Mike 'The scalper' Klein and IBD Condo (aka Chamelon Condo)
My name is Dan Gorfain (DGReptiles). Please do a 'search' on Chameleon Condo (on
www.reptiforum.com as well). 'Honest' Mike Klein is definitely a very, very, bad guy and sells snakes with IBD. He sold me a trio of ''genetic, co-dom jungles' on 10/29/04 that were not what he claimed them to be. I have been breeding albino burmese pythons for 8 years now (just got into boas this year) and own the following collection: Breeding pair of albino burmese pythons & 12 of their '04 babies, '03 tiger retic., '03 albino retic., large silver retic., and four early '04 boas that have been in my breeding room (with burms and retics)for almost 7 months now. I only breed burms right now, and do not buy/resell. On, 10/29/04, I purchased three, female,"co-dom, jungle, aberrant boas" from Mike Klein, owner of Chameleon Condo. The boas were supposedly 'flawless' and in perfect condition. Upon arrival, they all exhibited mild to severe respiratory illness, which I immediately notified Mike of. They were not shipped with heat packs, and he said the respiratory problems were probably due to the fact that the temps were low that week. He told me to hang on to them and they should get better. The one with severe respiratory problems started 'swaying' its head back and forth and suddenly died a week later. The other two snakes were slowly getting better but still showed symptoms of illness. I had Nikos Gurfield, DVM, Dipl. ACVP Veterinary Pathologist, San Diego County Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory(858)694-2838 perform a necropsy on the dead boa. The report (which I can email, if anyone is interested) stated that the boa died from IBD, or Inclusion body disease. All of these 'female' '04 neonate aberrant boas were apparently housed in one container at Chameleon Condo (per Mike). I also had Elliott Jacobson (
[email protected]) examine the deceased boa's liver and he concurred that IBD inclusions were present. The deceased 'female' boa turned out to be male, and when I had fecals run on the two remaining boas, Dr.Jenkins (Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital)
[email protected], they came up positive for 'high concentrations of strongyle worms'. When I notified Mike of the diagnosments (IBD and worms), he partially refunded me $150.00 for the snake that died from IBD. He also said he would, 'take care of my situation and notify the other buyers that bought babies that were housed with the IBD carrier'. When I questioned him on what 'taking care of my situation', meant, he did not respond. I also asked him who the breeder was (who I am aware of now), and he did not respond. After that, he has not returned my phone calls and/or emails. The good news is: I have a strict quarrantine routine and use seperate cleaning supplies and even a seperate sink for the breeder and quarrantine room and vigorously wash my hands several times with warm, soapy water and always handle the quarrantine animals last. From what I understand, burmese and retics seem especially suceptible and are not 'asymptomatic carriers' like boas. Apparently, most pythons die fairly quickly, and exhibit some sort of neurosis when infected with IBD. None of my snakes show any symptoms or signs of distress and have been kept seperate from the quarrantine area, which is on the other side of the house in a different room. Since this occured, I have stopped selling the baby albino burms and have been keeping them with the other four, early '04 boas (the only other boas I own) to see if they show any signs of distress or infection. Nothing in my breeder room has shown any sign of illness or infection. I also had the opportunity to have a necropsy done on an '04, premature, ligated, albino burm that I had been force-feeding since birth. The necropsy (done by previously mentioned Dr. Gurfield) came back negative for IBD: Cause of death was kidney failure (I can email report), which was obviously good news. It's a good thing I am OCD about quarrantine and use seperate cleaning supplies, or it could have turned out much different. Also, If anyone that is not a breeder and preferably doesn't own any other reptiles would like to provide a PERMANENT home for the remaining two siblings, I will give them to you at absolutely no charge. I will even pay shipping costs. They are really awesome-looking jungle-ish boas with nice peaches coming in, but they almost assuredly have IBD. I will absolutely never breed them though (as even liver biopsies are not 100%), and they are just a hazard to my collection. If you have any questions please let me know.
Dan Gorfain
858-273-6301
DGReptiles
