How do I quarantine multiple ball pythons?

As the title says I'm going o need to quarantine some ball pythons... I'm going to a reptile expo in a few months and have been saving money for it, I'm planing on buy multiple females.... But how do i go about quarantining them? If I buy from 5 different breeders how would I deal with that put all the snakes in 1 rack and take the risk? Also when im quarantining them how far should they be away from my other snakes that I own now? Thanks for all the tips and advice you guys can give me.

I think the general thought here is you would quarantine all new reptiles away from your existing stock. I mean you could just scatter bins around your house with one snake in each but that seems kinda silly. I'm assuming there will be others with thoughts here. That's the best I got lol.

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Originally Posted by interloc

I think the general thought here is you would quarantine all new reptiles away from your existing stock. I mean you could just scatter bins around your house with one snake in each but that seems kinda silly. I'm assuming there will be others with thoughts here. That's the best I got lol.

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I was thinking that aswell but is it worth buying the heat pads and keeping r Adolph bins plugged in every where for a whole 9 months? I was thinking the same thing it would be dumb... But I don't want to risk any sicknesses going around with my current snakes aswell as other snakes I buy from the expo... Thanks for the input though.

Sorry to slightly hijack your thread but in addition, how long does everyone quarintine for as well? I'm asking due to being in this exact situation right now.

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

Sorry to slightly hijack your thread but in addition, how long does everyone quarintine for as well? I'm asking due to being in this exact situation right now.

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Sone people on do it for 3 month some for 6 months I would say 9-12 months to be on the absolute save side.

My quarantine rack is in my house while the rest of my collection is in the building out back. any new additions go into the quarantine rack and if there are any snakes in there at that time, then their time starts over. I keep snakes in QT for at least three months and if I notice even one odd little thing (stool a little runny, odd behavior, excessive drinking, etc.) from any of them, then everyone stays until I feel it is safe. My last additions came with mites which I immediately treated all the tubs with PAM and the infested snakes with Reptile Relief. I don't think they have spread to any of the others but they will all be staying at least another 3 months before I even think about moving any to my building.

I am a self admitted spaz. I would not have them together in a rack nor would I have them around the others. I would in fact have tubs all over the place. It gets complex as it is a lot of T-stats and extra gear. I would suggest a min of 6 months and that is with tests. I would say a fecal is required. A blood screen is a good idea, and IBD and OPMV tests should also be considered.

would it be ok to quarantine in another section of my bedroom if the room is fairly big? If i watch my procedure while handling the animal will i be ok?

Ideally each snake is in a separate room and has its own tools (cleaning brushes, feeding tools perhaps, although steel is much easier to clean) It would be better but clearly not always possible. if you are super careful separate tubs with as much physical distance as you can manage between them. Remember it is a state of mind as well nothing should be common between any snake in quarantine and out side it. I have worked doing rescues for years, at times we have had multiples come in at once. It is a monster amount of work. I found separate tubs with each snakes tools on the top of the tub helped. I also always kept pans under each tub in Q full of diatomaceous earth. This prevents mites or any other bug from visiting any other snake. It is a big commitment separate and independent set ups for each Q tub is a lot of extra stuff that is often not needed when the animals enter into a collection. (I have 8 rescue tubs each with UTH and Thermostats) Don't forget it isn't just protecting existing collection from what the additions might have. It is also protecting the additions from what the collection has. The bacteria ect. your collection have adapted too the additions will not be adapted to. Much like travelling the local people drink the tap water but you get stomach nasty when you do. That means each snake have its own substrate and things of that nature as well. I personally like to buy rats from the person whom I get snake from so that at least for a single feeding that is constant as well.

where do you find this diatomaceous earth? Do you set the tub + the UTH right into the pan of earth?