I will certainly defer to Skip's experience in this matter. I was always told IBD kills quickly if present in a ball python. Never having had a snake that had it, I merely repeat what I was told. Skip I believe has had a snake or perhaps snakes that were diagnosed if I remember correctly. If Skip says it does not kill ball pythons quickly, he certainly knows more about it than I do.
Honestly, I wasn't trying to make you feel badly. To blame you was not my intention at all. I simply feel you were badly misinformed in this case, I would hate to see you loose another animal to a vet you trusted and who lacked the experience to guide you and treat your animals. It's happened to me before. I lost three animals to different vets I trusted to tell me the right thing, and to know what they were diagnosing and treating. It made me very cautious about going to a vet and very reluctant to trust one.
Happily I finally found a vet who is worth her weight in gold to me. She is very knowledgeable, but can and does admit when she's in over her head and needs to contact someone with more experience with a particular problem or animal.
I know this was very hard on you, it was on me as well. To loose a much loved animal is bad enough, but to loose it due to the mistake of the person you trusted to make the animal better is beyond hard. I am not blaming you, I know you are doing enough of that yourself. I simply hope you will consider seeking out a different vet in the future, to prevent another tragedy.
Gale
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