proper quarentine

[ADEE]

What is the nessesary steps of quarentining a new ball? We will be adding a spider in April from an outside source and we want to do everything nessesary to keep all animals safe. Can someone give me the do's and dont's?

Also, Cameron and Ruger came from the same breeder, I know for a fact he keeps all his lines together, does not bring from outside, no trading, exc. Was it unsafe for them to allow them so close to each other without "proper" quarentine? Even though they are both Aug 07' babys, from the same breeder?

I really am trying to educate myself on what the proper procedure is for them. Also, are illnesses, disease, exc contagious between species (hognose snakes, boas, balls, exc)? I know our breeder has several different species of snakes that do come in from different sources.

Also, are snakes like rats.. if you go into a petstore, wholesaler, exc is it posible to bring home illness/disease to our snakes even though we dont physically touch anything?

TIA, please no flaming im really trying to educate myself on the subject, I had difficulty finding the information with search engine.. perhaps we can make a sticky for QT?

[wolfy-hound]

I quarentine in a seperate room. When I work my bins, I do the original snakes first, then wash my hands etc(I wear nitrile gloves a lot to clean, so I change gloves) and then clean and handle the newbies. I used to be able to quarentine at my shop, and that was grand.
I would quarentine anything, but if I get a few snakes in say.. a month? I put all of them into the "quarentine rack". So technically all the new snakes(Ha, all THREE) are together in one spot(not in the same bin!! Never). Eventually I will have a second quarentine area too.
I wash hands, change gloves(if I'm wearing them), and use seperate dishes, washed seperately. I never handle the q-snakes, and then go to the main room.
I hope this helps. A quarentine sticky would be great!

[Jae iLL]

so if you put new arrivals in the same rack, wouldn't one of em pass something to the others if they had it? Let's say you get 3 or 4 new snakes in a month, do they all have to be in separate rooms? How do people that just keep their snakes in their homes do that?

[ADEE]

for the record my snakes DO NOT share bins.. they do live seperate from one another however i did have them together briefly for photos.

[frankykeno]

We don't have a special facility or anything, just a typical, albeit quite large, 2 floor apartment.

We keep the boas and the milksnake in the livingroom. They don't seem to mind the more noisy, busy environment of a livingroom in a family with kids.

The ball pythons have their own room. It's just a quite large spare bedroom. The rat colony is in there too.

In our master bedroom, which is upstairs, we keep any snake that's in quarantine.

So basically three groups, in three locations in our family home, none of the groups are ever in physical contact with each other.

Our general rules are...

- all snakes are quarantined no matter the source, we might do a shorter QT on a snake from a trusted source, but they get some sort of QT

- if a snake comes into QT upstairs, any snake already there immediately re-starts it QT clock just in case it's now been exposed to something

- no snake leaves QT until it is feeding strongly, gaining weight appropriately and showing all the indications of a perfectly healthy snake

- we feed, clean, handle in this order.....ball pythons first, boas and milksnake second, snakes in QT last....after QT we don't go back to the other snakes for any reason

- because we house rats in with the BP's, all rat work is done first so we don't have to attend to them after being around the QT snakes (which means we'd be in the BP room again...I'd like the rats to have their own room but that isn't possible in our current home)

- we keep gel hand sanitizer on hand and use it after we wash up with soap and water, this is a house rule for us and the kids, anytime we handle any snake in any group for any reason

- our kids aren't allowed any contact with a snake in QT

- once a snake leaves it's QT bin or moves up in bin size, I soak all it's things (bin, hides, bowl, etc.) in bleach and water for about an hour, rinse in hot water and pack the items away in my snake stuff cupboard

It's not perfect but it's the best we can figure to do in a home setup. So far *knock wood* it's working out just fine.

[rabernet]

Here's a great post on Fauna on one member's quarantine process:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...1&postcount=20

[Laooda]

Great post Wolfy and Jo, and awesome link Robin! I agree... a good quarantine procedure sticky would be super. I also qt in my bed room, separate from the spare bedroom that houses the snakies. I've gone as long a 4 months on some. *knock on wood* I've never had a problem, but I've heard some pretty scary stuff. Ashley, I hope I didn't come across wrong when asking about you qua renting... I never qt'd things before I knew better, thankfully I didn't learn from getting my collection wiped out, but I've heard it happens.
As for transmitting stuff... I know there are people here with much more knowledge on the subject, but if I understand correctly, there are both bacterial and viral elements that effect snakes. And yes, some transmit from other species. The scary thing is that like other viruses, a snake can be a carrier... or the sickness can lie dormant... So who knows!?!?!? I'd really like to know more about it... I just try to do the best quarantien as possible, use hand sterilizer, etc...cause you never know. As for bringing things home from a shop etc... I THINK mites would be the biggest concern? Like I said, I'm sure there are more knowledgeable members when it comes to all this... maybe someone else will chime in. As far as qting a snake from the same source... I'd still do it. It's just a good habit to get into!

[ADEE]

You didnt come across as anything.. I would much rather someone speak up and say something than experience something unforseen that could harm any of my animals. I appreciate your willingness to speak up. We are planning on adding at least one more snake this year and it will come from either Adam or the breeder I currently work with.. when your spending money on anything you want to make sure its safe, especially when your talking an animal. again i appreciate you saying something.. i hope we can get a sticky in order for others who may not have thought about it...

Thank you everyone who commented!

[Hotshot]

I just got my pastel, and the great ppl here told me to QT for 90 day's, in a different room so, my pastel is in QT for 90 day's in living room