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Originally Posted by warp81  im reletivly new to this amazing hobby but iv neva herd of these 2 things wat do they stand for and wat are they exactly ? |
Two diseases that affect our snakes.
OPMV - Ophidian (correct my spelling please) Paramyxo Virus
IBD - Inclusion Body Disease
Both are very infectious and fatal diseases. The viruses that cause these diseases affect the snakes brain and nervous systems -It's been labelled as Mad Snake Disease in some articles.
In simpler terms, these illnesses damage and destroy brain and nervous tissue. Generally nearly alays fatal. Symptoms include 'Starry eyes' - eyes always looking up, weight loss, disorientation and convulsions.
This is part of the reason why WA is against the importation of herps.
Earl - your Olive is probably just curious. they normally raise their head to check out their environment.
Warp - Without causing panic, it can by definition of the illness be passed on by sharing equipment and being in the same enclosure. There have been a few on this site and other forums that have lost their entire collections due to these viruses. Unless, you buy all your herps from the same breeder at the same time, I would be individually placing each snake on quarrantine. It is believed that the illness is passed similar to the flu, through direct droplet contact
As for tests, a test is being devloped apparently using PCR - polymerase chain reaction. It uses a machine to detect and define the illness by finding key DNA sequences. It's already idely used for people - They use it to test for the for common STDs, the Clap, Gono and Chlamydia. These are only some examples. What needs to be done is to determine the key DNA strand that defines the illnesses as IBD and OPMV.
