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  1. #1
    BPnet Veteran Kcl's Avatar
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    Koko the Dumeril's Boa - Deeply beloved, suddenly passed

    My poor baby dumeril's boa passed away Saturday morning. We had finally gotten her eating, her respiratory infection was cleared, and we thought she was going to be ok. She skipped one meal, which we thought was due to her being in shed. Otherwise, she appeared to be healthy. Finding her dead was completely heartbreaking and watching the necropsy was even worse.

    Gross necropsy conducted Monday evening showed nothing at all that was wrong. Lung was completely healthy, all other organs were healthy etc. Fecal showed no parasites. Current theory is a virus - histopathology results should come back in 10-14 days. IBD, a paramoxyvirus (forgot the exact virus), and some other viruses are all on the table right now.

    To get the information out there - my exotics vet said that he has found that IBD is very common and he sees two cases of it a month. He also stated that it's been particularly high lately. He also mentioned a new virus in snakes that he read about in the last six months but couldn't remember the name of right then.

    Honestly, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this right now but she likely died of a virus a week or two after being seen and declared healthy by the exotics vet. She didn't show symptoms during the intervening time. She never had mites. She had started eating, even f/t. I desperately hope that my quarantine procedures were good enough. And I will miss her - she was a sweet, beautiful baby who seems she may have been doomed before we even got her.

    1.0 Pastel yellowbelly ball python -Pipsy
    2.0 Checkered garter snakes - Hazama & Relius
    1.0 Dumeril's boa - Bazil

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Kcl For This Useful Post:

    Albert Clark (04-11-2017)

  3. #2
    BPnet Senior Member tttaylorrr's Avatar
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    i'm so very sorry. i hope the results will give you peace of mind.
    4.4 ball python
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  4. #3
    BPnet Lifer Albert Clark's Avatar
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    Re: Koko the Dumeril's Boa - Deeply beloved, suddenly passed

    So very sad...my deepest condolences. Losing and dealing with a death in the collection is always terrible.
    Stay in peace and not pieces.

  5. #4
    BPnet Lifer redshepherd's Avatar
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    Oh no! So sorry I hope you know you did everything right by her.




  6. #5
    BPnet Veteran Kcl's Avatar
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    Re: Koko the Dumeril's Boa - Deeply beloved, suddenly passed

    Thank you all for your condolences - I appreciate it. I am coming to terms with her passing as best as I can, and I believe the necropsy results show that it was nothing unintentionally caused by our care of her.

    I plan on updating once the histopathology results return. I think there is still a relatively limited knowledge base on snake viruses in the hobby currently. Information on the cause of death of a snake that was showing basically no symptoms at the time of death may be useful.

    I was surprised to hear from my vet that he sees approximately two cases of IBD per month and considers it as the most common snake virus as the consensus in this hobby seemed to me to currently be that it is relatively rare. For information - the vet is Dr. Robert Wagner. I feel he is highly qualified, but his credentials are freely available for anyone who is interested to take a look at to decide what kind of credence to give this (obviously second hand) information. He also stated that the incubation period is long.

    I know my thoughts are still a bit scattered in these posts, but I know there are relatively few people getting full workups done by qualified exotics vets after snakes' passing and I wanted to get as much potentially useful information out there as I can before precision of memory becomes an issue. It might be a while before that becomes an issue, because the necropsy process was very distressing to watch and thus is painfully clear, but there is likely still value in getting it recorded.

    1.0 Pastel yellowbelly ball python -Pipsy
    2.0 Checkered garter snakes - Hazama & Relius
    1.0 Dumeril's boa - Bazil

  7. #6
    BPnet Veteran Kcl's Avatar
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    Re: Koko the Dumeril's Boa - Deeply beloved, suddenly passed

    Oh, and as further information - histopathology sample was a swabbing of the brain tissue. I can't recall if there were any additional samples sent at the moment. All interior tissues and the head/brain were preserved and retained by the vet, I assume in the case of a need for further samples.

    1.0 Pastel yellowbelly ball python -Pipsy
    2.0 Checkered garter snakes - Hazama & Relius
    1.0 Dumeril's boa - Bazil

  8. #7
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    Good on you for getting it done. Every necropsy adds to our knowledge. My understanding was that IBD was on the wane, but maybe it is coming back. Long term incubations are difficult to contain or trace.

    Please let us know.
    Sorry to hear of your loss.

  9. #8
    BPnet Veteran piedlover79's Avatar
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    I'm so sorry to hear about your loss.

  10. #9
    BPnet Veteran Kcl's Avatar
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    Re: Koko the Dumeril's Boa - Deeply beloved, suddenly passed

    Quote Originally Posted by distaff View Post
    Good on you for getting it done. Every necropsy adds to our knowledge. My understanding was that IBD was on the wane, but maybe it is coming back. Long term incubations are difficult to contain or trace.

    Please let us know.
    Sorry to hear of your loss.
    Thank you. It's important to me to find out what happened, even though it was painful to see it done. It's been an expensive, tragic journey. Luckily my vet has reasonable prices. The full necropsy was only $150. It's still been $475 for nothing but a lot of heartbreak, not even counting any of her equipment. Dr. Wagner has said that he's seen ibd on the rise. It's only one of many viral options for her right now with nothing pointed to specifically - I just asked more follow up questions on that one as it is still relatively mysterious.

    1.0 Pastel yellowbelly ball python -Pipsy
    2.0 Checkered garter snakes - Hazama & Relius
    1.0 Dumeril's boa - Bazil

  11. #10
    BPnet Veteran Kcl's Avatar
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    Re: Koko the Dumeril's Boa - Deeply beloved, suddenly passed

    PCR was negative for IBD. Histopathology results still pending.

    1.0 Pastel yellowbelly ball python -Pipsy
    2.0 Checkered garter snakes - Hazama & Relius
    1.0 Dumeril's boa - Bazil

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