The quarantine process

Im just curious what everybody's quarantine process is when you aquire new snakes. And how long do you keep them in QT?

1. Separate room in a different area of the facility
2. Separate supplies including tongs, spray bottles, paper, etc.
3. 3 months quarantine. If there are animals in quarantine and I bring in new animals, the 3 months restart.
4. I treat the tubs for all new snakes with Provent A Mite and check each snake over thoroughly before putting them in.
5. If a live rat/mouse is uneaten by a quarantine animal it stays in the room to be offered again to the same animal. If a FT rat/mouse is refused, it is thrown out.

To add to Jamie's procedures - I also work with the QT animals last. Established colony first, QT last. Once I've worked with QT animals, I don't go back to the established colony unless I have showered and changed clothes, but preferably not at all on the same day.

I'm doing what's being done in the posts above, though I don't have a separate part of the facility, only a separate part of the house. I have 3 different Q areas, all cut off from the main house air supply system as best I can so that air isn't shared. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a true quarantine when you're in a house, you just do the best you can. I take care of the established animals first, then move on down the line to the newest ones, changing clothes in between and scrubbing up any exposed skin both before and after. "Dirty" clothes go into plastic bags and straight to the washing machine. Quarantine period is 60 days here. I wouldn't hesitate to do 90 if the animal came from a questionable background or an iffy source. Physical and fecal exams will be done as soon as is possible, and before the animal is released into the main collection room.

I also do something similar when going to any place that has reptiles, such as a pet store or show, etc. All clothes go straight to the washer and I go right to the shower before getting near any of my animals. I also have a separate pair of shoes just for things like that, they're never brought into the house.

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Originally Posted by Mochelem

Im just curious what everybody's quarantine process is when you aquire new snakes. And how long do you keep them in QT?

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What perfect timing! The staff was just discussing how we'd like to start this discussion, gather input from the experienced membership and then develop a sticky on quarantine procedures for the home hobbyist/small breeder. Thanks so much Mochelem for posting these questions and starting the ball rolling. :)

Here's what my family does as far as QT. We do have special considerations here because we do take in snakes to board/foster, do the occasional rescue, etc. We also keep a mixed collection of boas, pythons and colubrids which adds it's own issues in due to disease transmission with different snake species.

1. Established ball python collection first
2. Established boas and colubrid next
3. Snakes in QT last
4. Sit down, pour a coffee and wonder why in heck you have this many snakes! :D

Our QT is on another floor of the house, the snakes there have all their own equipment (big deal really...some tongs...prey containers...hand sanitizer, etc.). I store all their supplies (clean tubs ready for use, etc.) in a big walk-in upstairs not in our BP room downstairs. We don't share prey between QT and established collection snakes.

Nobody visiting gets to see or touch the snakes in QT, we don't even really encourage our children to go near those snakes - it's not like we don't have enough snakes they can mess with LOL. If you visit and want to see a snake currently in QT, you're welcome to return and visit once it leaves QT.

If another snake enters QT, then we reset the QT "clock" back to day 1 for every snake in there.

Every snake goes to QT first. I don't care if you are God and you breed ball pythons for fun and profit, your snake is going into QT.

All snakes in QT, no matter how many weeks they are there, do not leave QT until they are healthy and have eaten at least 4 consecutive times without any issues or problems. Even if they've reached the number of days in QT, if they aren't eating, they stay put till they are.

Once we learned of more about health issues with boas and pythons in mixed collections we permanently seperated them so they now exist in different rooms, on different levels in our home and are on different day handling times. We've been doing that seperation of species for a couple of years now.

We have a some basic rules in this house and if you want to handle a snake, you follow them to the letter. You touch the snakes, you go scrub well afterwards. If you own snakes, and any of your snakes are currently ill, you are welcome to visit but can't enter the BP room or handle any of our snakes.

If we visit a snake show or a pet store, we change and wash when we get home before handling anything in our collection. I carry gel hand sanitizer in my purse at every show to use between handling snakes from different tables (most tables offer it but I bring my own anyways).

Tubs/hides/water dishes aren't reused even between snakes in the same collection until they are soaked in 10% bleach water then scrubbed and rinsed.

For me QT isn't just about bringing a snake in, it's about a day to day routine really and for all it seems a lot when it's typed out, it really isn't. I'm a busy wife and mom with other pets and just under 50 snakes to manage. If it took huge chunks of time or required a degree in microbiology, I couldn't manage it. It doesn't and it's something anyone can do in a home situation. If you can't or won't bother, then perhaps it's time to rethink continuing to add snakes to your collection.

Wow, reading all of this makes me re-think my QT process. I'm surprised I have any snakes alive at all anymore!!!

Excellent info :gj:

I have done most of these things for my QT process, just not to the extent that was talked about above. I never thought about the feeding tongs that I use, I guess I need to pick some of those up!! Also I wash and disinfect my hands between QT but I never thought about my clothes!

Luckily Ive never had any problems, Ive been lucky enough to never have bought a sick snake, I have 2 new additions coming in the mail tommorrow and I just wanted to make sure Im doing enough to QT them..

Thx for all the input!!

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Originally Posted by kid_mustango02

Wow, reading all of this makes me re-think my QT process. I'm surprised I have any snakes alive at all anymore!!!

Excellent info :gj:

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The thing with QT is sort of like me getting my kid's immunized. The likelihood that they will ever get exposed to a certain germ isn't great but the needles they get make sure that if they do, they are protected to the best of my ability. Same with QT. The risk of a specific germ might not be high, but if you have a good QT procedure or rules about how your collection is exposed to the potential of disease and parasites - the chances are more in your favor you'll never have to face any major issues. It's like preventative care really when you think about it.

I can tell you this, and people that know me and my husband, can attest to it. We have almost 50 snakes, we have taken in rescues, we have taken in snakes to board for other people - we have not had one vet visit for any of our snakes related to them getting sick while under our care, we have never one mite outbreak here, we have never had a snake die other than two very young captive hatched hatchlings under QT that were in bad shape when they came in.

I'm not tooting my own horn. I know tons of people on this forum with the same type of home hobbyist/breeder situation and the same healthy collections. It's just about routines (most of them very simple ones) and cutting down on risk factors so that the snakes stay healthy and you aren't dealing with sick snakes, huge vet bills and people scared to buy a snake from you.

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Originally Posted by Mochelem

I have done most of these things for my QT process, just not to the extent that was talked about above. I never thought about the feeding tongs that I use, I guess I need to pick some of those up!! Also I wash and disinfect my hands between QT but I never thought about my clothes!

Luckily Ive never had any problems, Ive been lucky enough to never have bought a sick snake, I have 2 new additions coming in the mail tommorrow and I just wanted to make sure Im doing enough to QT them..

Thx for all the input!!

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Please never depend on luck. Eventually it will catch up with you and as seen far too often, the snakes will pay the ultimate and final price.

Here are a couple of pics of a quarrantine setup I have going for 2 new arrivals. I have several Vision cages that used to be for my first few snakes, now that I have racks I use these cages for quarrantines in another room(my Office). I have the snakes in tubs in the Vision cage as you can see. What you cant see is a radiant heat panel in the ceiling of cage connected to a Ranco to keep ambient temps from getting to low in the Vision cage. The tubs are place on folded sheet metal thingys with heat tape for the hot spot(made by Freedom Breeder). In this setup there are two of those, only the rear one is controled by another Ranco for the hot spot and the front one is there just to keep it level. These are actually extra heating elements from my Freedom Breeder rack. The tubs and Vision cage have been treated with PAM so if one mite was to survive and escape the tub it would still get zapped in the cage;). I like usung the Vison cages because I can control the enviroment perfect in the cage no matter how the rest of the room may flucuate.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...Visioncage.jpg

Here is a close up inside the cage, you can see the metal heat strips on the bottom.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...inecloseup.jpg

I am very anal about temps and humidity as you can see thats why I use several thermometers to double check accuracy of my T-Stats and the thermometers themselves. These new arrivals are still pretty small thus the smaller tubs. If they were larger animals the would be in larger tubs and/or separate Vision cages. They arrived together so thats why they are quarantined together(although in different tubs). These little guys are not gonna be breeding for a long time so there is no hurry to move them into the snake room until I am 100% sure they are clear of any yuckyness:)

As others mentioned these guys are only cleaned or fed after I have handled the main collection or on days I am not handling the main collection at all. Hand sanitizer is always used before and after touching quarrantines.

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

I am very anal about temps and humidity as you can see thats why I use several thermometers to double check accuracy of my T-Stats and the thermometers themselves.

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LMAO!!!

Show them your room ;)

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

LMAO!!!

Show them your room ;)

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I know:D

When Heather first visited my snake room I think she was a little overwhelmed by the 20,000 accurites coming out of all the tubs.

We all have our quirks:oops:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Please never depend on luck. Eventually it will catch up with you and as seen far too often, the snakes will pay the ultimate and final price.

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Lol Im not depending on luck, I see some holes in my QT system now and when the new arrivals come I will pay a little more attention to them.

Unfortunatly I live in a small appartment for the time being, and all I can do is have them one room away... That is uncontrolable but I will be thinking of this sort of thing when we are buying a house in a year!!

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Originally Posted by Mochelem

Lol Im not depending on luck, I see some holes in my QT system now and when the new arrivals come I will pay a little more attention to them.

Unfortunatly I live in a small appartment for the time being, and all I can do is have them one room away... That is uncontrolable but I will be thinking of this sort of thing when we are buying a house in a year!!

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Hey it's not like any one of us in a normal home situation can create some sort of level 5 biohazard containment field LOL. At least you are trying by keeping them in completely seperate rooms. If this thread helps you see some issues to address and tweak your QT to make it even more effective, hey we did good! :)

You'd be surprised how many people either don't quarantine at all and think seperate tubs in the same rack means disease can't spread from a new, incoming animal to one that's been there for years.

This is a great thread!

I do most of the good practices mentioned in the earlier threads. 3 months qt. Wash, change clothes, don't share food or tongs, etc.
My regular snake room is in my lower level and my QT is on the upper level of my house. Of course the air does circulate through the whole house but I can't build a separate building like I'd like to...some day maybe.

I wasn't sure what to do about new arrivals if my QT section was already occupied. Now I've got some ideas. Thanks guys!

Same as most of the things mentioned. I use two different rooms for quar. (my kids rooms). The kids do not handle the animals unless mom is around, and they do not handle the qt animals at all. That is as far away as I can get the qt animals from the main collection (my office/dining room). I do a 3 dose round of panacur for newbies, so once that is over, and they are clean and feeding, then they come out of QT. I do not care for PAM because Hoggies are sensitive to it, so newbies get a nice mineral oil rub down. Only had mites come in once, and the min. oil took care of them right quick.

As for cleaning my water dishes and tubs.....all but my 41 qt tubs fit in my dishwasher, which has a wonderful sanitary cycle. (no I do not wash human dishes with the snakey ones) I have twice as many water dishes as I do tubs, so it is an easy exchange one a week. Take out dirty, put in clean, wash dirty for the next week. Easy breezy! I am thinking about doing the same with my tubs. Have extras, so that on cleaning day I can just swap clean for dirty. I think it would make cleaning day go faster.

GREAT THREAD!!! I say sticky it.

*QT is 60 days minimum (usually 90) upstairs in the spare bedroom (the snake room is downstairs in the basement)
*Each room has it’s own supply which is cleaned separately \
*All new addition as well as establish collection get treated with PAM
*Un-eaten prey from snakes in QT are kept separately and only offered to snakes in QT
*I always work with my establish collection first and than work with the snake in QT

Quarantine process is very important to the health of your collection. This process separates newly aquired snakes from your healthy collection. Just because you get your snake from a reputable breeder doesn't guarantee that the snake will be free of illness.

1. You will need enclosures in a separate room as far away as you can get from the rest of your collection (a separate building is prefered but not allways possible), these enclosures need to have heat, substrate, hides and fresh water just like any other enclosure.

2. (optional) Treat quarantine enclosures with PAM (Provent A Mite) prior to receiving your snakes. This may be a good idea in case there are some mites or eggs that you cant see on your snake.

3. Any tools used for your snake such as feeding tongs, hand sanitizer, paper towels, disinfectant, spray bottles, should all be used strictly in your quarantine area and never taken into the same room as your collection. It is advisable to feed and maintain your general collection before maintaining the quarantine snakes. If you are in the quarantine room before you go into your collection room you should take a shower, and change clothes before entering your collection room.

4. Keep snakes in the quarantine room for a 90 day period, during this time observe snake for any signs of illness such as mites, respiratory infection, problematic feces, or signs of IBD. If you aquire any new snakes during this 90 day period, then start all snakes at day 1 in the quarantine area. Make sure all snakes are there for 90 days without any signs of illness.

5. When feeding quarantined snakes, if they refuse to eat keep the live rodent in the same room as the quarantine snakes, and feed the rodent to the same animal on the next feeding day. The rodent could possibly spread an illness. If it is a Frozen thawed or pre killed rodent and its refused just throw the rodent away. Make sure the snake is eating regularly before you put it with your collection, this can be a sign of internal paracites. If a snake wont eat make sure your husbandry is right and take a fecal sample with the snake to your Vet.

6. If people come to visit you and want to see your snakes, dont let them handle anything in quarantine. Don't let your children handle quarantine animals, in fact handling should be kept to a minimum unless your prepared to take a shower and change your clothes.

7.When you first get the snakes give them a good look over, make sure you dont see any obvious signs of paracites and illness. If you find any mites treat it as soon as you see them. Any other signs of illness such as scale or mouth rot or respiratory infection should be immediatly treated by a Vet, and the breeder that you aquired the snake from should be contacted, most give a health guarantee...


Just remember to use common sense, spreading some of these illness' are just like catching a cold, you can catch it just from being near somone who has an infection...


:snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::sn ake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake ::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::s nake:

Another thing I'd like out of this thread is the threats we're looking out for which could take 90 days to start showing. I realize I'm doing a semi-QT process, but dont really know why :D

So far I have two snakes in a rack with room for two more. I was thinking about getting two more in the next couple months. This QT subject has me worried. I think because of my living situation the best I can do is set up two small tubs, inside a left over RBI cage and put it in my walk-in closet.(with my clothes) My current snakes are in my bedroom.

I can take the extra precautions of using disposable gloves, separate feeding tongs, and washing my hands, but that's it. Will this be okay?

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Originally Posted by mikedahitman87

So far I have two snakes in a rack with room for two more. I was thinking about getting two more in the next couple months. This QT subject has me worried. I think because of my living situation the best I can do is set up two small tubs, inside a left over RBI cage and put it in my walk-in closet.(with my clothes) My current snakes are in my bedroom.

I can take the extra precautions of using disposable gloves, separate feeding tongs, and washing my hands, but that's it. Will this be okay?

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You can only do what you can do... Having them separate is better than exposing them to your other snakes..

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Originally Posted by kid_mustango02

Another thing I'd like out of this thread is the threats we're looking out for which could take 90 days to start showing. I realize I'm doing a semi-QT process, but dont really know why :D

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Mouth rot, septicemia, respiratory infections (RI), ticks and mites are major concerns. Amebiasis and Trichomoniasis are two VERY common parasites in snakes, although, this is typically only a concern with wild caught snakes. Blister disease if the person selling the animal had poor conditions. Inclusion body disease (IBD) is a HUGE concern with some species of boids.

There's more, but those are the most common.

Another thing to think about is why people choose not to do even the most basic of quarantine. The ones I can think of offhand are...

- they don't understand what quarantine actually is
- they think it's too complicated
- they think it requires a professional atmosphere
- they don't understand how disease transmission in snakes occurs
- they think it will cost them a lot of money or time
- they are rushing to get in more snakes/flip snakes and skip this step due to time or space constraints
- they just could care less

Hopefully this thread will help those that aren't quarantining all that well to understand why it's important, that it really doesn't cost you much in time or money and the benefits to a good QT routine make it well worth the effort. :)

Thanks to the wonderful contributions from our membership, this thread is now stickied. However, please keep adding in your own QT procedures or the encouragement to do a proper quarantine process with incoming snakes. This is a vital step in good snakekeeping that more newcomers need to be aware of. :)

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

LMAO!!!

Show them your room ;)

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show show show!, lol i wanna see

lets see your room, I'M curious, now :D

I so wanna see this room. I envision thermometers galore. Like a rack of temp-guns waiting use like battle rifles, thermostats for your thermostats......

Well maybe im getting a bit carried away here but from what i could see in the picks you have yourself a niffty little snake/music room with your cage on the sub there.

great thread I would not have thought to do half of these things. I really appreciate all the time energy and effort alot of the people on here put into helping noobs like myself.

Thanx for all the help

I'm working on developing quarantine procedures, but it's very difficult for me right now.
My established 'collection' isn't very established yet. I'm getting a new rack system put into my room in about a week and getting 5+ new snakes in the next two weeks. (Trust me.. after Tinley I won't be getting any snakes until at least the school year is up).


So here's what I'm going to do my best at for my new collection.
When I get my rack system put in I'm going to put my 4 new Bailey balls into it. They will be under minimal quarantine, and my other snakes in my closet. (Except for my female corn snake and boa which are a wall away.)
My snow corn I'm getting from SJS will be under a quarantine tub in a separate room (I'm not sure which room yet).

That's the best I can do for right now. I will keep the B&B balls under quarantine for 60 days along with any other animals I get at Tinley, and then move my female corn, male corn, and original ball into the rack system.

As well as washing hands, keeping refused prey separate, changing clothing, ext.

Here's my problem.
My room/closet are the only two places I can use for snakes that even slightly accommodate temperatures. I have an old house, and my brothers room (only other carpeted room) is off limits, and the rest is hardwood and extremely drafty. It can get as low as 60 degrees occasionally in the hardwood areas.

Soo, what do you guys think? It wouldn't be that big of a deal, except you keep telling me to use the thermostat probe directly on the flexwatt (which makes sense) but I can't change fluctuations by 10F when I'm asleep.. so what should I do?

:]

Very good info, since I am getting a new bp, I need to do the quarantine process. It's not as hard as I thought it would be!!

Thanks for all the info everyone added!!!:gj:

I'm glad this thread came up again...Made me re-think my process I've done with my boas for new BP's coming...

kant u start a fire with all those plugs .... just scared mann

great info... thanks! :)

so if i get 3 snakes from the same person, is it necessary to keep all 3 separate for a while, if they had all been racked together anyway? Just curious

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Originally Posted by PweEzy

so if i get 3 snakes from the same person, is it necessary to keep all 3 separate for a while, if they had all been racked together anyway? Just curious

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i would keep them away from any others that didnt come from the same person.
im sure if they were housed together they would likely have the same thing if they did have anything. also you didnt say but if i got them at different times i would separate

Thank you so much for all of this information! It was excellent!! I knew that I was going to the Reptile show this weekend and (not that my hubby knew) but I was surely going to pick something up. This gave me tons of information to teach my family in regards to the newbie in the house. Trust me we are following this to the T. Including coming home from the show and washing out clothes right away and taking showers. I now have a very educated family in the QT process and we are all taking it VERY seriously!!

I am interested in buying a spotted python. I have seached all over the web but I cant find anything that has diseases that they can get. So basically RI IBD and mites is what I can think of. Would I have to quarantine a spotted python from a collection of ball pythons?

Since doing more research, I've extended my quarantine period from 90 days to one full year. This limits my breeding projects, but I can breed the animals I have in quarantine to each other, and still keep them separate from the rest of my collection.

People often quarantine because they're afraid of one of the serious illnesses that can wipe out large portions of a collection--but Paramyxo can incubate for up to 10 months, so what good does a 90 day quarantine do? It may be inconvenient to quarantine longer, but there is nothing safe about a 90 day quarantine. It simply is not sufficient to protect against dangerous disease.

that was exactly my thought process - I am getting a new RTB this weekend and it is coming from a very reputable source but I intend to qt for 90 days since I have two BP's also.

But as stated, even with a 90 day qt - you still really aren't ever safe from something serious like IBD - is this correct.

Thank you.

If I were to build a small rack just for quarantine, i would have to restart quarantine for any of the snakes in it if a new snake came in right?

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Originally Posted by jjsnakedude

If I were to build a small rack just for quarantine, i would have to restart quarantine for any of the snakes in it if a new snake came in right?

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Yes, you would. Might be easier to not have a QT rack system, but just separate tubs that you can put in different places. That's what I'm going to have to do because my rack system is in our bedroom and I'll have to put my new snakes in a separate room.

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Originally Posted by AcePythons

Yes, you would. Might be easier to not have a QT rack system, but just separate tubs that you can put in different places. That's what I'm going to have to do because my rack system is in our bedroom and I'll have to put my new snakes in a separate room.

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Im thinking that you would use UTHs for those. Correct me if im wrong.

How would you check for mouth rot?

Buy a speculum set, open their mouth, and look inside.

This is a real question so go easy if I sound like an FNG:D...I didnt see anything above about immunization shots...is this an option for snakes?

Unfortunately, it is not. Preliminary testing for paramyxovirus vaccine showed a high failure rate--it did not offer significant protection. They are still working on it. To the best of my knowledge, they are not working on vaccines for any other snake diseases at present.

Some individuals in the UK have apparently experimented with giving their snakes Newcastle Disease vaccinations, and reported that this offered partial protection against paramyxovirus.

I understand the quarantine proccess but why keep the snakes in there for so long if they show no signs of illness after the 1st month?

Hi,

Because some problems can take longer than a month to show. ;)


dr del

The quarantine process and how I failed it.

Like most keepers with modest collections I practiced a strict quarantine regime, in which a 90 day wait period was practiced. New additions were housed at the opposite ends of the house with their own caging and tools (quarantine animals were always worked after the main collection). Nitrile gloves where used at all times and clean up procedures included changing clothes and showering. In cases of suspect animals fecals were collected and ran. In one instance a young Transpeco Ratsnake developed an IR within two days of arrival. The animal was taken to my exotic vet and administered injections of fluids and antibiotics (baytril). Upon recovery, the quarantine period reset to 90 days. I considered this strict, and it was a successful plan for many years.

How my quarantine procedure failed was not through the typical exchange of mites or disease through newly acquired snakes. Rather, my rodent colony. During much of last summer I maintained a small rodent colony of 1.5 mice for the purpose of live pinks. I tried to maintain this colony in the garage, away from my personal collection. However, on hot summer days I had to bring the mice indoors to avoid perish. I did not think of transmission between mice and snake until late July when I noticed one of my boas soaking. Upon closer examination and to my unfortunate surprise in his cage I found mites.

Two of my visions (cages) were positive for mites. Those cages and animals (boa and 17 year old corn snake) were isolated and my main collection seemed spared. I used Nix for a mite treatment and it seemed to work successfully in the first round of treatment - to be sure I did two rounds one month apart. It wasn't until 5 months later I found another live mite - in a new cage (one that never had it in the first place). This has been a pain, but it could always be worse. Now half my collection resides in the house (being treated for mites), while the other half (that was never in the same room and to this day has been negative for mites the entire time, resides at a friends).

HARD LESSON LEARNED. The mice were obtained for a nearby reptile breeder / retailer (will not name). It was a month before I put two and two together. Despite and strict quarantine process and clean rodent management, I failed. No animals were lost (thus far) to the treatments or the mites, put lesson learned my friends.

Quarantine all animals not just incoming herps.

Heavily Addicted to Ball pythons... But.... Is all goood
1.0 Albino ; 0.1 Bumble-Bee ; 1.1 Lesser Platinum ; 1.0 Clown ; 1.1 Butter ; 1.1 Caramel Albino ; 1.0 Pied ; 0.1 Pastel ; 1.1 Lemon Blast ; 1.0 Super Blast


I'm incredibly new to owning a ball python. I don't know a whole lot about morphs vs normals...or anything much about BP's at all. My fiance and I bought our 5 yr old grandson an 18" normal BP a couple of weeks ago.

My question to you is this: "What do the numbers with decimal points after the type of morph indicate?" Example: 1.0 Albino; 0.1 Bumble-Bee; etc. I've seen multiple users on this site post names and numbers at the end of their posts...I gather it has something to do with the snakes in their own personal collections....but what exactly does "1.1" indicate vs "0.25". Any answer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

NaNa