carpet python with ibd (possibly)

hey all. iv just registered on this site as i am really worried about the health of all my snakes. i recently aqquired a carpet python from my local shop yesterday, and had a good look at him lastnight. me and my fiance both think he might have IBD, although were not sure. apparently the carpeth was rescued from an old persons home and he was just left alone for ages. he is about a year old and seems fine. the problem is that when you poke him gently he dosnt seem to draw away from your finger like most snakes, hes breathing either from his mouth or just has a cold ( he was kept at room temp for one day), when you pick him up and set him ontop of your lap he always slithers backwards, as though he dosnt know where hes going. this has made us extrememly worried as all of our other animals are at risk. we recently bought a pair of honduran fire belly boas for 300 pounds, and to be honest i dont wantr them to die! also the fact the rest of our boas are family pets. so any thoughts on what might be the problem? i havnt tried feeding him yet as he has only been brought home yesterday. thanks.

[clsutt29]

Well for one I wouldnt jump on ibd just yet. If the snake was neglected as you say theres no telling what could be wrong. The only thing you have really explained that i see wrong is the open mouth breathing. This sounds like an RI. You have not had the snake long enough to really tell if something else is wrong. The snake is probably really stresed out so you need to make sure you give it time to settle down before making any assumptions. You also need to quarantine that animal away from all of your snakes.

[jhsulliv]

As Chris said, don't jump to IBD just yet. Lots of other problems can cause symptoms of IBD, but it sounds like he has a respiratory infection. I would get him into a vet sooner rather than later and keep him quarantined (strictly) from the rest of your collection.

If you don't have a vet yet see if you can find one here: http://www.arav.org/ECOMARAV/timssne...t_mdsearch.cfm. Word of mouth is probably the best way to find a good herp vet though so if you know of any other keepers in your area or belong to any herp societies they can probably direct you to one too.

[cian300]

First of all, I agree totally with Chris and Joley. I was in the same boat as you a couple of months ago, when I bought 2 Dumeril boas that exhibited symptoms commonly attibuted to IBD. After a couple of weeks with little to no handling, I started to see an improvement in thier behavior. It does seem like you need to seek treatment for a possible RI, but as far as the IBD goes, give it some time. The stresses of the new location, new owner, new environment, as well as the previous environment will definately cause odd behavior. The key point to remember is to be extremely vigilant in your quarantine practices. Do not, under any circumstances intoduce the new snake to your collection for several months, in my opinion. Keep them in separate parts of the house, and make sure you wash up very well when moving between rooms. Once the RI is cleared up, I think you will see an improvement. Hope this helps.

[snake77]

As far a moving backwards that is a deffensive posture and motion for snakes. Like the above post it is fore sure stressed. See a vet and get your enclosure temps up to where they need to be to treat a RI I believe but ask around I think you would be looking at around 95 on the hot side for any python with RI. Thats where I was told with all my ball pythons. so vet (antibiotics) qaurantine, temps and humidity and leave it alone past
medical and care reasons and you should be fine.
IBD no real proof is a nervous system issue and you really didn't describe anything related to nervous system issues.