What are the chances for a new hatched Red tail to carry IBD

[drugaria]

What are the chances for a new hatched Red tail to carry IBD.
Kind of wanna get one but I have ball pythons so its probably not a chance that I wanna take.

[littleindiangirl]

I don't know that IBD is as prominant as rumor suggests. But that's what a good quarantine is for

[JoshJP7]

I could be wrong but I believe a boa has to catch it from another snake....maybe? So unless one of the breeding snakes has IBD (prolly like a .0002 chance) you should be fine. Again I dont know much about IBD... I have a boa in the same room as my balls... ive had him for a year so theres not much to worry about anymore but If you think you can handle a full grown RTB... go for it man they are sweet and have much different personalities than balls. Im trying to find a reason to buy an coral albino but I have no room!

[ladywhipple02]

The only way a newborn boa would have IBD is if one or both of it's parents did... and I doubt a sick RTB is going to be able to have healthy offspring (just for future reference, boas don't hatch... they are liveborn. No hatchlings here!).

I'm going to cut and paste some stuff from another thread:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hlight=disease

It is a very rare condition that can occur in BOTH BPs and boas... in fact, in all boids, period. Boas get a lot of blame for passing it onto Balls because boas can be carriers of the disease without actually showing any symptoms, while BPs usually succomb to the disease and die very quickly.

You should really wash your hands and disinfect them between handling any two snakes, especially if they are in quarantine away from each other.

Testing isn't conclusive. The only way to test for it is by doing a liver biopsy, which is very expensive... and hasn't been proven. It's possible a snake can test positive for inclusion bodies and not actually have IBD.

I like to explain IBD like this: it is the AIDS for snakes, though much faster acting in BPs. It breaks down the immune system so that the snake actually dies from an RI or neurological disorder rather than from IBD. Nasty stuff...

Boas are carriers of the disease. It can take long periods of time for them to begin showing symptoms of it---stargazing, chronic RIs, mouth rot, eventually degrading into neurological problems such as striking at random and being unable to roll over when placed on their backs. BPs, however, will begin showing symptoms almost immediately... there have been cases where someone will bring a boa into their collection and it will show no signs of being sick. Once introduced directly into the collection, however, their other boids start getting sick and dying.

No one's really sure how it's passed. Possibly through the air, but definitely through touching, sharing cages, water bowls, etc.

Fact is, we really don't know that much about it. The only way to get rid of it, once it's in a collection, is to immediately dispose of the infected animals... and personally, I wouldn't ever trust a cage or anything that an infected animal has used. I would get rid of everything like that too.

So that's the break-down. The way it was introduced sounded as if boas were the culprit of the disease, which isn't true. All boids can have and/or spread IBD... it is NOT boa exclusive. They simply catch a lot of flak for being carriers.

It's not a boa only disease. You can just as easily bring it into your collection via a BP, or any other boid... any python or boa can carry it.

Fortunately, the disease is incredibly rare. Just take precautions when bringing any new snake into your collection. Keep it away from your other snakes, wash your hands between handlings, get them vet checked if anything seems out of the ordinary, etc.

Hope that helps, even a little!

[drugaria]

well yes, and i believe I've read this article in the past, but I also read somewhere else that it may take up to two years for Ibd symptoms to show up in a carrier boa unlike pythons which exhibit symptoms almost right away. The same article stated that 50 % of the wild boas were carriers .That's a big number !!! I'm gonna find this link and post it here when I do.

[Patrick Long]

are your boas wild? if they arent, then your prolly not part of the 50%

[drugaria]

Josh I'am still thinking whether to get a boa or a albino Birm. Also I've heard that the boas tend to be more aggresive than the Birms . And i like all my snakes to know who is the boss in the house . I don't wanna deal with bytes and other nuisance from big snakes like these.
How is yours behaving?

[littleindiangirl]

The 50% your referring to was just one study that they used when they published the artcle. No one article is the bible of IBD, and not enough is known about it. Again, I dont know that IBD is going to be something to worry about when you buy a CB animal from a reputable breeder. And also, I think the 2 years is an extreme, not a norm.

If your still concerned, then maybe a boa is not right for you.

[ladywhipple02]

Also I've heard that the boas tend to be more aggresive than the Birms

WHAT???

Does this girl look like she could ever bite anyone???



Doesn't matter what kinda snake you get man, some are going to be temperamental and some aren't. And NO snake is going to let you be the boss... they'll do what they do and that's the way it is.