My new red tail's body disolved and died

[PendulumPit]

Hello every one;
My wife just bought this female red tail and it was only acouple of months old. It didn't seem to have any noticable growth like the male. It started to regurgitate and then no more eating, the next symptoms was loss of muscle control its tail half of the body and lots of star gazing and then finally it was like its insides disolved.

If anyone has any ideas of what this might have been we would appreciate it. Thx

[Guest]

Re: My new red tail's body disolved and died

I am not sure but it sounds like Inclusion body disease(IBD). Here is some info on IBD I found:

"Signs of infection in boas include central nervous system disorders such as paralysis, being unable to right itself when turned over, "star-gazing", inability to strike or constrict. Other signs include chronic regurgitation, extreme weight loss, respiratory infections, and dysecdysis due to the inability to control body movements enough to rub off the old skin. The disease is rapidly fatal in young and juvenile boas, typified by rapid onset of flaccid paralysis."


But I would have a qualified vet find out what the boa died of and make sure the other boa is ok.

[Doug]

Re: My new red tail's body disolved and died

hI,
Sorry about your loss, Isolate all reptiles you own and clean each cage completely, If the other snake was in contact with the sick one he proably has it to. It can take months to rear it ugly head.
 SOrry... :'(
doug
excellent article
[ftp]http://www.anapsid.org/deanne.html[/ftp]

 

[PendulumPit]

Re: My new red tail's body disolved and died

Thx for the replies so far.

I take it that this IBD disease came from the breeder yes/no?
or where could it it come from, we have no other reptiles.

Does any one know a good breeder here in Canada
I guess the male is gonna die from it to yes/no?
They did share the same cage.

This is a real bummer and costly

[Doug]

Re: My new red tail's body disolved and died

HI,
It may hav been another problem that caused the untimely death.
 The only reason I mentioned IBD was the possbility it was and that until you remove all possible vectors, and carriers of the disease you could become stuck in a loop of sick and dieing animals.
 If the second animal developes any symptoms I would plan on having a necropsy by a vet who's familar with the condition and then samples tissue to examin  for disease.
  Here's another resource useful for a reptile vet who may want to preform the special stains to ID the disease from samples taken during the post exam.
 IF positive for IBD  dispose of every thing that can't be bleached and or treated for mites. Wood carpet hides and such...
This should break the chain of re-infection any new or future animals you may wish to keep.
[ftp]http://www.vetmed.ufl.edu/sacs/wildlife/IBDINFO.html[/ftp]
  Good luck,
 Never keep new animals together....
 doug


   

[kathtus]

Re: My new red tail's body disolved and died

I think Doug has a good message there. I would take the other snake to get tested and definitely clean thoroughly.

It's tedious but anyone who owns these beautiful animals -hopefully will take that time for them.. : : :-*

[LORI]

Re: My new red tail's body disolved and died

Just want to clarify on something said here...

I would take the other snake to get tested

THERE IS NO KNOWN TEST FOR IBD IN A LIVING SPECIMEN. The only way to verify IBD is by necropsy ie a post mortem exam. I have heard of some saying that their vet "is doing a blood test for IBD"..YUP, they are also "lining their pockets" on your account is all. When the good ole doc down in Florida Univ. says that a test for living specimens has been found, then I will believe such, but NOT until then. He is the leader in the area of IBD research.

Now as for the original post here...

From the sounds of your post, you actually obtained two snakes the last couple of months that are neonates. Right ? Also sounds like the snakes were both eating but only one was growing [ the male]. Right ? Then sudden;y after a couple of months the female starts regurging what it is eating and stops eating at that point.
How long between the stopped eating and the next symptoms that came into play ? ie the loss of muscle, star gazing etc ?
Sorry, but from what i am seeing/reading here. This snake did NOT have IBD. What looks like to me is that for some reason you had...
a neonate that started regurging..
got majorly dehydrated [ a given with the regurging btw]
went off feed due to the regurging +
was not addressed for the symptom of dehydration or regurge
was NOT seen by a vet even though the animal was quite obviously sick.
Was basically left to wither and die off by you not getting it proper medical attention at all once it became sick.
This snake quite obviously had something going on medically , maybe even possibly husbandry wise, and nothing seems to have been done to remedy the problem at all on your part. You have mentioned no vet visit..no cultures, no "what you were told to do for the snake" at each point in the progression towards death the snake went through at all. Maybe I am wrong, but for some reason..the lack of information and the request for a quick answer as to why the snake withered and died..leads me to belive I am not far from what has taken place in regards to this snake at all. prove me completely wrong here..pleeease !

What was the vets diagnosis when you brought the snake to 'em when it got sick and strated regurging ?
What did they tell you to do for the dehydration. {If regurging, then it WAS dehydrated also]
What meds did the vet place the snake on ?
What were the results of the cultures and where did the vet take the culturing from local wise on the snake ?

In a nutshell.. what happened to your snake imo was the following..
snake had something going on, possibly worms...
snake starts regurging due to this...
snake gets dehydrated due to regurges....
snake goes off feed due to all above....
snake digress' medically due to above....
snake's internal organs take a beating due to the malnourishment and the dehydration going on......
snake goes into neuro symptoms from the dehydration...
snake's kidneys shut down ......
snake's internal parts start to "dissolve" due to the combined problems medically and the lack of medical intervention for such......
snake dies..period

Sorry to be soo crass, but you asked and it sounds like blatant neglect is what led to the demise of your snake to me. You say that you have another snake also ? Work on correcting this type of issue from happening to this snake also. Start with telling us what your husbandry is like is all. Someone should be able to provide some input to help you insure that this snake doesn't meet the same as the other one. ALSO...TAKE THIS SNAKE TO THE VET FOR A CHECK-UP ASAP