Albino Bp Life span?

[JakeS]

I am sorry should have put could or may live to 25 years plus...Good point!!!

[JasonBrennan]

It should be noted that the only way to determine if a snake has IBD is after it is dead. A necropsy has to be performed to determine if a snake has IBD. There are symptoms, but the symptoms are also the same as with some other diseases, so it is very hard to tell.

The best thing you can do if you suspect IBD is to immediatly seperate the anjmal from all others and take it to the herp vet. If he thinks it could even possibly be IBD, the animal should be put down. IBD is terminal, and it is not a death that should have to be endured. Then, if the necrospsy shows it WAS IBD, then all other animals in the collection should be checked out by the vet. This is a contagious disease that can wipe out entire collections, so a certain level of caution is necessary (especially if you are adding animals to your collection!!)

Anyway, that is my take on IBD.

[Linds]

Actually, live snakes can be diagnosed with a blood test. The disease cells itself can only be detected with an organ tissue biospy, but a blood test can be used to diagnose live animals with the disease.

[Gorelith]

Albino's of any species live shorter lifespans. There is countless information available online about albinism and how the tyrosine protien affects melanin production as well as other undesired effects that pair with tyrosine (ie other codominant,dominant, and recessive traits). Don't ask me to provide links, they're all over the net. There's also issues online about inbreeding for genetic traits though most breeders deny the scientific evidence provided in these documents. You have to be careful when purchasing a "so-called" investment animal. What separates the investment animal from the normals? Is it just color? (not necessarily, there are undesireable genes paired with many genes people breed for) for example, there's a breed of dog (can't remember the name of the breed right off hand) thats costs roughly $5000-$8000 to buy and only lives 5 years. And this is what people are actively breeding towards. Go figure, it's not what I'd deem the best way to conserve that particular genepool. Sounds more like polluting the genepool to me, then again we are human....guess we're just good at polluting and f**king everything up.