To QT a rack??

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

I just picked up another 10 tub C-Serpent's rack..... V-70 adult rack. I got this rack from an employee of my local shop. I also picked up a nice 0.1 Pastel who is in QT herself and was in this rack. So far she looks great.

Here's my question.....

Much has been posted regarding the QT process of a snake you receive in. I'm all on board with that. However, I have cleaned/sterilized this rack way more than you could possibly do to a snake. I first used Bleech wipes to wipe the rack down. I then wiped it down with a hot soapy rag and hand dried it. Then sprayed the entire rack with PAM after it had dried. All 10 tubs had holes reamed as I normally do. They were all cleaned with general purpse hand sanitizer to get any debris out. Then it was off to the bleech tank. The all got washed with a medium strong bleech mixture and then rinsed with hot soapy water, hand dried and then treated with PAM.

Now I have this "brand new" rack in my garage and I'm thinking to myself..... do I really want to roll this thing inside yet? I don't have an "immediate" need for it, although a few snakes could probably get moved up from my V-18 rack pretty soon as they approach 1000g.

Am I going overboard to QT this rack after all this chemical cleaning and treating? I guess I'm just looking to make sure I'm not just a bit paranoid and some of you all would do the same.

[The Serpent Merchant]

There isn't such a thing as too safe, but I think that you would be ok to move the rack inside as long as all of the chemical fumes are gone.

[OsirisRa32]

I'm confused....what does QTing a rack have to do with a new snake's QT?

I would assume you are QTing the previously mentioned new snake as well?

or am I completely missing something due to lack of sleep and it being 3:30 in the am?

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

QT'ing the rack and the snake are two separate issues. The snake is already in QT and is doing great. She's just a nice little 900g 0.1 Pastel (2011), but everyone needs some Pastel love.... especially when it's a female

The rack is what my post is about. The rack is "used". I don't know what has been in it besides the snake I bought it with. I have cleaned/sterilized/treated the rack as detailed in the first post.

My question is "Would you QT a rack that has been cleaned above as I detailed- just to be safe, or put it in use?" I am a bit on the cautious side and still have it the rack in my garage.

I think I got a pretty good deal. The rack goes for $650 new on C-Serpents site. I picked up the rack, a 1000w Zilla T-stat (will use behind a Herpstsat 2) and the 0.1 Pastel at 900g all for $600.

[kitedemon]

There are a lot of issues with disinfecting, from what I know and from what I see people describing the majority of keepers of reptiles do not follow effective disinfecting methods. Are you concerned with killing virus (IDB, OPMV) ? If this is concern there are a few questions. To disinfect everything must be as clean as you can make it. The next part is the kicker to be effective against virus the bleach sol'n needs to be WET for ten minutes, dripping wet all surfaces everywhere. There are a lot of grades of wipes very few will kill through organic compounds and be effective fast. They are the ones that are used in hospitals and require gloves with use, not off the shelf type.

Many hand sanitizes need around 30 seconds of wet time to work as well.

The question if you are concerned about virus it sounds like the rack was cleaned but not truly disinfected. If you are not concerned with virus I would suggest re bleaching the whole rack with bleach (1:10 from household) allowing correct contact times (10min) and there should be no problem. These are your animals and your efforts you know the answers. If you are confident you did follow effective methods given a day in the sun (to completely break down bleach) there should be no issues with the rack at all.

http://www.antimicrobialtestlaborato...sanitizers.htm
www.virox.com/download.aspx?ItemInfoID=342
http://www.virox.com/infection_contr...n/default.aspx

"The antimicrobial activity of sodium hypochlorite is very dependent on pH. As pH increases the germicidal activity decreases. Additionally, contamination of organic material to a chlorine solution will consume the available chlorine which also reduces its capacity of germicidal activity. This is especially evident in solutions with low levels of chlorine." Virox tech bulletin Chlorine and Chlorine Compound Disinfectants.

The basic steps for disinfecting are;
wash with detergent/soap remove every bit of organic matter,
Rinse completely,
Dry,
SATURATE with disinfectant at the correct dilution and the for the correct contact time (if unknown use 30 min). Be sure to observe the decomposition issues of the choice.
Follow the post disinfection precautions if any.

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

I am a RN and have those wipes you mentioned "available".

The wipes I used seemed pretty strong by the label, although surely not as good as the wipes I use in the ER..... the label read- kills E. Coli, Salmonella, Herpes, HIV, among many others listed. The rack was wet for at least 30 minutes as I used a fresh wipe on each shelf. When I was finished reaming the holes in all 10 tubs, the rack was still wet. I towel dried the rack, washed it with a hot soapy rag, dried it again, then hit it with PAM.

The tubs were bleeched in probably a greater than 1:10 mixture. I have a 2 gallon jug of bleech at the cleaning basin and I just splash some in each tub and scrub them with a "greenie". I then wash with hot soapy water to remove any bleech residue from the tub. Tubs were dried then hit with PAM.

I'm not so much worried about a virus as I am dang mites. Haven't had them.... don't want them. The one snake I have that was in the rack was inspected very closely for mites. None seen and she is not soaking in her water dish at all. She is behaving like a normal bp. Tomorrow will be her first feeding attempt. I'm not sure that will go well with the transition from her rack to a tub while in QT. The girl kept one Lesser as a pet and he is the brother to my 1.0 Lesser who is a beast of a breeder so far. She brought her Lesser outside when I picked up the rack and he looks great as well. The shop where she works is where I get my feeders and I have bought several hatchlings there- never an issue with any of them.

Thanks for all the input.

[OsirisRa32]

QT'ing the rack and the snake are two separate issues. The snake is already in QT and is doing great. She's just a nice little 900g 0.1 Pastel (2011), but everyone needs some Pastel love.... especially when it's a female

The rack is what my post is about. The rack is "used". I don't know what has been in it besides the snake I bought it with. I have cleaned/sterilized/treated the rack as detailed in the first post.

My question is "Would you QT a rack that has been cleaned above as I detailed- just to be safe, or put it in use?" I am a bit on the cautious side and still have it the rack in my garage.

I think I got a pretty good deal. The rack goes for $650 new on C-Serpents site. I picked up the rack, a 1000w Zilla T-stat (will use behind a Herpstsat 2) and the 0.1 Pastel at 900g all for $600.

I think you got a deal...great looking rack and snake!! lol
thanks for the clarification....I definitely think me reading it on such little sleep resulted in the mushing together of the issues being discussed...