Precautions-Working with Sick Animals

[bigballs]

i recently started working at a pet store in the reptile department. many animals they sell are wild caught and due to improper conditons and neglegt some get sick. i am a new part timer and can only say and do so much but i do the most that i can for every animal there. i was working with two balls that have the symptoms of RI and realized that it is very possible to bring home some infection or virus and pass it on to my own collection. i constantly wash and disinfect my hands and arms with soap and water, purell or betadine and when i come home i make sure to not bring my work clothes anywhere near my collection. is this cautious enough to keep my animals healthy or is there anything else i can do?

before i started working there i would get my f/t feeders there all the time and i see no symptoms of disease or parasites in my animals. am i being to paranoid or is there anything else i should do to keep my collection safe...

advice from all you reptile rescuers out there would help a lot aswell...

thanks guys!

[TekWarren]

When it comes to your animals health I don't think one can be to paranoid. The more you consious of the possibilities the more likely you are to go the extra lengths to to keep them healthy.

Here's an example of paranoia(sp)...coming home from a show and stripping off all clothes as soon as I walked in the door and proceeding to the shower. If that's not paranoia(sp) I don't know what is...but I had good reason. I'm also one of those people who who feels I have to wash or least use hand sanitizer before handling one animal after another.

[bigballs]

ya thats pretty hardcore


... i left out the showering part of my story cuz i thought that was a little to paranoid but i guess not.

i had to feed my animals the same day i worked and did not even go near the room until i showered and was wearing different clothes... i just dont want my animals getting sick at all...

but do you think that if your hands are washed and sanitized and youre wearing the same clothes that you worked in that it is possible to transfer some kind of virus or bacteria from your clothes to your snakes??

[TekWarren]

I don't honestly know how long infected germs will last or how likely it is that you could infect your animals (someone else here may know). I do know that mites or parasites could easily get on your clothing and be transmitted.

[frankykeno]

Hey if a quick shower and change of clothes (as well as the regular hand sanitizing) can help and also relieve your mind of some worry over this...I say go for it...it can't hurt.

[bigballs]

hey tek you say you sanitize after handling each animal but by keeping them so close together, like in a rack fo example, wouldnt they all have something if one had it even without the handling??

i know your animals are all healthy im just trying to create an example here.

and if your boas had RI can they pass to balls and balls to boas or can reptiles only catch certain diseases or infections from the same species??

i know there is R- and R+ where one can live without oxygen and the other can't. ya i wonder how long infected germs can last on clothes or hands...

maybe i wonmder too much and should go out and do some more research...

[TekWarren]

Perfectly valid point. It would be very easy to pass something from one snake to another if a bug is present. This is where quarantine comes into play, I am not bringing in new animals all that often and when I do it is kept away from main collection for a period of time (search for quarantine to find all sorts of suggestions). Still there is always the possibility that an animal could look healthy and have something transmittable(sp) that and I'm clean hands freak.

Also I've worked in public schools for quite a few years now that I find myself washing my hands without really thinking about it.

[bigballs]

ya quarantine is a must!


hey really nice collection by the way! i love the children's python and the tree boa!

i may pick up a pair of children's at the next show in my area...

how big do the boas get???