Testing and Quarantining

[kelykl]

I recently picked up a large collection from someone who was getting out of ball pythons. They have all been housed in a rack system together for well over a year, except the 2 hatchlings. No obvious signs of RI and pre treated for mites even though there were non visible.

My question is I’m obviously most worried about nido and ibd. That’s also the main reasons for quarantining.
I’m going to have half of the collection tested in the next couple of days. Full panel tests. I feel pretty confident that if any are sick, it would be more than just 1 and I would be able to pick up on anything floating around the group with half being tested.

If all come back clear, is a full 60-90 day quarantine necessary ?

[Bogertophis]

Sounds like you want a guarantee & value judgement that no one can really give you. It really comes down to what level of risk that you personally are willing to accept- which likely depends on how much money & work you have invested in whatever snakes you already have- and obviously you have intentions to breed & be commercial about it. If anything turns up in the half being tested, I'd certainly have them all tested. Personally (if I were in your position) I'd go with a long quarantine, maybe because I just don't trust everyone's motives or honesty when they sell.

[kelykl]

Thanks for the response.

I guess I could have been more detailed and asked a couple more questions as well. Other than IBD and Nido, what would be something to be concerned about ? From reading, those are the 2 main issues that ball python keepers face along with RI. I’m not as concerned with RI simply because again, none are showing signs and we check on our snakes multiple times a day. Any snake that showed the first sign of an RI would be removed immediately. From what I understand about RI, it isn’t really an issue for the group unless it has advanced.

And absolutely yes about testing all if anything turns up on the tests. That’s basically why I’m testing like that. I feel pretty good about being able to pick up on something in the group with testing for half. It’s not 100% I know but unfortunately money does start to factor in when it would be over $1000 for testing. But let’s say I did do a full panel test on ALL of them and they came back negative for everything, at that point, would quarantine be a necessity ?

[kelykl]

After some more reading and talking with someone, I will just continue with the quarantine. Even though the swab tests are very accurate, it isn’t unheard of for false negatives.
Will reevaluate in 3 months and maybe test again for ibd on the half that didn’t get tested.

[Bogertophis]

Thanks for the response.

I guess I could have been more detailed and asked a couple more questions as well. Other than IBD and Nido, what would be something to be concerned about ? From reading, those are the 2 main issues that ball python keepers face along with RI. I’m not as concerned with RI simply because again, none are showing signs and we check on our snakes multiple times a day. Any snake that showed the first sign of an RI would be removed immediately. From what I understand about RI, it isn’t really an issue for the group unless it has advanced.

And absolutely yes about testing all if anything turns up on the tests. That’s basically why I’m testing like that. I feel pretty good about being able to pick up on something in the group with testing for half. It’s not 100% I know but unfortunately money does start to factor in when it would be over $1000 for testing. But let’s say I did do a full panel test on ALL of them and they came back negative for everything, at that point, would quarantine be a necessity ?

RI- it depends on what pathogen is CAUSING the RI- an RI is a symptom, not a specific disease. For example, it can be a symptom of nidovirus.

You sure don't want to find crypto either. And there could be any number of resistant "germs" too, or even "new" ones. I agree testing half of them should be pretty indicative, but not a guarantee.

[kelykl]

Yeah, the full panel includes nido as well.

And the testing place does real time pcr tests for crypto as well so I will add those tests in with the panel.

[Bogertophis]

Well, I hope they all turn up healthy, no problems, & just a matter of their former owner being "burned out".

[kelykl]

Me too ! I weighed them all today and a couple are on the skinny side but nothing that is alarming.

[WrongPython]

It's nice to see someone pursuing a proper quarantine with virus screening! Am I correct in assuming you're using RAL/VetDNA?

Personally, I would recommend a 90 day quarantine minimum, with virus screening on intake and at the end-of-quarantine mark. With the swab-based PCR tests, it isn't so much as getting a false negative as much as the snake just not shedding the virus at the time. Testing your snakes at least twice during quarantine helps account for this.

While a full panel for arena, nido, and paramyxo is arguably best practice, nido is your main concern with BPs. That's the virus that seems to be the most prevalent among the BP trade. It can also spread horizontally (think of how the flu spreads), so one sick BP could easily infect others in a rack system if they aren't isolated quick. This also means that if your new crew has a nido problem, testing around half of them should be enough to reveal it. I would personally prioritize testing for nido if you can't afford to test for everything.

Crypto is more of a gastric virus. If you want to test anyone in that new crew for crypto, I'd test the skinny ones.

Good luck!

[kelykl]

Taking the swabs to RAL tomorrow !

Thanks for that response. Great info and really helps a lot. At the end of the day, the quarantine isn’t that big of a deal. We are fortunate that we have space and that there are 2 of us so we can split the time and rooms.

I do have a question though. I’m assuming most people use paper towels in quarantine for mites. Once I’m confident I don’t have mites, can I switch to coco ? Humidity is going to be tough to control now that it’s getting cooler here.