Is there any update to this?
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Posted 12/19/2024.
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I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?
So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.
But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.
Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.
I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.
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Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.
And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
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Responding to email notices you receive.
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In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.
For those that don't know what happened -- Respiratory Virus in Ball Pythons
- Thread starter Pink Lady Exotics
- Start date
The information I have gotten is that the deaths are attributed to a severe strain of RIs. I don't know if anyone had a necropsy done, but the one young man who had lost a few BPs was able to halt the spread and has not lost any other snakes.
I have also not heard of anyone else losing whole collections.
It is still my opinion that Jen created a panic & gave bad advice without knowing all the facts.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have also not heard of anyone else losing whole collections.
It is still my opinion that Jen created a panic & gave bad advice without knowing all the facts.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
GREGORY J HALL
Active member
Oh OK that simple?
I would say so, yes.
If it was anything worse, there should have been more people losing snakes; all species, not just BPs.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I finally got word from the necropsy performed on a a ball python that was Shane's, the result was a bacterial respiratory infection. The young man that sent his off, was able to treat his remaining BPs and all are doing fine.
Last night I was made aware of a brand new paper published September 9th, 2014 regarding a newly sequenced virus linked to respiratory infection in ball pythons, labeled Ball Python Nidovirus (BPNV). This was an ongoing study using samples taken from 7 collections around the U.S. from 2006 to 2013.
http://mbio.asm.org/content/5/5/e01484-14.full
My former reptile DVM, Dr. Marc Gordon, is one of the contributors, as is Dr. Elliot Jacobson. Dr. Gordon was the one that handled the viral epidemic in my original collection in 2007-2008. In the paper's description regarding the snakes used in the study, it specifically mentions 3 from a private collection in Wisconsin. All of the details fit the work Dr. Gordon did on my case and the observations we made, including the 2 living sick snakes we chose to euthanize in order to get fresh tissue samples from:
"Three ball pythons (5, 6, and 7) from a private collection in Wisconsin were submitted to a veterinarian due to signs of respiratory disease. Ball python 5 was found dead and submitted for necropsy. The following tissues were collected, fixed in NBF, and processed for light microscopy: lungs, kidney, liver, stomach, spleen, and ovary with oviduct. Ball pythons 6 and 7 had acute onset of respiratory signs over a 2- to 3-day period characterized by an increase in respiratory rate and effort. There also was elevation of the cranial third of the snake’s body (from the ground), ultimately resulting in opisthotonos (stargazing). A decision was made to euthanatize and necropsy BP6 and -7."
Thus I'm 99% certain that my case was used in this study. If true, this then changes the theory that my original collection was destroyed by Paramyxovirus (up until this point, thought to be potentially the Sunshine Virus), and was instead infected with Ball Python Nidovirus. I will be looking into this more and hoping to get confirmation.
There are two sections of this paper that I feel should be noted. The first is regarding today's methods of herpetoculture creating a breeding ground for viruses like BPNV:
"Current standards in herpetoculture encourage disease transmission and may foster evolution of increased pathogen virulence. Captive snake breeding operations typically operate at high stocking densities, and breeders commonly attend trade shows, where animals from different sources are juxtaposed. In addition, animals from geographically and ecologically diverse areas are commonly imported and mixed with minimal quarantine. These practices increase pathogen exposure and lower barriers to transmission."
The second is regarding the statement I have always stood by in that some larger breeders knowingly have contagious respiratory infections in their collections yet continue breeding/selling:
"Ball python 11 was a 6-year-old adult from a private collection in Pennsylvania. The owner had about 74 snakes in total, all of which were ball pythons. Seven snakes in close proximity to one another from his collection became sequentially ill with clinical signs of respiratory disease, including dyspnea and open-mouth breathing, All ill snakes were immediately quarantined in a separate room from the general population. Of the 7 snakes that became ill, 6 died within a few days of first manifesting signs of respiratory disease. One of the dead snakes was submitted to a private practitioner for necropsy."
"The second case (BP10) was a 5-year-old female common BP from a large collection (500-plus) of ball pythons in Oklahoma. Prior to 2009, no significant health issues were recognized in this collection. Starting in 2009 several ball pythons showed signs of respiratory disease, and from 2010 to early 2011, three ball pythons died with clinical signs of respiratory disease. Ball python 10 had signs of respiratory disease and was euthanized for pathological evaluation."
Thus why I stress the importance of STRICT QUARANTINE, regardless of who you purchase from -- big or small, new keeper or veteran.
http://mbio.asm.org/content/5/5/e01484-14.full
My former reptile DVM, Dr. Marc Gordon, is one of the contributors, as is Dr. Elliot Jacobson. Dr. Gordon was the one that handled the viral epidemic in my original collection in 2007-2008. In the paper's description regarding the snakes used in the study, it specifically mentions 3 from a private collection in Wisconsin. All of the details fit the work Dr. Gordon did on my case and the observations we made, including the 2 living sick snakes we chose to euthanize in order to get fresh tissue samples from:
"Three ball pythons (5, 6, and 7) from a private collection in Wisconsin were submitted to a veterinarian due to signs of respiratory disease. Ball python 5 was found dead and submitted for necropsy. The following tissues were collected, fixed in NBF, and processed for light microscopy: lungs, kidney, liver, stomach, spleen, and ovary with oviduct. Ball pythons 6 and 7 had acute onset of respiratory signs over a 2- to 3-day period characterized by an increase in respiratory rate and effort. There also was elevation of the cranial third of the snake’s body (from the ground), ultimately resulting in opisthotonos (stargazing). A decision was made to euthanatize and necropsy BP6 and -7."
Thus I'm 99% certain that my case was used in this study. If true, this then changes the theory that my original collection was destroyed by Paramyxovirus (up until this point, thought to be potentially the Sunshine Virus), and was instead infected with Ball Python Nidovirus. I will be looking into this more and hoping to get confirmation.
There are two sections of this paper that I feel should be noted. The first is regarding today's methods of herpetoculture creating a breeding ground for viruses like BPNV:
"Current standards in herpetoculture encourage disease transmission and may foster evolution of increased pathogen virulence. Captive snake breeding operations typically operate at high stocking densities, and breeders commonly attend trade shows, where animals from different sources are juxtaposed. In addition, animals from geographically and ecologically diverse areas are commonly imported and mixed with minimal quarantine. These practices increase pathogen exposure and lower barriers to transmission."
The second is regarding the statement I have always stood by in that some larger breeders knowingly have contagious respiratory infections in their collections yet continue breeding/selling:
"Ball python 11 was a 6-year-old adult from a private collection in Pennsylvania. The owner had about 74 snakes in total, all of which were ball pythons. Seven snakes in close proximity to one another from his collection became sequentially ill with clinical signs of respiratory disease, including dyspnea and open-mouth breathing, All ill snakes were immediately quarantined in a separate room from the general population. Of the 7 snakes that became ill, 6 died within a few days of first manifesting signs of respiratory disease. One of the dead snakes was submitted to a private practitioner for necropsy."
"The second case (BP10) was a 5-year-old female common BP from a large collection (500-plus) of ball pythons in Oklahoma. Prior to 2009, no significant health issues were recognized in this collection. Starting in 2009 several ball pythons showed signs of respiratory disease, and from 2010 to early 2011, three ball pythons died with clinical signs of respiratory disease. Ball python 10 had signs of respiratory disease and was euthanized for pathological evaluation."
Thus why I stress the importance of STRICT QUARANTINE, regardless of who you purchase from -- big or small, new keeper or veteran.
Robert Walker
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Thanks for the information Jennifer.