Do I have to quarantine a new snake if they have no problems and mites.

[PitOnTheProwl]

How long do quarantines last and what is it for?

90 days.

QT not only protects your collection BUT also could protect your new pick-up IF something was going on in your collection. It works both ways.

You never know what kind of problems a new snake might have.
I know people that dont QT and never had a problem, I also met a guy that lost close to $30k worth of balls because he didnt QT a new snake.

[weird_science04]

How do you know for sure they don't have mites? I see too many times where people say, "I got this snake a month ago. It didn't have mites when I got it, but now it is infested with mites. Where did they come from?" That snake came with mites but mites are not easy to see.

QT and QT and QT. If not, you COULD lose everything in your collection. It is not worth it. The only snakes in quarantine that are close together are the ones I got from the same breeder AT the same time. They are away from the rest of my collection because I am NOT risking it. 3 months QT always and adult boa's I do for 6 months or longer. Never purchased an adult BP, so can't say for adult BP but the babies are being QT for 3 months.

Star

[PitOnTheProwl]

How do you know for sure they don't have mites? I see too many times where people say, "I got this snake a month ago. It didn't have mites when I got it, but now it is infested with mites. Where did they come from?" That snake came with mites but mites are not easy to see.

On the flip side, you may have brought the mites into your house. Infested your collection, and the new snake too. Then you could be blaming the wrong people

[weird_science04]

True Pit but snake mites are not native to the America's. You can't walk outside and bring them in from your yard. So, you would have to go to a place that was infested with them in order to bring them into your collection.

Star

[Skiploder]

How long do quarantines last and what is it for?

You started the thread, so why are you asking what a quarantine is for?

As for how long - 90 days minimum. There are diseases that can hide out longer than that.................but 90 days gets you past most of the major issues.

If you can't do QT, don't add to your collection.

[rabernet]

True Pit but snake mites are not native to the America's. You can't walk outside and bring them in from your yard. So, you would have to go to a place that was infested with them in order to bring them into your collection.

Star

Not necessarily. You can go to a pet store and hold one and not realize it has mites, hold it, put it back and bring hitch hikers home with you. You could go to a show and not see mites, yet bring them home with you. You could have friends who have snakes come over and bring them in.

It doesn't take an infestation somewhere to bring them into your home.

As to the OP, we had a member here once who said "I don't care if God himself handed me the snake, all new snakes go into QT"

It's not just mites that you worry about. Snakes raised in different environments have developed resistances to those environments, but not to yours yet. So they could bring in something that they are resistant to, but your collection is not and vice versa.

There have been far too many people who have lost or had to put down entire collections because they failed to quarantine and practice quarantine procedures (refused prey from QT's animals are disposed of and never offered to established collection, QT animals always handled and worked with last, then clothes stripped off and put in the laundry and owner takes a shower are just a few things that I do with my QT).

[Aes_Sidhe]

Like Skiploder ask:

How do you know they've had no problems?

Answer is:

You'll never known for sure.

Just Quick example..
I bought a snake on reptile show not that long ago...
I've took careful look on it mostly because that was WC specimen and dont see any crawlers on it...
I put him in to his tub... in separate part of room ( i have one room only as well) ... Wipe him before i put him to enclosure with reptile relief... and guess what.. not even week later I found 2 mites on him...

I go for total chemical warfare including spraying carpet in my room because that little pesky creatures can travel long distances...

3,5 weeks passed and so far so good... I have no idea from where they come..but somehow I bring them home..
So Yes!!!!
Quarantine and careful control of You animals everyday for health problem is an essential thing for every animal keeper

[tcutting]

How do you know they've had no problems?

x2

[weird_science04]

Not necessarily. You can go to a pet store and hold one and not realize it has mites, hold it, put it back and bring hitch hikers home with you. You could go to a show and not see mites, yet bring them home with you. You could have friends who have snakes come over and bring them in.

It doesn't take an infestation somewhere to bring them into your home.

That is what I insinuated, not sure the not necessarily part. A pet store or reptile show that has snakes with mites means you are going into a place that is infested with mites. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they are not infested. What I said was, you can't go into your yard, work (not pet store), and places that don't have reptiles and bring them into your home. They are not indigenous to the US like fleas (for example) so you can't bring them in from your yard. You would HAVE to go someplace where there are reptiles that have them in order to bring them into your house.

With this being said, if anyone is a member of redtailboas.com forum they know I am the quarantine police. I will call anyone out on quarantine (in a nice way). I am a STRONG supporter of quarantine and try to educate as many people as possible. It is not worth it to your collection to skip quarantine. Like that other member said, he didn't care if god himself gave him the snake it was going into QT. That is me also. I don't care how great of a reputation you have, it will be in quarantine. I don't care if I have purchased from you before (I don't know what you have done with your collection since my last purchase), it will be going into QT. I don't care if you are my best friend and I saw your snakes as they grow (I don't know if you have been to pet stores or reptile shows or the such), it is going into QT (maybe not 6 months but still QT for a specified period of time).

Star

[OtterGoRun]

Doing a quarantine isn't that hard, even if you only have one room. It's definitely worth it to be safe, as many animals are so good at hiding illness. Make sure you not only wash your hands between snakes, but also either change your clothes or have a dedicated apron to wear while handling the QT snake.