Anyone have experience with Nidovirus (Serpentovirus) & Fishhead Diagnostics?

[ktea93]

I know it's stressful to have a sick pet, but try to stay more optimistic for now- & I don't think the testing needed costs anything like the "2-3k" you were quoted- that's outrageous & personally I'd use the tests discussed here- but make sure you carefully follow the directions & send them express (overnight) delivery. I would sort of expect your vet to discourage you from using an outside test...

So the cost is actually around, at most $2500, unless prices change and I have insurance on my BP through Nationwide but haven’t submitted a claim yet. I need to get his medical records first. The tests my vet suggested, if this round of antibiotics doesn’t work, are: Surgical Flush/Lavage ADD, Cytology, Aerobic Culture & Sensitivity — then if those are inconclusive: Fecal test, then CT ZM and Anesthesia Imaging CT, then if those don’t work, a “VetScan Avian/Reptile Profile Plus” (which is I’m assuming a full viral panel?) and Blood count. Now, I don’t know how a lot of these tests work, she did explain briefly but I can’t remember much besides the obvious. She suggested these tests in that order, and some of them are done together.

[ktea93]

Snakes carrying nido will test negative some of the time. Beyond the limits of testing (the replications in PCR are not perfectly accurate), RNA viruses are very fragile and don't survive long on the swab (they need to be overnighted to the lab). Most importantly, snakes don't shed the virus consistently. Three consecutive negative tests are the standard for ruling out nido when it is suspected.

Though I'm not very familiar with the details of disease progression and all the related issues with testing, you might also consider testing for paramyxovirus. Something to look into, anyway.

I use RAL for my testing (just sent out nine swabs today on new arrival testing; all my new booids get a boid panel and a crypto panel), and would recommend them. They're respected (not that FH isn't), less expensive, and offer a very large range of pathogen tests.

https://www.vetdna.com/

About the best collection of info on nido I've yet to bump into are these two Snakes and Stogies episodes:

https://soundcloud.com/theherpetocul...dr-porcher-dvm

https://soundcloud.com/theherpetocul...d-steve-tillis

Those were originally linked in this recent thread:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ight=nidovirus

Thank you for the info and suggestions, if I were to do a boid panel, would I have to swab my BP 3 times for Nido? What about the other two viruses?

[Bogertophis]

So the cost is actually around, at most $2500, unless prices change and I have insurance on my BP through Nationwide but haven’t submitted a claim yet. I need to get his medical records first. The tests my vet suggested, if this round of antibiotics doesn’t work, are: Surgical Flush/Lavage ADD, Cytology, Aerobic Culture & Sensitivity — then if those are inconclusive: Fecal test, then CT ZM and Anesthesia Imaging CT, then if those don’t work, a “VetScan Avian/Reptile Profile Plus” (which is I’m assuming a full viral panel?) and Blood count. Now, I don’t know how a lot of these tests work, she did explain briefly but I can’t remember much besides the obvious. She suggested these tests in that order, and some of them are done together.

If you do have your vet do the testing (& that is totally up to you), I'm glad that at least you have pet insurance so it won't be so much out of pocket. I'll bet Nationwide doesn't get very many claims for the medical care of snakes, lol.

[Albert Clark]

Wow! Thanks for all the information on nidovirus and aerenovirus , paramyxovirus guys. I have not gone to have any of my animals tested. I know some can be carriers but be asymptomatic and vice versa. It is truly a clear and present danger. I will have to be more suspicious with all the reptiles for sure. And consider the random testing going forward. Thanks again.

[Homebody]

I am literally dying from stress ...

Close your eyes. Take slow deep breaths and count backwards from ten. Repeat as necessary. Fear, which is what causes stress, is the enemy of clear thinking. Take care of yourself and you'll be better able to care for your bp.

[Malum Argenteum]

Thank you for the info and suggestions, if I were to do a boid panel, would I have to swab my BP 3 times for Nido? What about the other two viruses?

If you do the boid panel, you'd swab the snake once, and send in the swab (the whole panel is read from one swab -- they replicate the genetic material on the swab, and then look for the relevant segments of each of those three viruses).

If you're talking about swabbing three times to get three consecutive negative tests, then at a later date (not sure how long to recommend; depends somewhat on symptom progression at least), you'd do the same thing (one swab, send it in). Then at a later date, you'd do it a third time.

Do keep in mind that since you only have one snake (so the contagion issue isn't relevant), knowing if it is a virus will help you to make a decision regarding a long term plan, but nothing more. The only thing to be done if it is nido is supportive care, and without a collection to protect you could make the decision to support or cull based on your own values and feelings.

[Bogertophis]

...Do keep in mind that since you only have one snake (so the contagion issue isn't relevant), knowing if it is a virus will help you to make a decision regarding a long term plan, but nothing more. The only thing to be done if it is nido is supportive care, and without a collection to protect you could make the decision to support or cull based on your own values and feelings.

@ OP- that's exactly why I asked (in post #3) if you had other snakes or planned to. And remember that even with a potentially serious illness, it doesn't necessarily progress rapidly in all snakes- I'd want to think in terms of his quality of life versus any suffering, & he may have more "time" than you think, even IF it really is Nido.

The "experienced hobbyist" you spoke to a while back & suggested it could be Nido sounds like many of us that can't resist jumping to similar "conclusions" when people describe balance issues in a snake & we all can't help thinking "IBD". My point is that we're not qualified to practice medicine, & all guesses are just that, nothing more, & are very often wrong. So while I agree that tests are in order, try not to get ahead of the evidence.