I feel that I need to be clear. I am sharing my experiences for a few reasons. First and foremost is to inform people of a potential danger from her stock. Secondly is to raise some awareness to the disease. Sadly, many are affected by it and only a handful have ever come forward. I know one major breeder that has been hit by IBD but will not go public. So it seems to be a taboo subject except in the abstract. I felt it was important for people to see a first hand case and how the situation progressed over time. Compensation for my losses is a distant third as many of these animals were dear to me and one I had for over a decade. There is really no way to compensate or that.
My intention was NOT to deter people from keeping boids. Boids are wonderful creatures. It is important to know that IBD is out there and can come from any direction, but the risk is worth the reward. You just have to be careful as you can. People should not be afraid of keeping boids because of IBD. That would be like refusing to keep reptiles at all because of Crypto or Paramyxo. There is risk in anything you enjoy. I just happen to be the rare case of "worst case scenario".
I would also like to thank everyone for the support and wishes. I am amazed at the generosity of so many people offering to donate boas to get me back going (including some REALLY nice stuff). I have declined literally dozens of boas. I am just not ready to entertain more boids at this point. However, I would all that offered animals to help me in another way. As I mentioned, I have 51 samples going to research of the disease. But money is the biggest hindrance in research. While not formal yet, I am in the process of putting together a fundraiser for Dr. Jacobson's research on IBD. His research has never been funded and he has paid for all of it on his own. I would like to ask that those individuals that offered me free snakes donate the sale of the animal toward research. I am still trying to work out all of the details and hopefully should have everything put together in the next few months. The gist of it is getting everyone's animals documented on this end and the animals are placed in the classifieds at 75% of market value under a single seller (with donor listed so people know where they are coming from). The payment goes to a single PayPal account set up specifically for the fund and shipping costs are reimbursed to the donor. The animals never leave the donor's care until they are shipped to the buyer.
Like I said, there are alot of details to work out, but you get the general idea. I would rather see those animals be sold for a good cause than donated to me.
OK, I have taken this far enough off topic. My apologies.
