I'd be willing to be that this wasn't IBD. Why does it seem that vets are quick to throw the IBD diagnosis on every dead and/or dying snake that comes in??

........not saying that it definitely didn't have IBD (of course I do not know all of the details) it could have had IBD.....but the clinical signs of IBD are quite variable. Really could have been a number of things.

In any event, kudos to pointing your friend in the direction of a private breeder. There are too many people out there working with BP's to NOT buy captive bred.