on heat tape with a tstat set up. It was a ranco. The probe failed and the heat tape got so over heated that the tub she was in started to melt. That was why she died. She had been improving via medication. The other sick snake was also in the same room on a different heating system. She got better after the meds started fighting it off.

A few weeks later, I went to the reptile show in Columbia. Before I left, I had no sick snakes. Within 1 week of returning, I lost the first one. Severe RI symptoms popped up and it was dead with in 3 days. I lost 2 more the following week with the same thing, and 2 more last week. No meds worked to stop it and they didn't last long enough for the meds to even take affect.

I brought NO Ball Pythons home with me at that show so whether or not it truly came from that show is unknown. It could have been brought home on my person, but I don't know.

The others who have lost animals since that show brought animals back with them. Neither purchased not traded with me. The only thing we have in common was that show.

I am waiting to have 2 of my snakes that I didn't put down (one of which is showing the first signs of this sickness) necropsied by someone who has offered to pay for it since I can't afford it after weeks of vet bills. Until we find out what this is, let's stop trying to figure out where it came from until we know what it is for sure. It's causing a lot of he said she said and a lot of blame.

It was just brought to my attention that someone saw a guy who came to my table at this show wanting his money back for a snake he "had purchased from me" that was sick. I told him to bring to me on Sunday and I'd replace it. He did come back on Sunday and apologized to me because the snake that was sick was NOT one he purchased from me. In fact, the 2 females he did buy from me were doing wonderfully. He did thank me for offering to replace a snake I didn't even sell him. I always give people the benefit of the doubt.

Please understand, I have lost more than just my collection. I lost some of my best friends. I am tired of talking about this. I'm done. I haven't even had time to grieve. So please, respect my wishes and wait until the necropsy has been done and we have the results before we start placing blame on others. I really am sick of this and do not think I have the heart to start my collection over again. This whole situation has put a sour taste in my mouth and I don't want to be apart of this anymore. At least not for a while until the hurt gets less.

I have a lot of good friends at that show and this is doing nothing but hurting the breeders that attend that show. I don't want that to happen.

We need to be much more careful when vending. No more letting random people touching animals.

Originally Posted by Wisesd

We need to be much more careful when vending. No more letting random people touching animals.

Solomon, I'm so very sorry for your loses.

I have clearly been marked as the target of this whole thing, and I'm done. Not only did I lose all my animals, but people who I thought were my friends have started pinning the entire sickness on me. I will not rebuild my collection and will no longer be a part of this industry.

First of all,
I don't ever remember giving any permission to post conversations I have had on Facebook.

Also, my collection being lost has nothing to do with Repticon. I know the origin of the virus, in the case that took my animals.

Jason VanderWaal

This sort of loss and heartbreak is painful to see.
I think we have to avoid turning on each other as emotions are running very high.
Please try to communicate and get permission prior to posting other people's conversations; please understand that nobody is trying to blame anybody; please understand that tracking the source of the virus is secondary to preventing the spread of the virus in order to prevent more heartbreak.

I think Solomon made one of the most excellent points when he said not to let random people touch your snakes. It is unknown how the virus speads and could very well have come home on your clothes, etc...

*spreads not speads

Any more Information or is this getting swept under the rug?

Originally Posted by GREGORY J HALL

Any more Information or is this getting swept under the rug?

I will update with necropsy results.
Although there isn't anything to sweep under the rug. I have been in contact with vendors from that show & have heard of only two losing more than one snake; one of which has posted here.

Has anybody lost (not by euthanasia) any snakes to this virus other than ball pythons?

One reason I ask is because Viruses are interesting in the way they have a natural reservoir that does not get ill; like ebola in fruit bats. If it is called the "sunshine virus" and originated from the Sunshine coast of Australia, it would be interesting and possibly important to see if any of those who had the virus in their collections also had Aussie snakes that may or may not have been affected.
It stands to reason that the virus would have an Aussie reservoir.