Need some Info.

[crush]

Does anyone have a Albino Green Burm? If so how are they as far as temperment and such. I am getting a new snake but its a choise between a baby Boa or Baby Green Burm.
I already have 2 Boas 1 pushing 9 feet and the other pushing 8 and 3 Ball Pythons. Promised I would stop at 6.
Thanks Guys and Gals
Shannon

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[JuliusSqueezer]

Temperment isn't the issue with green burms. Finding one that will survive past 5 years and not wipe out your whole collection with it is the issue. These snakes apparently had a bad gene introduced early on and as a result very few are surviving to a full lifespan. Sure some are making it to really large sizes but any burm can do that in a couple of years and even breed before they are overcome with chronic RI caused by a diminishing immuno system. Some will argue that BD (Burm's disease) is a myth. Perhaps it is but the fact remains that MANY burm breeders lost heart and stopped breeding burms after their collections died off soon after introducing green burms to their bloodlines. Personally, I wouldn't call BD a myth. It is too well documented. I think the problem lies in that no self respecting scientist or doctor would name a virus "Burm's Disease" so it has to be something else and just hasn't been properly named yet...unless it is some new strand of Ophidian paromoxyvirus or something. The symptoms are the same all except the incubation period is bizarre. OPMV usually hits hard and fast where BD rarely if ever shows even the first hint of trouble before the snake is 30 months old. It would be much easier to control if it did hit sooner because 30 months is plenty of time to spread it to the rest of your collection and even breed and pass it on to a whole new generation. New burm breeders coming along will tell you "ahh rubbish.. I have a 17 foot green burm that's never been sick." Perhaps they do. Perhaps they won't for long though. I'm not saying all green burms are marked for BD...I'm sure that there are some out there. But I care way too much for the rest of my collection than to ever risk it. It would be like going to a 3rd world country in Africa to find a hooker. Not wise.

Soooo My suggestion is enjoy what you have or add a boa. If you do go with an albino green burm....quarantine it for life far away from the rest of your collection and prepare yourself for a huge heartache. Watching a magnificant beast slowly choke to death on it's own phlegm is a tough pill to swallow. I went through it with a rescue Labrynith burm a couple of years ago.

	Bearded Dragon Bearded Dragon is the common name for any agamid lizard in the genus Pogona.

[Rmk1999]

I've been looking on a lot of online classifieds about green burms and albino green burms. I've narrowed my selection for my next snake down to either of those. Everyone who has one for sale all say they're puppy dog tame and I've even read one postes as "pride of my collection." However that could just be a sale tactic...I mean who would write up this is a nasty snake? But I did email and chat with owners of fairly large green burms and they have had all pretty much the same to say about them...they're great pets, large, but great pets.

[Rmk1999]

Well while i was writing my post...Julius came along with something I did not know about green burms. So that puts a hindering on my choice. Thanks for the info!!

[BWSmith]

I was discussing Burm Disease with my herp vet the other day. Evidently it is coming to light more in the exotic veterinary community as well. Hopefully, someone will end up writing a paper.

I think the conversation started when he was telling about an albino burm a client of his has and I referred to it as a "Baytril Storage Unit".

[Ghroller]

Didn't know that.... learn something new everyday Sad to hear too they're such gorgeous snakes.

[NocturnalCreations]

Thats very interesting, I never heard of this before. I had a male green for around 4-5 years and never had any health problems. Now I am curious if he is still alive.
Tim

[JuliusSqueezer]

Notice that most of the big burm breeders no longer have any. Do you think it has anything to do with lack of popularity? They are strikingly beautiful animals and everyone seems to think so so I doubt that's an issue. There are still several garage hobby breeders unwilling to throw in the towel or maybe just haven't been breeding them long enough to realize the mess they have on their hands. Unfortunatly, they are also crossing the greens into labrynith and albino and even breeding normals for hets and due to all the inbreeding that goes into creating these designer lines....the future of all burm breeding is extremely scarey...not to mention that burm breeding is all wrong anyway. They lay clutches of 50 eggs on avg. Where are there 50 good homes for giant pythons? I can't see a justification for even one more litter of burms being bred by anyone of any kind of burm until all the ones flooding the rescues are happily housed into good homes and there is an actual market for them. Selling baby burms in petstores to the unwary impulse buyer is not a legitimate market. Almost all of these animals sold are doomed to neglect, horrible conditions and very premature death....or release into the everglades or a movie theater somewhere. I personally would not buy a can of meal worms from anyone who breeds burms.

	Heterozygous Heterozygous - the animal carries the gene for a genetic trait but does not outwardly demonstrate the trait. Example: A boa that is het for albino looks normal but carries the albino gene. When it is bred to another het for albino boa or an albino boa, a percentage of the offspring will be albino.