Please be aware of the possible new BP "supervirus", and Q,Q,Q!!!

[4theSNAKElady]

Has your Mr. Smith sold any animals in the last 8 months or so?

Yes. As a matter of fact to me n my husband. Right before he started having problems, we got two animals from him. One is still in quarantine, but the other has been in our collection since February, after quarantine. No problems so far, but it doesnt mean im not worried.

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[dr del]

I think the real questions was has he sold any after he started having problems.

Though I may be wrong as Wes does not misspeak as a rule.

[aldebono]

I work at UF. I am going to poke around to see what I can find out.

[mechnut450]

that be a great help as Mr Smith has lost a couple nice snakes to this (disease).I hate to see him have this issue as a friend and fellow reptile lover.

[mechnut450]

I think the real questions was has he sold any after he started having problems.

Though I may be wrong as Wes does not misspeak as a rule.

No because he afraid too. He hate to see others suffer any loss. He not even attended any shows in the last 3 months.

[4theSNAKElady]

I don't believe that it's actually a 'new' virus. There is something that has been around for quite a few years. Here is a link that might help with research - http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=220629 I won't vouch for the veracity of the information posted since I have no first hand knowledge, but you can read through it and make up your own mind.

Thank you for posting that link Mark! I read the whole thing and must say.....it is very upsetting. And ive heard about the paramyxovirus before.....like in 2005/2006. Surely so many years later there has to be some development on it?

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[Skiploder]

Thank you for posting that link Mark! I read the whole thing and must say.....it is very upsetting. And ive heard about the paramyxovirus before.....like in 2005/2006. Surely so many years later there has to be some development on it?

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OPMV has been implicated in many of the mysterious IBD outbreaks that killed off entire collections in months.

With all the talk about IBD, OPMV is all but forgotten by many in the hobby, but experienced reptile vets will tell you they see more of it than almost any other virus.

In fact, many of these respiratory infections that we read about - you know, the ones that spread from snake to snake and do not resolve - most likely are OPMV. OPMV at times presents itself as an un-curable gram negative RI.

That is not always the case however, as many snakes just die. Yep, you've seen the post: snake was eating like a champ, refused food a Friday and BAM! - Monday it was dead. This is very common in OPMV infections - no signs up until the snake kicks the can.

Since most knuckle heads are willing to spend $2000 on an ARS rack, God knows how much filling it with high-end morphs, but not $200 on a necropsy, these become recurring forum bugaboos - the Untreatable RI and the Suddenly Dead Snake. So my guess is that OPMV is much more prevalent than we are willing to give it credit for.

........as for a lack of development on OPMV, well, this hobby is downright pathetic when it comes to contributing to causes - namely donating money to protect our rights or donating money to ophidian disease research. As such, I'm sure that there has been progress - but when those doing the research cannot rely on the community to assist with properly necropsying suspected infected snakes or donating $$$$ to a cure, that progress will be justifiably slow.

[4theSNAKElady]

You are absolutely right Skip ...in fact, when I read that link, it made feel a little guilty and want to maybe donate to some kind of reptile medical research fund. I think while it is our duty here to protect our rights to keep our reptiles(ie USARK,etc,.), b it is ALSO our duty to put efforts into the forwarding of research to protect the HEALTH of our reptiles into the future.

[Neal]

I'm curious who the Mr. Smith is.

[mechnut450]

sadly Mr Smith has lost 3 nice snakes this weekend 2 (champagne ghost ) and a albino pinstripe. He has donated (pad) for 2 other snakes to be killed and study done to try and see (hope) for some answers and a possible treatment) He has been very upset over this, and he does still get pics and talks to people that purchased snakes from him up until his collection has shown signs. and everyone else snakes have been fine so far. We have taken one snake ( normal) that showed no signs of being sick and she in QT at my mothers and so far ( knocks on several trees) is doing fine being a little pig eating all the time. WE are attempting to see if she
A) comes down sick and
B) see it it possible something else causing this all. as MR Smith does have an issue with wild rats under his house that we being trying to kill off.

we figure if the snake has no issues and the rest of the snakes get sick/die then it either we moved her before she got it or it something in the environment.