Quarantine Talk Thread

[guidofatherof5]

Thought I would give this a bump. Important subject matter.

[Ruth]

I thought I was a bit over the top with keeping new additions in separate rooms when they come to me. I keep them on separate floors as well, as a corn I once bought from a pet shop came to me with mites and I'm aware they crawl where they like (yuck). I tend to keep them on their own for three months, a figure I just thought seemed reasonable. I also make sure the enclosures are minimal and contain no wood or loose bedding but paper and cardboard tubes, dishes are glass and they are kept in RUBs as they are easy to clean without the use of any chemicals or cleaners. I spot clean daily and clean at least once weekly cleaning the RUB with very very hot water. I apply alcohol gel immediately after handling and wash my hands when I get to the bathroom. I don't change my clothing after handling but I wear short sleeved tops and don't place the animal on my clothing. I feel sorry for the snakes in solitary confinement but it's lovely putting them in their new homes with their new playmates.

[guidofatherof5]

Sounds like you are taking good precautions which translates into better health for all your animals, and yourself.

[ConcinusMan]

I thought I was a bit over the top with keeping new additions in separate rooms when they come to me.

Naaah. But if you start getting the urge to pile up enclosures in your yard for a bonfire, you should probably call someone LoL

[Ruth]

I do like a good fire

[guidofatherof5]

This is why quarantine is so important.

Approximately 60 days ago I received a snake. It was placed in quarantine just like any other snake.
This morning I walked by and glanced in on it. It was doing the "Funky Chicken" I found this strange as I haven't taught that dance yet in Thamnophis Dance Class.

All kidding aside he was scraping himself along the substrate. In my experience this usually mean only one thing, MITES!
I did a quick inspection of him under the magnifying light but didn't see anything. I then checked my hands under the light. I had very, very small mites all over my hands. These were immature mites but still mites. You won't be able to see them crawling on the snake.
He got a warm soak for a few minutes. Then a warm soak in water with one drop of liquid detergent. After 30 minutes he got a soak in a weak tea Betadine solution.
This routine will happen every day for the next week. His enclosure was scrubbed and dried. I switched him to paper towels as substrate and treated the entire enclosure with Provent-A-Mite. This will be repeated every time I change the paper towels. Those paper towels will be bagged and placed in the freezer just like the old substrate was.
Here's what one of the little %#$%@!**^@#$#(use you imagination) looks like. This is using a 10X lens.
I have contacted the person I got the snake from to advise them to check there snakes.

[Sonya610]

In my experience this usually mean only one thing, MITES!

Acks! Yeah I can see your point, it would be hard treating one or two but accidentally infecting ALL of your animals would be a nightmare!

Didn't you feel itchy and contagious after all of that? What do you do? Wash all your clothes in hot water and shower? Must make you paranoid about spreading it around.

I got Sarcoptic mange from one of my dogs once, I do a lot of rescue but don't quarantine, that was never a problem but one of my own went to the groomer and got it. Holy sheesh I was itching like crazy for 2-3 weeks. Mites are NOT fun at all!

Question how long is the mite life cycle? You had the snake 2 months and are just NOW seeing babies? Did the animal have dormant mite eggs or something? Or more like a tiny number of adult mites that suddenly had a bazillion babies making the outbreak noticeable?

[guidofatherof5]

I'm just glad it is confined to one snake. I thought it strange too that they didn't show up sooner.

[guidofatherof5]

Bump.

[joeysgreen]

If the snake only has a small population of mites then you likely won't find the problem until they reproduce. What you probably found was the new generation.

Mites are the most obvious problem caught in quarantine but far from the most insidious. Try getting rid of cryptosporidiosis, yellow fungus disease, inclusion body disease, paramyxovirus...

I'm always happy to see people with separate quarantine rooms. I recommend also having 2 fecals, 2 weeks apart prior to adding to your other snakes (if both are negative). A lot of the GI bugs are easy to treat, but very difficult if adding to a group in a naturalistic enclosure that can't be sanitized.

Ian