I just thought i would put this out there. There has apparently been another case of OPMV in western Sydney (Macarthur area). I'm not 100% satisfied that this is a legit case. But this is how the story goes.

Last weekend a friend of my mum's came over to look at the herps because she is thinking of getting some beardies and a bredli. So she told me about her mate who keeps reptiles, he knows nothing and is a complete fool(he thought to small food would choke his snake!). So after an hour or so of looking at and talking about reptiles she had to head home. On the way home she called up this guy and told him some of the info i told her about feeding his diamond large food etc. The guy called me up to have a chat. After talking for a bit this guy really did know nothing.


Anyways a few days ago my mums friend went to this guys house, and one of his snake was "star gazing" etc, so after she looked up all the symptoms she seems to think he has OPMV in his collection. Like i said I'm not 100% sure that this is the case but i thought i would put it out there that there could be another case, just so everyone can be extra cautious.

It always pays to excersize caution by quarantining new animals for atleast 6 months, prefrable in another room, and observing strict hygene control as outlined by parks n wildlife article on this site.

Note that apparent 'stargazing' snakes resting with head pointing upwards, is not always actually what it seems. Some pythons will do this
resting against the glass or walls of the enclosure for periods of time,
doing it without support like an indian snakecharmers cobra is another thing.

Spike, please remember that a some point YOU knew nothing either,
keeping herps is an ongoing learning process no matter how long you've been at it. Thankyou for not naming the bloke but please dont be bagging folk out mate

spike a lot of snakes star gaze to a degree there is a lot more involved in OPMV then just the star gazing it also could be the start of DPI syndrome i wouldnt jump to conclusions without actually seeing the python in ?? also get him to take it to a vet as soon as possible so it can be diagnosed.With what youve said here it could well be a case of miss diagnosis from 2 inexperienced herpers but as you said better to be safe than sorry.
chris/

Yeah, at first i thought couldn't be OPMV, and I'm still not 100% sure it is, the snake was star-gazing upwards in the middle f the tank. I really hope it isn't OPMV, because the cases are getting closer and closer. I know it seems a bit slack me bagging on the guy but i just feel this way about him, because all the info he gave me on the phone was wrong. I think he will take it to the vet but i hardley know the guy.

And the lady that noticed it searched the net for 3days and asked breeders about the symptoms it had and came to the conclusion it may be OPMV.