QT a hatchling BP just recently purchased

Hey guys, I am fairly new still with BPs. All of mine now were just purchased two weeks ago and have eaten about 5 times already (Spidey already sold). I have a new bumblebee hatchling arriving today also. Should I quarantine him in a different room in the house? He came from the same breeder and so far there are no known reports of iBD or some snake decease here yet.. but I will if I have to.

Yep QT!

Yes, always quarantine new snakes. Even from the same breeder, different snakes may have different issues, and quarantining allows you to carefully monitor a snake's individual situation!

Got it. What are symptoms to look out for during QT process? The bee will for sure have a slight wobble already.. I he eats for twice
For one week, will that be a good sign that there is nothing wrong with him?


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It's a good time to break out paper towels as a substrate - this will allow you to easily spot mites. Also, wait for the first bowel movement and check out the stool (send to an exotic vet if you can) - is it the right consistency/color? Also just keep a lookout for general behavior - how active is the snake, is he/she regularly drinking water, any weird behavior that you've never noticed in any of your other snakes...

Wobble is hard, because there are so many different levels to it, so that's definitely a good think to look out for, as well!

Thanks! What are things to look put for on the stool? I meam stools normally contain organizms on a tollerable level right? Is there something specific to watch out for? :)


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Do you have access to a vet whom can run a fecal test for internal parasites? If so that is by far the best action.

If not you can check for small round egg like things and small flat yellow/white things unfortunately of the thousands of internal parasites there are a very small number that you could see with a magnifying glass and not a microscope. The next hard part is there can be internal parasites that come from food that cannot infect snakes at all but still show up, an electron microscope is needed to tell the differences.

Basically look it over and pull it apart and see if there is anything unusual if there is the next one needs a lab. There are mail order ones if you don't have access to one locally. This is far from certain.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mohegan

It's a good time to break out paper towels as a substrate - this will allow you to easily spot mites. Also, wait for the first bowel movement and check out the stool (send to an exotic vet if you can) - is it the right consistency/color? Also just keep a lookout for general behavior - how active is the snake, is he/she regularly drinking water, any weird behavior that you've never noticed in any of your other snakes...

Wobble is hard, because there are so many different levels to it, so that's definitely a good think to look out for, as well!

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is it the right consistency/color?.. can you explain more on this?

As far as parasites go, you will not be able to see them. Generally, the biggest colony of parasites will remain inside your snake - the only thing that comes out in the fecal matter are eggs, which are too small to see with the naked eye. If you happen to own a nice microscope and have your own slides, I'd be more than happy to explain to you the best way to do your own at-home fecal flotation, but it really is best left to vets! (It happens to be one of my daily tasks at work lol)

Consistency and color - you want to make sure each part of the poop is just right. There will be some clear fluid with the poop, that is normal - it should be either clearish or a bit yellow in color. There should be some dark brown matter too - this should be hardish and well-formed. You should also see some white chunks - these should be either plain white or off-white, and should be well-formed but softer than the brown parts.

That is exactly how my guy at the office described the poop he saw under my keyboard yesterday, unfortunately, I didn't see it as they cleaned it up already and They didn't know it was my snake who pooped.

So fa he looks fine, will try to feed him tonight already since it is also the feeding sched of my two other hatchlings :)

So far, he is active, when I placed a hide over his head, he stayed there :) and judging from the poop description, everything is looking good so far.

I wish you the best of luck! You sound like a very dedicated keeper :) How long do you plan on keeping him quarantined?

I'm confused... You just purchased your bps 2 weeks ago and have already fed them 5 times? And sold one? And now getting more?

What's this about poop under your keyboard? Do you let your snakes roam freely around the room and not notice or clean up when they poo on your computer desk?

None of this makes sense to me... Am I the only one?

QT is important, and not just for a week. Most QT for 30 days MINIMUM, but others up to 6 months....

@inksteel: Hi! Let me clarify it for you.

I feed by hatchlings every Wed and Sat with Rat Pups. They have been with me for two weeks + so yes, I have fed them 5 times each. I bought them the first two just about the same time so their feeding sched is the same.

Here is my iherp account to check my sched:
http://www.iherp.com/muzikfreakah

Now I also have a 2 year old Spider which I acquired as an adult, a couple of months back. way before I got these hatchlings but I couldn't find an adult Female BP for sale to breed him with. So I decided to sell him, he was sold last week to a good friend who has an adult female and wanted to start projects asap and the funds from him I used to buy a bee.

Now way before all of these, earlier this year, I also got a normal BP, who was my first ball python. She was about 4 months old. She escaped and was never to be found. Tragic really, someone took peep and forgot to slide the door back, A hard lesson I had to learn :-( Ever since then, all my tanks have secure locks now that now one can open but me. Which will soon be replaced with a new even more secure glass snake rack :-)

Normal BP Sophie < escaped
Spider Adult BP < Sold
Hatchling Pastel BP < just bought about two weeks + Back
Hatchling Normal BP < also just bought about two weeks + Back
Hatchling Bumble bee < Arrived yesterday.

Hope I was able to explain my rather fast pace acquisition of balls, it really seemed to all happen in a BLUR :-)

@Mohegan: Thanks, I plan to keep him on QT for about a month. We will be placed inside another room in our house.

Tonight will be my first feeding with him.

Thanks for clarifying. I didn't know the back story and was confused. Congratz on the new pickups. Now where are the bee pics? :D :gj:

Np, it was quite a roller coaster ride for me as well. Losing Sssophie and parting with the Spidey was hard.

Here are pics and vids:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...y-bee-is-here-)