Do you let others in your snake-room??

I usually let friends into my snake room without even thinking about mites, but you know what....maybe that's silly of me.

I've been thinking of buying some of those full body coveralls that painters and stucco workers use, spraying it with PAM and making people wear it if they wanna come into my snake room.

Am I :rolleye2: or :cool:?

That's a bit drastic. The mites you have to worry about are spread between reptiles so unless your friend has reptiles of their own there's not really anything to worry about. Even if they do own reptiles, the chance of some mites hitching a ride on their clothes to your collection is slim.

I do not like anyone in my snake room. My wife likes to show off the snakes. I dont even like her looking at them lol even though some of them are kinda hers. I take care of them so their my babies! No one touches my babies. lol

It all depends, very few of my friends, have reptiles so the risk of Mites is very small for me. And anyone else that does come in(family or friends) usually run out of my reptile room when I show them the dubia roach colony that feeds my bearded dragon. So I don't even think about getting diseases passed to
My collection, but once a month each tub that houses my balls, goes outside and gets treated with PAM, then dries out for 24 hours outside an then back into the rack, and I do this once a week untill all tubs in my rack(4 tubs) is treated. Then next month repeat On the same day(calendars help a lot for this).

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Originally Posted by Dabonus

That's a bit drastic. The mites you have to worry about are spread between reptiles so unless your friend has reptiles of their own there's not really anything to worry about. Even if they do own reptiles, the chance of some mites hitching a ride on their clothes to your collection is slim.

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Sorry - I should clarify.... this would pertain only to those people who keep reptiles :)

Good point!! :gj:

If your snake room holds a 50,000 dollar collection, it's not unreasonable to be uncomfortable with people poking around in there. You probably wouldn't throw the keys to your Mercedes to any of your friends, especially not the ones that don't know how to drive.

:cool:

i have been cautious when a friend of mine was currently fighting mites in his collection, i had him wash his hands and arms and sprayed the ground with pam, for any potential hitch hikers. even with mites in his collection risk of exposure was small. other than that one time, i wouldnt even give it a second thought.

We definitely don't let people we don't know in there. When someone comes to buy something, we usually just bring the snake up from the snake room, or even meet them somewhere other than my home. We only do this to keep our extensive collection ( and our home ) safe. You never know about people anymore :rolleyes:

My snake room is in my bar area. So, if any guests are over, and they brought their kids I will monitor the snakes and I'm the one mostly handling them. I don't have a $50,000 collection, but it is great to hear what breeders do in this case. I like the idea of bringing up the snake they wish to purchase, much like buying shoes. (All stock is in the back) :D

I dont know anyone else close to me that has snakes. So i never worry about showing them to friends or relatives. I think the car reference above is pretty good^. But even if i own a '95 geo prism i wouldnt throw the keys to someone who dont know how to drive lol :gj:

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Originally Posted by MrLang

If your snake room holds a 50,000 dollar collection, it's not unreasonable to be uncomfortable with people poking around in there. You probably wouldn't throw the keys to your Mercedes to any of your friends, especially not the ones that don't know how to drive.

:cool:

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When I worked at the stripclub and had a Benz I did toss my keys to a friend. I have about 4k worth of animals but I dont worry too much. I have every one use hand sanitizer but thats about it. Ive also seen Videos of a BHB tour where he tells people to feel free and open any tub they want and look around

I am not worried about my friends holding, touching or handing the snakes in any way - my concern is that they may have mites. They may have gone to somewhere else, and got mites, then come to my house and not even know that they have mites on their clothes.

That's why I'm thinking about implementing the below.... to keep away any possibility of mites

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Originally Posted by Rickys_Reptiles

I've been thinking of buying some of those full body coveralls that painters and stucco workers use, spraying it with PAM and making people wear it if they wanna come into my snake room.

Am I :rolleye2: or :cool:?

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Do I let other people in my snake room?

Short answer: No.
Long answer: Noooooooooooooooo

Of course I'm not always that rude, if someone asks and they happen to be over for another reason, I'll give them a short tour, but I really don't like to. I never invite people over for the purpose of seeing my reptiles. I don't know why, I just don't like to. Maybe it's because their mine... MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE.... And I'm just a selfish person.

Outside of family, only one person has been in our reptile room. He is a fellow keeper whom I trust and the only reason he was in our room was because he was checking on one of our hatchlings while we were on vacation.

My reptiles are in the guest bedroom :D it reduces un-welcomed company.

I let them in only after they pass a full background check :rofl:

Seriously there is a total of 6 people that have step foot in my snake room (one of them being my own husband)

I don't let just anyone in my snake room, only people I have known for years and know I can trust.

My snake room is my living room... So yeah, I let people in my "snake room".

99% of the people coming to my place don't have reptiles. Those that do have them because I got them hooked :P I also don't have a huge extensive collection like some of you :)

The occasional close friend? Yes. (No one who has their own reptiles).
Anyone else? Absolutely not. For one thing, we aren't insured for that. :P

I'm less concerned about mites than I am about untrustworthy people. I get uneasy just knowing the snake room is unlocked and there are strangers in the house. I don't like talking about how much money a certain morph is with anyone I don't trust completely. We've had K9 units and search helicopters going through/over our neighborhood for the last month, and the other morning saw they finally caught at least one of the people they were looking for.... I don't need to advertise that I have anything in the house worth taking!

One good thing is I have a parrot that makes a terrifying noise when people walk by her cage, a dog that is particularly good at barking at strangers, but not at friends, chickens/ducks outside my bedroom window that make all sorts of noise when something walks by them at night, a garage full of rats, and a room full of snakes. Anybody who walks into the house unannounced will likely be known.. and if they aren't noticed, the second they go snooping around, they'll likely find a live animal staring back at them, making them think twice about their decision.

There are only a couple people we know that have more than a single reptile, and they are open about if they have any suspected problems, and take the necessary precautions to prevent anythign from spreading. If I'm showing a prospective buyer a snake, and I have no past history with that person, I prefer to meet somewhere other than my home, and somewhere somewhat public for my own safety. I ask that they sanitize their hands before handling anything and I set up the snake's tub at home with PAM to be safe.

Deb, I know 5 of them if you count Karl in your count!

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

Friends? What's that lol. All my friends keep snakes. So, long story short, I trust them all and they are just as concerned about mites as me so I tend to not worry. Only one of my friends have seen any of my animals since I moved last year though. I go to their place more often than not and they have much much larger collections than I, but I'm one of a very small number who even know where most of these snakes are kept. I think it's smart to be concerned about mites just not sure how extreme of measures I would go to.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Deb, I know 5 of them if you count Karl in your count!

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

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You, Karl, Anna, Judy, Scott, and John so you know them all ;)

This is my first 3 page thread on Ball-Pythons.net woooo!!!! :D

Would breeders who don't allow people into their snake room put animals into qt after bringing them to a reptile show?

Congrats on the 3-pager, haha.

I have a very small collection, so I've had people over before that were both reptile and non-reptile people. But recently I've been rethinking things.

You see, we have a local reptile society and we do monthly meetings. At these meetings, various people are invited to bring their animals if they like, to show them off and meet with others. It's a great event. But we've had a few problems with new-comers not respecting our rules for the meetings. (Minimum quarantine length, proper handling practices such as sanitizer between animals, etc). In fact, one of the reptile keepers has been 'battling' mites for the past few months and she has come to two meetings.

It was enough to make me question even friends, you know? It's great to see everyone, and see the new animals, but it was enough to make me seriously rethink what I'm comfortable with.

I spoke with one of our biggest breeders, who came to a meeting the month before last, and she kept her animals in display boxes similar to the show kind. I obviously inquired, and she informed me: "I want people to feel involved with what we're working with, but nobody can hold the animals anymore. It's just not worth it. My collection is too hard and valuable to have something happen to it."

Each animal she brings to the meetings then goes through quarantine again, so she doesn't often bring anything but her males that are done for the season.

What she was saying made total sense. Even if we trust the person we're interacting with, that doesn't mean that they haven't come into contact with someone else who wasn't on the ball. Heck, I went with a friend to a pet store to check out a BP she was interested in (I was trying to talk her out of it) and upon handling the animal, my hands were covered in mites. (Note: I treated myself as if I was a biohazard, which almost got me in trouble when I stripped in my back yard before going into my house, bwahaha)

So, what happens if one of our newcomers interacts with animals from a pet store, doesn't notice the mites and goes home? They might think their collection is safe, but it's not.

Now?.... I don't know how I feel. I enjoy taking my reptiles out to educational outings, so I can't quite say that I keep my collection at home under lock and key, away from the world. But part of me is becoming more and more nervous about interacting with people with other reptiles. Not because I distrust them, but because I just don't know where they've been.

Not an easy question, for sure.

most of the time no. If I dont know you deff no. There has been plenty of thefts accounted for in this industry and I choose not to be a statistic. I also do not post many pics or openly show off everything I have in my racks.

Nope.
:colbert:

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Originally Posted by Rickys_Reptiles

This is my first 3 page thread on Ball-Pythons.net woooo!!!! :D

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some of us do 50 posts per page :) you're half way through one page on my screen lol

Very few people are allowed in mine. Like said above, I don't want anything missing as I don't trust that many people, nor do I want someone to get bit and hurt my animals.

So Ricky,
should I get one of those suits for you, for the next time your in my room.
You just have to be cautious of who you let in.
The suit thing would be a little to much. You might not have return customers.:colbert:

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

some of us do 50 posts per page :) you're half way through one page on my screen lol

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Yep, I have my posts per page set to 30. I can't stand clicking on a million pages only to read like 10 posts.

Oh look, now you are on page 2, lol!

It sounds like I am one of the more open people on this thread so far. However, I don't tend to have people at my house in general that aren't family or long-term friends, and even those people don't go in my snake room or open tubs without my explicit approval. That said, if I have an animal that is already sold, on loan, or in QT, they don't get touched. I like the occasional opportunities I get to enlighten my friends, family, and their children about snakes, but I try to keep it as controlled an environment as possible.

Since I finished my display wall, we have a lot of guest come to see the collection... there's no opening of tubs, but they do get to sit and stare at the Morelia and BCI. Thats usually as far as it goes. But when I have a customer come by, or a close friend / family member. I'll pull out whatever they want and let them handle it. My main goal has always been conservation though, and I am a strong believer that a snake in hand beats a snake in a tank for helping people beat fear and stop the senseless killing of harmless snakes... If I know any snakes are currently breeding, shedding, recently fed, feeding that evening, or just over all grumpy, they stay in the tubs without access to even my closest friends.

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Originally Posted by reptileexperts

Since I finished my display wall, we have a lot of guest come to see the collection... there's no opening of tubs, but they do get to sit and stare at the Morelia and BCI. Thats usually as far as it goes. But when I have a customer come by, or a close friend / family member. I'll pull out whatever they want and let them handle it. My main goal has always been conservation though, and I am a strong believer that a snake in hand beats a snake in a tank for helping people beat fear and stop the senseless killing of harmless snakes... If I know any snakes are currently breeding, shedding, recently fed, feeding that evening, or just over all grumpy, they stay in the tubs without access to even my closest friends.

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I got to go into the snake room of my feeder guy [totally cool dude!] just in time for him to show me his clutches which were pipping right then!

He opened some [a whole *clutch* of butter pastels! what incredible odds and gorgeous babies!] and a clutch of beautiful Yellowbellies.

I've never seen snake babies hatching before and it was *the* coolest thing, ever!

I can't wait until I have my own little snakelings popping out, someday.

Then he showed us his other recent hatchlings, including those lavender albino Burmese [can't think of their official name] and they were just the feistiest little guys.

It was so cute to see them lunging and snapping as he filled their water bowls and they're just itty bitty little things.

It was better than Disneyland.


:D

I think this is a great topic. Its good to see that I am not the only one with strict policy of people around my collection. I had a birthday party for my son and found a few of my cousins in the reptile room. That was enough for me to put locks on the door and now access is down to only a select few people and most of them have been lifelong friends. Sometimes people get offended when they ask to see the collection but I just politely explain to them that this is more than me being rude and it is to ensure that my animals who's care is solely in my hands are safe from outside parasites.

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Originally Posted by snakeman13

So Ricky,
should I get one of those suits for you, for the next time your in my room.
You just have to be cautious of who you let in.
The suit thing would be a little to much. You might not have return customers.:colbert:

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Well, it wouldn't be for my random customers, because they don't come to my home anyway. I usually meet them near by at a strip mall. It would be for my friends, who I would hope understand my reasoning.

If you asked me to wear a suit I would, because I know you well enough to know that you're not distrustiung of me - you're just taking care of your collection :gj:

BTW, those 3 recent pickups are doing great :)

I absolutely do not let anyone in my snake room. It is for the good of my animals. To many people here where I live hate snakes and think they are horrible creatures. I prefer to keep things under strict privacy.

I wish I had a snake room and am envious of all of those that have enough snakes to keep in a room like that.

My boyfriend and I currently have snakes in just about every room of the house. 2 are in the bedroom, several are in the living room, one is in the kitchen. Some are in tanks and others are in tubs. It is a mess right now, but we are looking to move soon, so with the next place, the collection will get more organized.

That being said, since we hardly ever have anyone over, it is not much of an issue. If someone does come over, they are allowed to look at the tanks or tubs, but only Mike or myself is allowed to open them. So if someone wants to see a snake, then we will gladly get said snake out for them.I'm not too worried about mites, because I have very few friends that own reptiles, and they are almost never over. I am more worried about the safety of my critters and don't want them harmed.

I've never turned anyone away from my room, but I do have some family members that refuse to go in. I only have one other friend locally who keeps reptiles, and his collection is well cared for and there isn't a lot of new blood coming it. It's nice being able to share the animals with people who would normally kill them on sight in the wild. Slowly more and more people around me are developing an understanding and appreciation for reptiles.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

I let them in only after they pass a full background check :rofl:

Seriously there is a total of 6 people that have step foot in my snake room (one of them being my own husband)

I don't let just anyone in my snake room, only people I have known for years and know I can trust.

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This!!! Ryan & I are very picky about security, and very rarely let anyone into "the vault" as we jokingly call our snake rooms. We have a trio of very close friends who live nearby & are always welcome, but aside from that it is strictly a case-by-case basis, and usually the answer is "no."

None of my friends family have any reptiles or are anywhere that reptiles live, My snake room is in my Man Cave (Basement Bar) so interaction does happen.. Although none of the people that would be in my house will ever open a Tank. If I bring my snakes out then its all good !!

I have even brought my normal out to a friends house, His son loves snakes but has never touched a real one LOL that was fun

Personally, my snakes are a point of pride, and I showe them off to the many people that come and go through my house. I get to educate them on snakes at the same time and they usually walk away with a friendlier view of pythons. I dont have any friends that keep reptiles, but if I did I would want to know their collection was fine at present, they would change clothes, and use a lot of hand sanitizer. But like I said I dont have any friends who keep snakes lizards turtles, anything, so its never been something I have to enforce.

I dont;t like people going in my snake room at all. Sometimes my father or my bother want me to show thier friends the snakes so I bring one out at a time to show. I generally don't like people in my snake room at all but I break down sometimes if I am talking with my rat customers about snakes and I get too excited and have to show them off lol.