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

Originally Posted by j_dunlavy

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

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...78113512004154

In 2011, sporadic cases of neurological and other non-specific signs of disease occurred in a collection of 32 snakes (20 Australian pythons from the genera Morelia and Antaresia; four exotic boas; and eight Australian elapids). Cloacal and oral swabs were opportunistically sampled on multiple occasions from 23 of these snakes. In addition, from one snake that was euthanased, fresh samples of brain, liver, kidney and lung were collected. Samples were submitted to Murdoch University for PCR testing.

None of the eight venomous snakes from this collection (Pseudechis, the black snakes; Oxyuranus, the taipans; Acanthophis, the death adders; and Notechis, the tiger snakes) were showing overt signs of ill-health and for safety reasons, these snakes were not sampled.

Folks in Australia also have a lab available for testing:
http://www.thereptiledoctor.com.au/i...s-references-2

I find that interesting. Coincidentally, I was explaining natural reservoirs to my wife and used a death adder as a hypothetical example of a reservoir for this virus.

Thanks for the additional info.

Solomon only kept ball pythons, so I doubt he had a natural reservoir.

I have not had any deaths from any RI type symptoms.

Originally Posted by Snake-Queen

Solomon only kept ball pythons, so I doubt he had a natural reservoir.

It probably came home on his person from the show. Could be as simple as shaking someone's hand who touched something infected and getting it on your clothes. Hand sanitizer does not kill everything, like crypto.

I am a big advocate of the "decontamination shower" immediately following a reptile show visit. Go in from the garage, strip down into the washing machine and strait to the shower. Between Sunshine Virus, IBD, mites, crypto, etc, one can never be too careful.

Hopefully through proper quarantine practices, research and communication between breeders, we as hobbyists and breeders can help curb these sorts of outbreaks and prevent tragedies such as the ones being described here.
If someone has had or heard of an outbreak (confirmed outbreaks) knowledge should be shared to help prevent the spread of something lethal, imho.

Ditto on not giving someone permission to use my name publicly. I am in no way involved in this situation, and do not intend to be. I simply offered an option of how to determine where specific vendors were located at the show. Unfortunately, that offer led to my PM being posted on this forum without my permission only for me to be told that once it is posted it cannot be removed. End of rant.

I was looking at the photos from the Repticon show. I have a question (hope it's not a stupid one) about the one vendor who had mesh netting around his herps. Is that something that a lot of vendors do? Is it to prevent critters being swiped? Just curious

Yes, it makes it difficult to swipe animals and throttles viewings when there are a lot of people at the table.

I had a couple thoughts that occurred to me that may or may not be relevant:

Thought #1: Yes, there could in fact be natural reservoirs like the venomous snakes in the Aussie collection that were unaffected (yet untested); with Texas and (if I am correct) South Carolina, venomous snakes are legal. there could be a connection there. Any unaffected, venomous, Aussie snake (after an outbreak in that collection's other species) ought to be tested to see if they are a reservoir species.

Thought #2: Remember Typhoid Mary? Any snake could be an asymptomatic carrier; thus any animal that is the "last animal standing" during an outbreak ought to be tested if it never develops symptoms.

There could be some scientific value to cases such as those mentioned and could lead to a treatment.

Anything new??? Got alful quiet lately about this subject, necro done???

It seems to me like people are afraid of the "blame game."
The unfortunate thing is that the people who lost their entire collections are being blamed for spreading this disease, and the blame keeps getting passed up the chain of sales.
Honestly, there is nobody to blame for these sorts of things because anybody who loses snakes from this illness is a victim (with the exception of people who knowingly sell snakes from their collection during an outbreak, and I doubt anyone posting or listed here would do such a thing).

Diseases happen to live animals, period.
The best way to prevent the spread is to be open to communication about these outbreaks so that a plan of preventative action can be made. If you follow the outbreak trail up the chain of sales, I bet an imported snake that was asymptomatic for an extended period would be the most likely culprit.

Anyone with any information should share what they know and encourage others to share what info they have; especially necropsy and vet obtained info.