Adenovirus.

[Skiploder]

I apologize in advance for a somewhat rambling post.......

About five weeks ago, one of my two year old Bogertophis Subocularis began acting odd.

The signs were subtle. He stopped using his favorite hides and hung out in places he never hung out before. There were no other symptoms.

The following week, he refused his meal and his eyes were dialated. I made an appointment with the vet for the following day.

The next morning, he was dead. There were no other symptoms. He had not had diarrhea, he had not shown any signs of neurological damage, he had just shed and had no issues with that either. There was no weight loss, corkscrewing, stargazing or respiratory infection symptoms. He had a slight reddish cast to the front of his snout. That was it.

The necropsy showed that his intestines and stomach were severely infected and covered in serious lesions (necrotizing gastritis). Tissue samples were sent to UCD for analysis.

I quarantine all my animals, religiously disinfect my hands between handling different animals and scrupulously clean all of the enclosures on a very regular rotation. My vet performs a house call once a year and fecal samples are submitted at this time.

At this point, I began to fear OPMV, maybe crypto or some other disease (IBD) that can remain latent for extended periods of time.

Histopathology came back today and inclusion bodies consistent with adenovirus were found in the samples.

People who keep bearded dragons (I am not one of them) are quite familiar with adenovirus. It has been reported in several species of snakes. I don't see it discussed often on any of the forums and the information out there is somewhat tedious to go through and parse.

The vet and the lab think that the animal may have had it since birth and had been successfully battling with it for the last two years. Apparently, it can be kept in check in some cases, in others, it presents itself much like IBD can - chronic acute/subclinical symptoms.

It's been four weeks since "Daniel" died. I am keeping an eye on my other animals. Both the vet and the lab have informed me that this is not an airborne pathogen and risk of transmission to my other animals is low. Nonetheless, I'm watching everyone like a hawk.

Oftentimes, people come to this and other forums asking the "group" to diagnose particular illnesses. One of the problems with snakes is that many illnesses, the adenovirus, IBD, crypto, OPMV, etc,, have similar symptoms. Some of these symptoms also overlap into amoebiasis and other parasitic infections.

If your snake is sick, take it to the vet. It's all well and good to post here, but in the end take your animal to the vet. If one of your snakes dies, for the sake of the community in general, have it necropsied so that you can find the causative agent.

Over the last four weeks I have corresponded with several Trans-Pecos Ratsnake owners and/or breeders who have discussed undiagnosed chronic wasting disorders in these animals. Talking to both the lab and the vet confirmed that rat snakes in general tend to be more prone to adenovirus infection. The sad part is that since few people opt for necropsies or histopathology, the true extent of the prevalence is unknown.

I have been keeping snakes for many, many years. In that time, I have lost only three animals to disease. I had two dwarf boas that were long term captives that had IBD and now this. In both cases, I have found that quarantine periods were useless.

Before someone jumps down my throat and claims I am not on advocate of QT - let me set the record straight - I am. However QT periods are ineffective for diseases which can be carried asymptomatically for years.

So while QT periods remain important, regular vet checks and necropsies remain just as important. Do yourself, your animals and the community in general a favor - be medically responsible for your animals. QT is not the end all of disease prevention.