Quarantine - How far away is far enough?

[Krynn]

Hey all,

I just picked up my first rack (yippee!), and I plan to pick up a few snakes over the next couple of months to fill it up. I currently have my rack set up on the other side of my living room from where my other two tubs (my future quarantine tubs) are kept. They are probably about 12 feet apart. Is this far enough for a quarantine? Obviously I will be very careful to wash my hands thoroughly if I'm ever in the quarantine tubs, but can ticks for example crawl 12 feet to the rack?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Keeping animals in the same room is not quarantining even if at the opposite side of said room.

[sho220]

Hey all,

I just picked up my first rack (yippee!), and I plan to pick up a few snakes over the next couple of months to fill it up. I currently have my rack set up on the other side of my living room from where my other two tubs (my future quarantine tubs) are kept. They are probably about 12 feet apart. Is this far enough for a quarantine? Obviously I will be very careful to wash my hands thoroughly if I'm ever in the quarantine tubs, but can ticks for example crawl 12 feet to the rack?

Unless you're getting wild caught animals straight from the bush, ticks are not a concern...

[Krynn]

sorry, I meant mites

[sho220]

sorry, I meant mites

The same room is not far enough. A room at the opposite end of your house, or a different floor would be better. A space in a separate building would be optimal though. I've only had mites once, and that was with my first ever ball. From what I've read they can be a pain to get rid of. They can travel on you or your clothes and I imagine can travel some distance themselves. For any new arrivals, I would pre-treat the QT enclosures even if you don't suspect mites. If you haven't already, get a can of Provent-a-mite.

[Pythonfriend]

wow, they really walk that far?

would a line of PAM, renewed every week, be a barrier? it should kill all mites that try to cross it.

sure, a different room or different floor or different building would be nice, but what if a person is for whatever reason limited to one snake room?

also, if you touch a snake under QT only with your hands, wearing latex gloves, and dont let your clothes touch anything, i wonder how they could travel on your clothes. i mean, they cannot fly and cannot jump. and even if you get a snake with mites, if you start treatment immediately, i wonder how many mites would be alive and well enough for a successful journey to another reptile, especially with a line of PAM cutting the room in half.

im not saying its optimal, but i think there are ways to do QT relatively successful when limited to one room.

[sho220]

wow, they really walk that far?

would a line of PAM, renewed every week, be a barrier? it should kill all mites that try to cross it.

sure, a different room or different floor or different building would be nice, but what if a person is for whatever reason limited to one snake room?

also, if you touch a snake under QT only with your hands, wearing latex gloves, and dont let your clothes touch anything, i wonder how they could travel on your clothes. i mean, they cannot fly and cannot jump. and even if you get a snake with mites, if you start treatment immediately, i wonder how many mites would be alive and well enough for a successful journey to another reptile, especially with a line of PAM cutting the room in half.

im not saying its optimal, but i think there are ways to do QT relatively successful when limited to one room.

Mites are not the only reason to QT.

There is no one solution for QT. As you implied, if someone lives in a one room apartment, obviously their options are going to be limited. If someone has a collection of 500 high end, high dollar morphs, putting QT's in a corner where that collection is kept is probably not the best move. You do what you can with your particular situation to minimize the risk...

[Tigerhawk]

Do your best with your situation. However I would treat every new arrival for mites as a precaution as was stated above.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

wow, they really walk that far?

would a line of PAM, renewed every week, be a barrier? it should kill all mites that try to cross it.

sure, a different room or different floor or different building would be nice, but what if a person is for whatever reason limited to one snake room?

also, if you touch a snake under QT only with your hands, wearing latex gloves, and dont let your clothes touch anything, i wonder how they could travel on your clothes. i mean, they cannot fly and cannot jump. and even if you get a snake with mites, if you start treatment immediately, i wonder how many mites would be alive and well enough for a successful journey to another reptile, especially with a line of PAM cutting the room in half.

im not saying its optimal, but i think there are ways to do QT relatively successful when limited to one room.

Mites are not the only reason why strict QT practice need to be in place.

For the people that have not been in this very long this story http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=220629 should be a reminder of why QT in the same room is not QT.

I know people who thought they could skip QT because they bought from someone they trusted and ending up loosing several animals.

Proper QT is a MUST

[OctagonGecko729]

wow, they really walk that far?

There is some debate on whether or not at certain stages of the life cycle they may be airborne. Either way, after getting back from an expo we strip down as soon as we walk in the door and throw the clothes in the washer. Then take a shower. We also 90% of the time buy from very reputable people. The only exception is some of the rarer morphs or species. These get QT in their own room. There are plenty of steps you can do to minimize the chances but none are 100% effective if your bringing in lots of animals yearly and attending shows.