2019 Snek Acquisition Plan

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Originally Posted by zina10

There are a few breeders with impeccable reputation.

Deborah, one of our Moderators, has BEAUTIES for sale, and her husbandry is perfect. Dynasty Reptiles has all their buyers happy from what I can see. Justin K., Ozzy and a few more are also trustworthy with amazing animals.

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can confirm @Deborah should be the poster child for how breeders should conduct themselves. she is incredibly knowledgable, SUPER helpful, responds quickly and produces amazing animals.

i bought my first breeder female from her: my Pastel Enchi Leopard 100% het Pied and she is amazing in temperament and feeding.

i am not endorsed by @Deborah (#shouldbe LOL) but when you find quality you can't help but boast.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

You also need to realize that most show promoters do not vet their vendors to ensure they are only selling healthy animals; anyone who wants a table gets one. So, you could have one vendor who breeds and sells his own critters set up next to a vendor whose wild-caught, stressed, parasite-riddled critters came off of a plane from overseas the week prior to the show.

Since you have decided which shows you are attending I would strongly suggest going to the show's Facebook page or web site and doing some research on the vendors well before the day of the show. That way you will know who to avoid.

I wrote this up a while ago about buying from online vendors, but the how-to-research aspect applies just as much to vendors at expos.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...g-Herps-Online

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

can confirm @Deborah should be the poster child for how breeders should conduct themselves. she is incredibly knowledgable, SUPER helpful, responds quickly and produces amazing animals.

i bought my first breeder female from her: my Pastel Enchi Leopard 100% het Pied and she is amazing in temperament and feeding.

i am not endorsed by @Deborah (#shouldbe LOL) but when you find quality you can't help but boast.

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Been checking Deb's site out. She has some nice sneks.

I’ve purchased from several sources over the years: shows, breeders, VA Trading post (hard copy precursor to Craigslist), and Craigslist...not to mention rescues that were given to me in years past. Of the 7 bp’s I added this year, 2 came from Craigslist, 4 were purchased at local shows, and one was purchased from Dynasty Reptiles and shipped (they are awesome). I inspect carefully for mites at the show and quarantine everyone away from my main collections, for the most part. I did make some exceptions this year and quarantined some of the new animals in my snake room but separate from my other snakes. The last two purchases are in a separate room I have since gotten set up.

Any quarantined snakes are fed last, cages are cleaned last, and any necessary handling is done last...use different tools where possible or thoroughly clean before using on your existing collection. Whenever possible, I prefer to clean or handle on a different day than my main collection. Years ago I used to pretreat the cage for any new arrivals, and should have this time, but I was fortunate not to bring home any extra hitchhikers. Part of that was purchasing from reputable breeders, part is pure luck. As others have said, there is always the chance you can bring home mites or transfer them between vendors. I personally don’t handle anything I’m not seriously considering purchasing, but shows can be a great place to handle different animals to see what you like.

A side note for quarantine times, the absolute minimum is 30 days. This will let you see if mites came in with your new pet, and may allow enough time to discover any illness. Keep in mind that reptiles typically do not display signs of illness until it is well advanced. That is why most keepers go 60-90 days for quarantine, some even longer.

I cannot begin to thank you all enough with the outpouring of help you are giving me and my boys. You all and this site is truly unbelievable! Thank you for withstanding my somewhat dumb questions but believe me, you are making a much better home for 3 future snakes! My only concern is, with the more that I learn, the more questions I have!:taz:

My oldest (16) just joined here yesterday so I'll have him introduce himself soon.

And Deb, you have some cool snakes!

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Originally Posted by MR Snakes

I cannot begin to thank you all enough with the outpouring of help you are giving me and my boys. You all and this site is truly unbelievable! Thank you for withstanding my somewhat dumb questions but believe me, you are making a much better home for 3 future snakes! My only concern is, with the more that I learn, the more questions I have!:taz:

My oldest (16) just joined here yesterday so I'll have him introduce himself soon.

And Deb, you have some cool snakes!

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Everyone starts at the beginning when everything is new and you have to learn it all. I hate to break it to you though, you never have all the answers. :oops: You can nail down the basics pretty well, but more advances are made in materials and equipment, not to mention husbandry. We know far more today than was even available when I bought my first boa in 1991. As more information becomes available, we re-evaluate practices and make adjustments as necessary.

Keep asking questions. :) I’ve joined and dropped a number of forums over the years. I was very pleased to find this place, where most everyone is helpful and positive.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Thanks, Taylor. I've never had more than one animal in QT at a time, so I could be going into overkill mode. But I do think I would personally still want them in seperate rooms, especially if they came from different breeders. But hey, that's just me and coukd be overkill.

OP, like Taylor said, plan on there being mites somewhere at the show. Unfortunately, expos and mites often go hand in hand.
Follow Taylor's advise on post-show washing, etc...

Think of it this way:
- table X has mites
- Person A handles snakes at table X.
- Person A then moves on to table Y
- Person A now handles snakes at table Y, table Z, etc...
The mites could have traveled very easily from person A from one table to another. Now think of hundreds of people all handling snakes all over the room...

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...@craigafrechette i am here to eat crow. [emoji20]

so i bought two new babies at the same show, but one has mites. yes, mites. despite what i thought was a "careful eye" or better knowledge, i could not have noticed them and i only noticed after the Bamboo shed.

@craigafrechette i was WRONG. both animals should have been QT'd separately since i COULD have made the space.

i will be posting a thread aaaaallllll about this, but i WISH i QT'd these babies separately as now i have to treat both babies as having full-blown mites and subject them both to treatment.

yay, mites!!!

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Originally Posted by bcr229

You also need to realize that most show promoters do not vet their vendors to ensure they are only selling healthy animals; anyone who wants a table gets one. So, you could have one vendor who breeds and sells his own critters set up next to a vendor whose wild-caught, stressed, parasite-riddled critters came off of a plane from overseas the week prior to the show.

Since you have decided which shows you are attending I would strongly suggest going to the show's Facebook page or web site and doing some research on the vendors well before the day of the show. That way you will know who to avoid.

I wrote this up a while ago about buying from online vendors, but the how-to-research aspect applies just as much to vendors at expos.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...g-Herps-Online

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

...@craigafrechette i am here to eat crow. [emoji20]

so i bought two new babies at the same show, but one has mites. yes, mites. despite what i thought was a "careful eye" or better knowledge, i could not have noticed them and i only noticed after the Bamboo shed.

@craigafrechette i was WRONG. both animals should have been QT'd separately since i COULD have made the space.

i will be posting a thread aaaaallllll about this, but i WISH i QT'd these babies separately as now i have to treat both babies as having full-blown mites and subject them both to treatment.

yay, mites!!!

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Mites....Yikes!!!

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

...@craigafrechette i am here to eat crow. [emoji20]

so i bought two new babies at the same show, but one has mites. yes, mites. despite what i thought was a "careful eye" or better knowledge, i could not have noticed them and i only noticed after the Bamboo shed.

@craigafrechette i was WRONG. both animals should have been QT'd separately since i COULD have made the space.

i will be posting a thread aaaaallllll about this, but i WISH i QT'd these babies separately as now i have to treat both babies as having full-blown mites and subject them both to treatment.

yay, mites!!!

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Aw, I'm sorry to hear this. Mites suck. :( We picked up the critters somewhere and they slowly spread to a few tanks, so we just finished several rounds of treatment. You're a knowledgable keeper, so I'm sure you have a plan of attack. I had a lot of luck with the diluted Nix method, and now that we're 30+ days without a mite sighting, I'm knocking on wood that we got the little buggars, eggs and all. I chose that over PAM due to the fact that it can be sprayed on the snakes and their enclosures. Message me if you want any details on it. :)

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Originally Posted by MR Snakes

Mites....Yikes!!!

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understatement of the century [emoji849][emoji852]

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

...@craigafrechette i am here to eat crow. [emoji20]

so i bought two new babies at the same show, but one has mites. yes, mites. despite what i thought was a "careful eye" or better knowledge, i could not have noticed them and i only noticed after the Bamboo shed.

@craigafrechette i was WRONG. both animals should have been QT'd separately since i COULD have made the space.

i will be posting a thread aaaaallllll about this, but i WISH i QT'd these babies separately as now i have to treat both babies as having full-blown mites and subject them both to treatment.

yay, mites!!!

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Ah crap!! Now I feel like a jinx!!

So sorry to hear this, Taylor. Luckily you're a top notch keeper and it's not a huge problem, but definitely a pain in the rear end.

Good luck with treatment! ...and sorry for the jinx...:(