Paramyxovirus

[mpenny]

Has anyone had any dealings with this nasty stuff? I believe I may have a few ball pythons that may have it. I do have them QT. Some have been to the vets(a good one) and I have had 2 of them die in the last 2 Months.
HELP US PLEASE.
Marty

[PythonWallace]

I haven't, but can you give us some more info? Symptoms, how long you've had them, when you got the affected snakes, whom you purchased them from, a time line of everything on your end, and anything else that might be important?

[mpenny]

I purchased 16 normal adult females from Steve Ori at A Forgeten Realm back in December. A couple came in with what we thought was R I. So I got some baytrel and isolated the couple that came in sick. I had bought a lot of snakes esle where around the same time as I was just getting in to this, so I wasn't QT any of the other stuff. Around mid Januray I had one of the sick ones in qt die and had a necropsy done and lungs were full of crap. Had a culture done and came back as possibly psudemonous (how ever you spell it) In the mean time some of the other females came up sick and then a few males that were purchased somewhere else were getting sick. They have been breeding some of the now sick females. After the second one died we had a pathologest look at tissue samples and he thinks it is paramyxovirus. Wants fresh tissue samples to confirm. We have been treating with baytrel and amikacen. Not sure where to go from here.

Marty

[wilomn]

If you've got paramyxo, I know that's not spelled correctly, your next trip should be to your freezer.

There is no treatment. There is no cure. There is the FACT of future transmission if you do not eliminate carriers.

Quarantine or face this exact scenario.

I'd do a search on forgotten realms over on the BOI. You'll probably want to be sitting down.

[Turbo Serpent]

Everyone I have known to get it in their collection loses over 50% of their collection. Good luck.

[wilomn]

Everyone I have known to get it in their collection loses over 50% of their collection. Good luck.

How many have you known to have this?

[kc261]

There was a long painful story a year or so ago, I believe the person's name was Jennifer, whose snakes had some disease and it just kept spreading through her collection and every one that got sick eventually died. Eventually she put the remaining snakes in the freezer to prevent possible transmission to any one else's collection. I do not remember for sure, but as soon as I saw the title of this thread, it reminded me of that story, and I think it may have been one of the things the vets thought was wrong with her snakes. I don't remember what the final diagnosis was, or even if there was one. So you might want to try to look up that story. I'm sure someone else will remember more details, or tell you I'm totally wrong about it having to do with paramyxovirus.

I do tend to trust what Wes (wilomn) says, and based on what he is saying, I would do everything I could ASAP to find out if it is paramyxovirus. Plus, if you have not already, get back with the person who sold you the snakes to warn them they may have it in their collection.

Always, always quarantine. Last summer/fall, we expanded our snake collection from 2 to 22. We were keeping snakes in 5 different rooms in our house, because we got snakes from different sources at different times, and did not want to risk the ones that were halfway through QT when we got more new ones. It was a little crazy, but we felt it was worth it.

[Turbo Serpent]

How many have you known to have this?

Only 2 locals. One lost a pair of Pins and a spider, as well as a few female normals.

[wilomn]

Only 2 locals. One lost a pair of Pins and a spider, as well as a few female normals.

Do you know where the animals that died came from?

[Turbo Serpent]

Do you know where the animals that died came from?

Nope, just was told the story and about how it literally happened with no signs.