Quarantine

It has come to my attention on another thread that quarantining is different in definition for different folks.

Now my question to you all is:

How do you do it? Where, for how long, and what is your procedure? When do you feel comfortable introducing your quarantined animals to the established collection?

I was going to ask the same question.. I saw what you were talking about.

As far as quarantine goes for me.

I quarantine in a different room away from my established healthy collection. I go 90 days, have a fecal done within a week or so depending on when I can get a sample ( I am talking geckos here though). Then if that fecal comes back positive for something, I extend the 90 days starting when treament is over and have had a negative fecal. Kind of like a medical/treatment quarantine, then a observatory quarantine when treatment is over. I have a small collection though and this seems to work well for me.

-Totally different room.
-All new never before used tub,water bowl, hide.
-Every thing I use for that animal stays with that animal and never get rotated with my other stuff.
-Last animal, fed, cleaned, handled
-feeders. If one is refused that is also kept separate for other feeder and never offer to any other animal but the QT'ed one.
-Hand sanitizer get it - love it - use it. When you think you've used it enough...Do it twice more.
-Fecal's done with in the 60 QT time.

Different room, 90 days with a clean health/fecal check, diligent care to hand-washing and sterilizing, and nothing shared between cages. Even after quarantine, I don't put uneaten rodents in with a different snake, nor switch around hides or water bowls, and I wash or use hand sanitizer in between cages when cleaning or handling animals.

I do quarantine animals from a single source in a group (IE, a shipment from breeder X will have all the animals put in one room, while all the animals from breeder Y go in another).

It's not an ideal quarantine setup, but like most people, I can't afford outbuildings with seperate ventilation systems just yet. :)

So if you only have 1 rack how do you heat the quarantineed tub? I am going to be picking up 2 snakes in the next week from Alice and then 2 more in abouth a month from a different breeder. I have a RB 32qt rack with dividers. Any suggestions?

I'd just buy one of those heating mats you can get at any petstore; it'll be $20-40 but well worth it to avoid the risk of either the snakes going cold or getting your established collection sick. Besides, you can always re-use them (provided you stick them to a paper and tape them to the bottom) for the next set of quarantines.

Or a $10 human heating pad with a thermostat on it, and put the bin up on blocks above it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Or a $10 human heating pad with a thermostat on it, and put the bin up on blocks above it.

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Human heating pads are not designed to run 24/7, so that could be a possible fire hazard.

If you follow the directions on the pad, (not putting any weight on it, and checking it for deterioration periodically), it's pretty safe. Pads designed for human use tend to be held to pretty high standards. You just have to be sure you don't have one with an automatic shutoff. It's not for long-term use over years, anyhow, but there's no reason to believe that an undertank heater is a safer device than a human heating pad. For a few months in quarantine, I don't see that it's dangerous.
(I've used the things for myself on a regular basis, as I have trouble regulating my body temperature due to CFS, and they are surprisingly sturdy).

Using a thermostat with a high temperature alert or high-temp shutoff is always a good idea with any heating device anyhow.

Any other options? I dont mind keep 2 from the same breeder near each other but just found a nice high contrast albino and may be picking that up as well.

Basically everything as mentioned above plus if another snake comes into the QT room (which is a corner of our master bedroom on another floor of the house), then the QT "clock" restarts for any snake already in that room. Also no matter how long they are in QT they don't leave there until they are a certain weight or gaining in an expected manner, feeding strongly, shedding nicely, etc. Only ball pythons in QT are kept upstairs, boa's and the milksnake are kept in other areas of the house seperate from the QT room and the ball python's room.

I keep my new arrivals in a room at the opposite end of the house as my rack and established snakes. They get handled and cleaned last if I am making rounds and cleaning everyone's tubs. Of course, they get treated with PAM right off the bat.. I do not take anyone's word that a snake is mite-free, because everyone could make a mistake and by the time I saw a mite, it could be too late and they could have hitchhiked into my collection! I actually plan on treating all of my snakes if I ever get a new one, just to be safe; it is harmless to treat and takes a few minutes of my time, so why not?
These days I would recommend a fecal done by a vet, what with people selling snakes that have internal parasites.. :(

So I could just take 1 of the tubs out of the rack (its never been used), keep the QT snake in that with some form of heating element in a seperate room for up to 90 days. Now I just need to figure out how Im going to keep her warm.