my broken heart

[hex a holik]

hey everyone.

this is a very sad thread. we have noticed in the last few weeks that our female RTB, Cleopatra, the female we tried to breed, has been acting VERY strange. she is non responsive to us touching her, which usually she is jumpy, she refuses to eat, and can not right her head and neck. now i know what likely is wrong w/ her. its IBD. i have been searching online looking it up and all and i am 99% sure that she has it. here are some pics i took this morning of her in her tree.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k169/krookedklown/snakes/ibd4.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k169/krookedklown/snakes/ibd3.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k169/krookedklown/snakes/ibd2.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k169/krookedklown/snakes/ibd1.jpg


i know these pics dont show a whole lot of what she has been doing, but its not really something i want to look back on.

now i have some questions about it. i read that if we have a wooden tank that it should be discarded. our male boa GHOST lives in the tank below her. the tanks are made out of the same frame and all, just divided by cleo's floor. should we be worried about ghost at all, and should we move him outta that tank?

also we had her and our male duce in the same tank at the begining of the year, when we tried to breed them. she wasnt showing any signs at all, and duce, as you all know hasnt eaten since last june and has his own mental depression issues. but the vet says he's healthy.
should we be worried about duce and ghost at all?? im obviously keeping a close eye on ALL of our snakes.
and im worried that our baby blood python still has mites and i know it can be transmitted by mites. no other snakes have them from what we can find but all it takes is one mite to ruin them all.
im sorry, im going on and on but i am sure that cleo has this and i am so upset about it. if anyone has any other information about IBD, it would be greatly appreciated.

also i was reading and found that it is more common in burmese pythons than any other species of python. so that is something to watch out for as well.

thanx everyone.

-kristin-

[Juggalo]

from what I have heard it will kill off pythons very quickly were as in boas it takes some time.It will infect whole collections and wipe them out.If you truely think that is what your boa has once she passes you need to get her tested if she test positive I would not get anymore snakes until I was sure the rest of the collection showed no signs...

As for my thoughts on I.B.D. the symptoms are so widespread that just about anything your snakes do could be I.B.D.
So I say once she passes get her checked before sweating it to bad a lot of Neurological disorders carry the same symtoms as I.B.D. I am not saying that is not what you have but I would definatly get an expert opinion....Because if that is what you have you are likely loose the whole collection....

Anyways I wish the best for you and hope it is not what you think..Keep us posted.

[n5zow]

Oh man... I am so sorry for you. I hope it does not get any worse....

[hex a holik]

thanx guys

now that i think of it and the more i read, i think it just may be my big male boa duce. on of the main symptoms is anerexia, refusal to eat. and he hasnt eaten in a yr. but thats it. he doesnt show anything else, and we just took him to the vet and everything was clear. but that would make sense if he was the "carrier". yea im super worried about all of our snakes.
i have 3 baby snakes that are super vunerable. they are all in the same room. im also worried about my cat. in some of the articles ive read, what causes ibd is also found in feline aids. im worried that she may get something.
yea my life pretty much fell apart this morning. but thanks for any info guys.

-kristin-

[The Snake Guru]

Sorry to hear that your girl is acting up, that always sucks.

I guess the biggest thing is to find a vet where you can have them do a complete blood work-up, and check especially for IBD (not something they would look for if you don't ask) It's so hard to say what the actual problem is just from the symptoms in a situation such as this, could be a viral or bacterial infection as well. In the meantime be extra careful with husbandry practices, it is spread through direct contact, so anytime you touch a possible infected snake with your hands, or snake hook, or whatever make sure you are washing/disinfecting whatever was used before going to the next snake...simple clorox bleach and water mixture 40/60 mix in a spray bottle would be a good idea.

IBD can be a pretty tricky thing, funny thing is in the hundreds of boas I've kept I've never had one with IBD, in fact there was only one case here on the forum recently that was about 99% certain that was IBD. But at anyrate if you have thoughts about it....you should definitely find someone who is able to do the workup and lab work for a diagnoses.

Good luck! I hope it's just a simple bacterial or viral issue.
~B~