quarantine questions;

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Which is why you work with your established collection first and new addition second, and once you worked with your new addition you do not go back to your established collection.

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Definitely agree with Deborah. Always when you have your newest collection you always do things for them last such as handling, feeding, cleaning (especially), and so on. Just so any animals in the new collection cannot spread anything to your established collection.

Well, an extra 500r would be a great investment. At this rate (getting a third snake) you will probably be getting more (just like potato chips!). It will be used at some point and a 500r can only take two heating devices.

Maybe you could get a nice thermostat like a johnsons or ranco and then use the 500r for quarantine? That might work out better. :)

Quarantine may seem silly, but tell that to people who didn't use it and lost 90% of their collection due to a lethal virus. It really isn't worth the risk. You may just have two snakes right now but I know it would be heartbreaking for you to loose all three, rather than just one. It is just a precaution, but a very important one.

earlier this year i picked up a spider ball at an expo. very nice snake. i was not expecting to pick one up but it happened. normally i quarantine my new balls but this time i didn't have the luxury. i was redoing the only rooms in my home that i can keep my snakes in. thus i was not expecting to buy at that time. this forced me to keep them in the same room.
i carefully monitored my snakes every day. i always keep them all on paper towel as well so i figured hopefully i will catch anything right away and fix the problem. the spider ball i bought looked healthy but was a very problematic feeder. i thought it was just that. maybe one month later i found mites. not on the spider but on one of my other snakes. within one day i was able to see it had already spread to at least 5 or 6 others. ( once they are noticeable, expect there to be hundreds more that you cannot see.)considering i only had ten at the time. that's pretty bad. in retro spec i guess its good that i only had ten because i now had to treat ten snakes, their bins, my rack, their water dishes , hides, etc. etc.... not just once but you are supposed to do a follow up as well. this takes time as well as adds unnecessary stress to them..
thank god it was only mites. if it was an air born disease i would be crying over the vet bills or worse yet the possible loss of one of my beloved snakes. and still i am worried that the spider doesnt have any thing internal that the mites may have tranfered from him to the others through their bites.
never again will i leave it up to chance. be careful and best of luck with whatever you decide.