ibd?

[im faster]

so the ball python i just picked up doesnt use his tail to hold on..

is this ibd or something else?


whats the easiest way to tell if they have

 

[M_surinamensis]

Organ biopsies looking for inclusion bodies.

Or, since IBD is 100% fatal, generally it's something diagnosed during a necropsy.

It's a very strange thing to ask about the way you did though. Given what IBD is (at least as far as it is known), it's like a person sneezing and jumping immediately to a conclusion of brain cancer. Just odd.

 

[im faster]

someone told me thats what it was..

im just asking how to tell and if that is sometingthat it could be

 

[M_surinamensis]

Ball pythons aren't arboreal snakes, they aren't that good at holding on to things or climbing- they can do it, but they aren't exactly great at it. They haven't got a tail that's built for hanging off a branch or behaviors that encourage it...

Symptoms of IBD can include; stargazing, regurgitation, neurological symptoms (spinning, twitching), loss of muscle control, loss of muscle tone, liquid discharges from the mouth and nose, rolling, respiratory distress and death. Progression from the first symptoms to the inevitable conclusion is relatively rapid, taking at most a few days. Animals can be infected and asymptomatic for some time, though the exact cause of IBD is unknown and this makes the known pathology somewhat incomplete. It is also worth noting that all the symptoms that can be visually diagnosed can also be caused by multiple other underlying problems, from exposure to extreme temperatures, to much more common infections, to exposure to toxins. Confirmation of IBD requires a biopsy of the major organs (not always conclusive) or a necropsy (post-mortem only).

Because IBD is so virulent and deadly, you want to be very careful throwing the term around if you have not confirmed it. It's quite easy to cause a panic and to destroy reputations through casual accusations, assumptions and misuse. It is just about the very worst thing that can happen to a person's reptiles and that comes with an enormous dose of hypochondria, rumor and myth, as you might expect.

So not hanging onto you with its tail... well, technically it might be a symptom of IBD, but it doesn't really fit the usual progression of symptoms if that is the only thing you have observed, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for the observation because of the species involved and it is tremendously unlikely to be IBD. Not impossible... but extremely improbable, based on just that one factor.

 

[rickmoss95]

im pretty sure balls dont get ibd

 

[M_surinamensis]

im pretty sure balls dont get ibd

They definitely can.

There are a lot of unknowns about IBD when it comes to the exact cause and things like method of transmission. There are questions about the effect and virulence of the disease agent in various groups of snakes and questions about the potential for incubation, transmission and harm to other non-snake reptiles.

What is known however, is that all boids are highly susceptible and, as far as it is known, the disease is 100% fatal.

Ball pythons are not an exception to this. Given the popularity of the species and the tendency for keepers of the species to have larger collections (resulting from smaller space requirements and profitability of breeding projects) ball pythons are actually one of the most commonly infected species. Right there next to boa constrictors.

Where ever you got your information suggesting ball pythons can not be infected with IBD, it's wrong. Blatantly. Totally. Wrong.