So just how common and how contagious IS IBD?

[Skiploder]

A couple of things:

- IBD is not the worst thing that can happen to a collection.

- IBD does not kill pythons quickly.

- No one knows how long a python with IBD can remain asymptomatic.

- Pythons do not alway present with neurological symptoms.

The spread of misinformation - whether due to copying info from incorrect or outdated sources - is a real issue in this hobby.

Some of the earliest cases of IBD, the ones that gained traction in the reptile community, the ones that described whole collection dying off like flies, were never ever confirmed as IBD. In fact one of the most "famous" was later proven to be OPMV. Other cases were later, upon careful reexamination, hypothesized to also have been OPMV but were never confirmed because no necropsies were ever done.

Most of what is parroted on the forums came from parroted posts on other forums that had their painful birth on the crap smeared pages of Anapsid.

The very fact that most people automatically ASSume IBD when a snake presents with neurological symptoms is a testament to the depth that this misinformation has permeated our hobby. IBD more often than not, presents as a series of subclinical infections - stomatitis, anorexia, RIs that clear and then come back, etc.

Necropsies done on supposedly clear animals revealed that many healthy boas carry the virus but remain symptomatic - estimates have been thrown out there that perhaps as many as one third of the boas in captivity may be asymptomatic carriers.

A logical step would then be to ASSume that many of those boas reside in collections with pythons that also never present with any symptoms. If one third of the boas in captivity carry the disease then several people on this forum should have dealt with rapid and devastating decimations of their python collections - correct?

When I had boids, I dealt with IBD, and my correspondence with researchers and the University that did this histology and testing on my animals showed the depth of misunderstanding that exists in this community towards the disease.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do on a forum when you don't know the answer to a question is to back away from the keyboard. Too many people skim these post and misread guesses as real experience or mistake Google experience with real hands on experience.

There are a couple of ophidian diseases that do what people "claim" or "think" IBD does - namely rapidly tear thorough large collections, quickly striking down animals and requiring strict disinfection procedures for remaining husbandry equipment.