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    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

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.
 
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...
 
GREGORY J HALL said:
Any more Information or is this getting swept under the rug?
Click to expand...

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.
 
j_dunlavy said:
Has anybody lost (not by euthanasia) any snakes to this virus other than ball pythons?
Click to expand...

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378113512004154
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.
Click to expand...

Folks in Australia also have a lab available for testing:
http://www.thereptiledoctor.com.au/index.php/diseasesandconditionsv/77-viral-infections-of-snakes/snake-viruses-testing-instructions/44-the-truth-about-viral-infections-of-snakes-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.
 
Snake-Queen said:
Solomon only kept ball pythons, so I doubt he had a natural reservoir.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
 
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