| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| jamieaisha1 |
Posted - 17/08/2012 : 23:05:16
Reading thru the metro the other day and found this article http://www.metro.co.uk/news/908555-killer-virus-causes-snakes-to-tie-themselves-up-in-knots. Never heard anything like it before |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| BlueDragon |
Posted - 18/08/2012 : 09:31:20
That's one of the reasons I bought Tig's Rats from a local home breeder and not one of those god-awful factory places. The Rats get fed a processed pellet food, nothing else. They get no fresh veg etc. So their health isn't going to be great. I wonder if they would have been suffereing from some form of vitimin deficincies or something like that. And what's that going to do to Snakes? If they're not getting everything they need 'cause neither did the rats then it must have an effect on them?
I can't say I have any idea what causes this in Snakes, but there are symptoms of vitimin deficincies in other Animals that include nerological damage resulting in similar effects to those seen in the Snakes. Loss of motor funcion, dizziness, loss of memory and fitting etc.
I know me keeping Rats as pets might make it seem like I'm just on their side, but maybe we should be asking for the feeder Rats to be cared for better in order to benefit our repti pets? Maybe it might help?
I'm just guessing though.
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| Lotabob |
Posted - 17/08/2012 : 23:19:57
IBD is a semi well known risk to pythons, it is 100% fatal but they dont die because they have tied themselves in a knot, thats poetic license on the writers part, they do appear to lose control of their motor functions and curl, stretch and thrash around. It is also fatal to all other snakes but affects them at different speeds, in Pythons though it hits them fast and hits them hard. It is largely unknown what causes it and also how it spreads is a bit of a mystery so the research mentioned is quite good that they may have pinned the cause down good first step to medical prevention and cure.
This is why quarantine of a new animal is so important, you could bring an infected snake into your collection and then its curtains for all of them, they will all die painfully so you have a choice of let them suffer or have them all put to sleep.
It does make sense though that a virus from rodents is the likely source of this, something eating something else eventually these things happen. Interesting and terrifying at the same time. |
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