Viral Respiratory Infection Info

Dr. Gordon just called me 5 minutes ago, and left me a voicemail giving me some new information that is pretty much devastating.

He said he got ahold of a very respected snake pathologist that he trusts to have a broad knowledge of things like what we're dealing with, and when he asked her for her opinion before we sent the bodies down, this is what she told him:

Based on everything we have experienced this far, it sounds very much like a raptovirus -- which is related to rabies. She said they have documented it existing in various collections in Texas (gee, where did the het clown come from -- and I have never told him anything about her seller), and unfortunately there is no cure or treatment. It is basically comfort cares and allowing the animal to beat it on its own, which is highly unlikely. He said the key thing is separation, separation, separation. Keep the obviously infected animals as far away from the rest of the collection as possible (which has been done since October 12th when I moved the het clown into my bedroom, then when I moved the other sick snakes that showed up into my room as well). Clean EVERYTHING with bleach, wear gloves and some kind of lab coat when working with the infected animals, and discard it afterwards. This virus has a good probability of wiping out out my entire collection.

At this point, we are still sending out the 3 bodies for full analysis to determine whether or not this is the raptovirus, and we will go from there. The tests for each sample needed run upwards of $200 each, so this is not going to be easy -- but it must be done if we are going to nail this down.

I will keep updating as things progress.

all of this is so confusing .............. :confused: