Quaranting in the same room?

[55fingers]

Hey, so, this is my first time having 2 snakes at once, so I've never had to go through a proper quarantine before, and I'm trying to learn how to do it safe enough.

My basic problem is that I live in the basement, and my room is the only room kept warm enough for snakes in tubs. I tried to set up a quarantine tub in different room but just can't get the ambient temps up.

Would it defeat the whole purpose of the quarantine if I had them in the same room? I've heard of it before and been told it's better than nothing but I'm not sure. I would have the new snake in my closet with my door closed and my current snake at the opposite side of the room from the closet, sanitize between handling, use separate equipment, handle the new snake last etc.

Thoughts? Is this useless to do it this way? I may try to rig the tub with a CHE and see if it helps so I can avoid this but I'm not sure.

[Bogertophis]

It's better not to use the same room, but under the circumstances it seems you don't have a choice, so the more distance you can do, the better. It's MOST important to wash your hands & things like feeding tongs (sanitize!), working with your established pet first, the new one always last, & preferably shower & change clothes afterwards so you don't get sidetracked & end up near your established pet again- all of which you obviously know. Even just the distance between them helps, & obviously, don't put the new one in front of any HVAC vent that's going to blow air from the new snake & circulate it to the other. With any luck, you'll be okay.

[jmcrook]

My routine for quarantine in my small 2bd apt is as follows:

Quarantined animal lives in the bedroom. I have clothes for the day set out in the living room in advance, deal with quarantined critter first thing in the morning then shower and get dressed. Deal with snake room after showering and getting dressed. Go to work and go about my day. Come home and deal with snake room as needed. Quarantine room/bedroom is dealt with last thing of the day when I am sure I don't need to go back in the snake room. Basically treat either side of your room as two completely different spaces as far apart as possible. Separate set of cleaning bottles, separate snake hook, separate feeding tongs, separate roll of paper towels, separate everything.

I wouldn't bring this animal home until you're sure you've got tub temps and quarantine routine dialed in. I use a CHE above my quarantine tub for ambient temps and my room is 73*. I think you'll melt the lid trying to use that set up for ambients in a low 60s basement.

Not the ideal quarantine scenario, but it could work if you're very diligent.

[55fingers]

Thanks for the advice. What I mean by using a CHE is that I'm going to put a metal mesh screen on the top and then sit the lamp on it with at least a dimmer, so the heat going directly in the tub instead of around the outside. Even with my room at 75-ish I think maybe I should take extra precautions to ensure the temps.

[55fingers]

Update: I decided I'm going to keep her in my closet, as it will be easy to keep in heat and minimize the new snake's stress. I bought a mini digital ceramic heater that has a built-in thermostat that I will put in the closet with her tub to ensure her tempature.

As far as the quarantine procedure goes, anyone please correct me if I'm wrong; snakes as far away as possible from each other, keep closet door closed, use separate equipment (I have dedicated feeding tongs for her etc), do basic care before I shower/change clothes, if I need to handle her do it after handling my established snake and change clothes/shower afterwards, sanitize anything that might have come into contact etc. Am I missing anything?

[Bogertophis]

Update: I decided I'm going to keep her in my closet, as it will be easy to keep in heat and minimize the new snake's stress. I bought a mini digital ceramic heater that has a built-in thermostat that I will put in the closet with her tub to ensure her tempature.

As far as the quarantine procedure goes, anyone please correct me if I'm wrong; snakes as far away as possible from each other, keep closet door closed, use separate equipment (I have dedicated feeding tongs for her etc), do basic care before I shower/change clothes, if I need to handle her do it after handling my established snake and change clothes/shower afterwards, sanitize anything that might have come into contact etc. Am I missing anything?

No snake should be in the dark all the time, & please do be careful about heat building up to an unsafe level with lights & heating for a snake. There are closets that have room to do this safely, but I'm not making any assumptions. Just remember that clothing & other things in closets are flammable...

Also, you should probably put your established snake in the closet, IF the clothes you'll be wearing will be coming from that closet...otherwise, you could be spreading germs & mites from your new snake throughout the house via what you're wearing, ya?

[55fingers]

No snake should be in the dark all the time, & please do be careful about heat building up to an unsafe level with lights & heating for a snake. There are closets that have room to do this safely, but I'm not making any assumptions. Just remember that clothing & other things in closets are flammable...

Also, you should probably put your established snake in the closet, IF the clothes you'll be wearing will be coming from that closet...otherwise, you could be spreading germs & mites from your new snake throughout the house via what you're wearing, ya?

Oh for sure, you make a very good point! No worries, I'm actually going to take all my clothes and everything out of the closet so it's only her and her supplies in there. The ceramic heater has a digital thermostat and overheat safety shutoff/fuse, which I will only be using for ambient, and using her UTH on a thermostat for a hotspot. I don't have any lights for her, but you make a good point that she shouldn't be in the dark all the time. I may consider getting some LEDs with a day/night cycle.

[Bogertophis]

Oh for sure, you make a very good point! No worries, I'm actually going to take all my clothes and everything out of the closet so it's only her and her supplies in there. The ceramic heater has a digital thermostat and overheat safety shutoff/fuse, which I will only be using for ambient, and using her UTH on a thermostat for a hotspot. I don't have any lights for her, but you make a good point that she shouldn't be in the dark all the time. I may consider getting some LEDs with a day/night cycle.

Sounds good then, I just wanted to make sure you thought of all that. And you don't need a bright light, but just something that would duplicate your average daytime room light as it comes from your windows, so she has a normal day-night cycle. Most snakes actually hate bright day lights, unless they're active diurnal hunters like coachwhips & gopher snakes that would normally be out & about hunting.

[JacksReptiles]

Yeah technically since you have it in the closet it is a different room. You gotta do what you gotta do man just keep things clean. Watch your animals behavior.

[Hazz332]

I’m actually going to be getting a second bp here shortly and am curious to know more about the quarantine process. So I have a few questions of my own related to this topic...
1- is quarantine just for the possibility of the new snake having mites or are there other concerns?
2- how long do you have to quarantine?
im assuming given the previous discussions it is a no no to have your new snake in the same rack. That being said I am going to have to go get a second rack because I only have one right now. I’m really glad I read this post because I didn’t realize how strict this quarantine process has to be!