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

Originally Posted by JenHarrison

We can't discuss BOI-related things here which is why it needs to be brought there.

Readers should note that this is a discussion area, but BOI relevant posts are only allowed in the BOI. (The post describing how your issue began was pretty borderline, Jen, as it stated the name of the seller, the transaction, and the problem; but I know your goal wasn't to rehash that here.)

Originally Posted by gsrept

speechless, how many more collections have to suffer before someone goes after this guy. so if this virus is airborn which we do not know but say it is he put everyone elses stock at the show at risk. I guess i will only buy from nerd at least i know what he has or does not have in this matter.

But don't we have to play nice? This guy started pretty much just like the ones we "harrass" now.

Originally Posted by JenHarrison

Unfortunately all research on it stopped shortly after I euthanized my collection due to lack of funds. I could not afford to keep plugging money into it after everything I already lost, and despite a bunch of promises, no one else in the hobby donated either. So basically if it hits someone else, there's still no idea what it is, how long it incubates, whether an animal can be an asymptomatic carrier and if so for how long, how long it can live on an inanimate surface, what disinfectants can kill it, or how it can be treated in the animal. Nothing.

Jen, some of us had been in touch with the University. Basically, the bottom line is there was no way to guarantee that the money donated for IBD research would be used for that purpose. They have general across the board donation sites and some specific donation slots, but nothing specific for IBD/reptile research.

An attempt to see if a mailbox for IBD research donations could be instituted fell though as did an attempt to see if they could install a Paypal button specifically for that purpose.

there is a fine line between getting the truth out there and harassment. I agree we need to expose the people that are not on the up and up but once they are out people can make there own decision based on the facts, not weather or not the person knows how to keep the animals which most flippers and exporters do not. they deal in volume get them in and out as fast as you can. is it to your standards of keeping them probably not just like its not to mine but that just means we do not have to buy from them as do other people

Originally Posted by gsrept

there is a fine line between getting the truth out there and harassment. I agree we need to expose the people that are not on the up and up but once they are out people can make there own decision based on the facts, not weather or not the person knows how to keep the animals which most flippers and exporters do not. they deal in volume get them in and out as fast as you can. is it to your standards of keeping them probably not just like its not to mine but that just means we do not have to buy from them as do other people

True.

Well, Jen got the truth out here about Wyatt, and he's still in business spreading diseases....and it's people of his ilk that risk the rest of our collections.

Maybe if more of us lost something, we wouldn't display such cavil attitudes about the tactics used to ensure that flippers are doing business the SAFE way.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

Readers should note that this is a discussion area, but BOI relevant posts are only allowed in the BOI. (The post describing how your issue began was pretty borderline, Jen, as it stated the name of the seller, the transaction, and the problem; but I know your goal wasn't to rehash that here.)

Not at all. This issue was already brought to the BOI years ago, and my aim in posting this was not to discuss the seller or the transaction or the relation to him in all of this. I listed him simply so that people can do their own research on the BOI should they choose to delve into that aspect of it (also why I advised this new potential victim to bring any details regarding the seller and his experienced to the BOI, although he can discuss the virus and what he saw in his animals here on this thread). My aim in posting this was for people that either missed when it happened, or people that are new to the hobby and did not know it happened. I don't want anyone else to ever go through this, and wanted people to know that this virus is out there, how it can be transmitted, what symptoms to look for, and what most testing outcomes will be to confirm that it is probably the same virus that hit my collection. Also to teach people to put a huge emphasis on quarantine, and researching the people they choose to conduct transactions with. Prevention prevention prevention. I want others to learn from MY mistakes, so that they don't have to make the same ones.

Deb, the research on IBD was separate from this virus research. The donations were supposed to go directly toward my bill with Dr. Jacobson's department, thus allowing him to continue doing the various tests and cultures and having a way to pay for it. But it didn't happen, and after it went over a thousand dollars, we had to cap it off.

Originally Posted by bossroy

Well I just came across this and am pretty glad I did. I brought 3 snakes from him at a expo the year defore last and as soon as they shed the infection showed up(he had about 30 females he was selling). I lost them and two more. I had taken them to the vet and spent lots of money but with no luck. But lucky for me I had separated them when the signs showed up. He was at an expo about 4 months ago and his collection had dropped, don't know if he sold or they had died. I just hope that this doesn't spread it is very bad and when I see him again I can now confront him. Thanks for the info!

Roy,
What show was this?

I didn't know you were back Jen. Nice to see you, glad your back. You doing BPs again or did you change that up?

Hey Cheryl! Just came back about 2 months ago or so. Started doing BP's again, have 3 now. But not planning on getting into it as much as I did back then. I would love to, but losing them all just burned me out really bad, made me lose the motivation to keep up on a large collection. I started talking to Anthony McCain a lot this summer and he kind of nudged me to try it out again, even if just one or two projects. So I thought about how I had wanted to work on an extremely reduced pattern, extremely high contrast albino. That's what I'm piecing together now. I also bought a really nice lesser boy, with the plan of putting him with this pretty normal female I adopted from VaRR. She was the first snake I started with after all that time, and a lot of people mentioned how unique she was, so I bought her a boyfriend to see what comes of it. Don't really think I'll move much past these two projects. There is one other cool project I would love to work on, but I just don't have that kind of cash, and am too hesitant to invest in it after what happened. But who knows, maybe some day.

How are you? How's everything with the collection?

It's really good to see you. I hated to see it all fall apart the way it did. I'm glad to hear your going slow. Wish I could go back and slow down some times! As it turns out I've sold off all the corn snakes. Still plugging away at trying to make piebalds. Sucking just as bad at it as I was back then. Still with the "next year". Bla bla bla. Gets so even I'm tired of hearing about how bad I suck at this! On the bright side we did buy that property 3years ago and it turns out I'm not a bad homesteader at all. I raise a process a lot of our families food right here on the homestead. Feels nice to be good at something for a change! Check out the homestead pics on my website and you'll see! And you never know maybe THIS year really will be my year with the snakes for a change!