Adenovirus Alert

I have given this a lot of consideration and feel that although it is scary to come forward with this, it is something that needs to be done, so others might be able to avoid the heartbreak I have been through the past weeks. I also think this is a step toward controlling the spread of a virus that can be deadly within a short time in bearded dragons. I purchased my breeding stock in 2004 and spent a lot of time and effort to find big healthy animals. I had a great first season with my orange line and this does not affect them at all. I bred my orange dragons again this season. In addition, I bred my yellow male Clyde with my yellow female Maggie. The first clutch hatched out and everything seemed fine. Later, I began to notice that the yellow babies were very aggressive and I had several nips on tails and feet. They were kept 5 to a bin and fed very well. We had never had problems with this routine before.

At about 2 weeks old I lost one of the babies in the second yellow clutch. I had a lot of family in from out of town and thought maybe I had not been hydrating them enough due to my busy schedule. Well, I had two more die and then I had an orange baby from the second clutch die. I IMMEDIATELY closed down my colony and did not sell any more dragons. I started to think they may have been exposed to something from their food. I went to the vet and he mentioned adenovirus. I felt certain that was not the cause. All of my adults were healthy and well over 500 grams. I had gotten them all from reputable breeders and did not even entertain the thought. I sent in a fecal to be viewed under the electron microscope. In addition, one of the sick babies died and I sent it in for a necropsy. When I received the results I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of me. They tested positive for adenovirus.

I thought it came from Maggie, my yellow female, because the first clutch of orange babies from another mother was fine and it started with the yellow second clutch. I talked with Cheri Smith of ReptileRooms.com and got in touch with Dr. Dan Wentz per her suggestion. He is considered by many as the leading authority on this virus in bearded dragons. He referred me to the University of IL lab to get the appropriate testing for my breeders. I chose to use this lab because they follow a protocol he developed and it is not available elsewhere yet and is considered cutting edge. It uses a fixative to stop the virus from breaking down immediately so it can be detected. Other methods have proved to be less accurate. I have proof that this is the case. I had the fecals run with a local lab here. They do not use a fixative and they said they did not see the virus in any of the samples I submitted. I had too much riding on the results, so I had extensive tests done through the University. All of my breeders came back clear of any types of virus (it detects others, besides adenovirus) except for Clyde and he was positive, so the carrier. He is my yellow male that I purchased from Dragons by Nature in October of 2004 as a baby. His Parents were Tango and Jewel. His levels were very low, but they were detected, so he can infect others. My vet feels that this is something he has most likely had since he was a hatchling. He has not been exposed to other dragons, except for the two females he mated with this season, and as I said earlier, they have tested clear. It is amazing that he did not infect Maggie or Zelda. It is most likely due to him shedding such low levels of the virus and that adults tend to not be as susceptible to it as hatchlings, which have almost no immune system. Both these girls have always been very healthy and have good immune systems.

I have spent over $1500 in testing in the past month and vet bills to find that all of my orange and yellow babies were infected through handling and equipment. I have euthanized about 140 babies and froze 71 eggs that had been developing. In addition, I have sent Clyde and 22 babies to Dr. Wentz in an effort to help with further studies and to hopefully help future dragons.

I have handled this as responsibly as I know how. It has been heartbreaking to have to put so many beautiful seemingly healthy babies down. I know it was the right thing to do. It would be a disservice and injustice to not bring this public. I am aware that other individuals and breeders are also dealing with the same viral issues. I believe the bearded dragon community needs to know this is happening. They also need to know they have the option of testing if there is any doubt or they have a dragon that may have been exposed. Even if exposure was years ago they may still be harboring it. Once a dragon incubates the virus they will be carriers for life, which is why infected dragons can not be sold or around any others. I am hoping to alert people who may have purchased dragons around the same time I did, that their dragons may have been exposed and be infected. This may help someone else avoid what I have been through. This should serve as a wake up call to all breeders. If this happened to me, it could happen to you. It is so easy to have your animals tested. You can be assured that any dragon I breed from this day forth will be tested and adenovirus free. The contact information for testing is as follows:


Lou Ann Miller, MT(ASCP)
Service Supervisor
Center for Microscopic Imaging
College of Veterinary Medicine
Rm 1204 VMBSB
2001 S Lincoln Ave
Urbana, IL 61802

Ph#: 217-244-1567
Website: http://treefrog.cvm.uiuc.edu
Email: lamiller@uiuc.edu


I appreciate you all taking the time to read this. I am going to post it on a few of the forums so you may see it more than once. Fear has produced a code of silence that has only enabled this virus to spread that much quicker. I took a risk to let you all know about this, but I could not sit by and knowingly let this possibly happen to others. You can be certain any dragons purchased from me will be healthy and adenovirus free, as mine have all been tested now and are clear. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.


Wendy Thomas
Neverland Dragons

I am very glad that Wendy came forward and is telling her experience with what is a virus that is infecting more dragon than most people will ever realize. A few years ago another Lady name Suzanne also posted her story, symptoms and also donated some of the infected babies to Dr Dan Wentz for further research and almost all we know today about this virus had come from her tragic experiences.

Wendy contacted me when the first baby started showing signs of illness and I have stayed in contact with her through out this terrible time, cried with her at times and wondered how she kept her spirits up with all this and what she had gone through.

I can vouch that she immediately closed down her colony, got proper testing and did the responsible thing each step of the way, containing this and not spreading it... even when it was heartbreaking and would have been financially to her advantage to do otherwise. I have absolute faith and trust in her as a breeder and no hesitation to purchase or send animals to her. In fact, we have made arrangements for me to send what I consider one of the most prime hypo pastels in the country. I will not sell him, his price is invaluable, but I will loan him for a breeder season/year to her, then he is to be returned to me. He will be going early enough to have the normal 90 days quarantine before breeding...... I would not do that unless I was totally confident that she had contained this and her colony was clear of any problem or that he was in excellent hands

Thank you Wendy for doing the right thing, you, I and many others know.... not all breeder have done that and that is what has spread this to so many others. I know of well over 1000 babies that have died or been put down with this virus. But I also sadly know of at least 4 breeders that knew or had to know they had this in their colony and "dumped" them on the public.. most of those selling off their entire collection inclduing adult breeders and entire clutch groups within a month

I have a good friend that lost his entire colony to the virus about 2.5 yrs ago. You handled it as responsibly as he did. I think you did the best you could given the situation. I know how hard it can be having to put down babies because something happened out of your control.

I wish you luck in clearing things up and getting your colony back up and running at 100% health.

Do you happen to know where the virus came from???

Mike

If you reread her post, she outlines which dragon is the carrier from testing and where it came from

MIke

I just noticed you are in Arizona, was your friend that lost so many from there also?

We were able to trace the source of a outbreak 2-3 years ago to someone in Arizona. A lot of babies from that source got sold through a pet store also, but I think the majority died young

No, he lived in Oklahoma. I can't say I know anyone in Arizona that had or has the virus in thier collection.

I only know of one other breeder in Az and they were not breeding 2-3 yrs ago. And I'm sure they don't sell to petstores.

Wendy,

I am so very sorry for what has happened to you and your dragons....I actually have tears in my eyes typing this, I cannot imagine the heartbreak you have gone through. I want to thank you, also, for posting this and making us aware of the potential dangers. My heart goes out to you and your babies.

Have the folks you got the male from done anything to help out, or to see if they have the problem at their facility....or anything??

They are no longer breeding and sold off all of their dragons. I did let them know that Clyde is a carrier. I purchased him in October of 2004, so it has been almost 2 years. I just want to let people know it can happen to anyone. And also, if they have any dragons that were from the same cross as Clyde, they should have them tested as a precaution.

Wendy,
I am so sorry that this happened. I can only imagine how hard this was for you. Thank you so much for letting us all know the dangers here.

I am the very proud owner of 2 of Wendy's dragons from her last years breeding.

Losing any baby is heartbreaking, losing so many especially when they may appear fine is devastating.

The fact this happened to someone that took such care in the selection of their own dragon, over the top care and who I beleive to be one of the most caring and competent private breeder there is, shows this could have happened anyone and has happened to others also.

The main reason that she was able to contain the situation is that she has always had such hearty and healthy babies that she never lost one prior to this. So when she did lose one, it was a red flag, she stopped selling anything and she wanted answers. She went the extra steps to know why she lost one, not just passed it off as statistics that you lose some at times as has been the story with other breeders who did speard it by selling babies. Once she knew why thy, she then went even further is testing all her dragons so there was no doubt where it came from and did what needed to be done which was putting them down or to a facility that was so secure, they would never be in the public's hands or a threat to other dragons, but can be of help to other dragons and owners with studies of them for the future.

She not only had all the time and expenses of the testing, having to put down so many, but she also paid the overnight shipping for so many dragons that went to Dr Wentz for research!