A liver biopsy can be done on a live snake. In Vet Pathol 37:449-459 (2000) Wozniak, McBride, DeNardo, Tarar, Wong, and Osburn recommend: "Because of the potential for IBDV-infected boas to persist as inapparent carriers and the lack of IBDV natural transmission data, all newly acquired specimens should be quarantined and checked for IBD by liver biopsy before being placed in collections."