Help me out here guys

[Elliot]

Well just a few minutes ago I was mowing my yard, and I saw a ribbon snake dart away from me! Well I caught it and right now its in my snake's old 10 gallon (temporarily), but I was wondering if maybe I could put it with my other ribbon snake in it's 20gal long? This snake is the same length as my snake, but it has a bigger head and its much bulkier, which makes me think I have a female. My current snake is much slimmer, so I would guess it's a male. Do you guys think it would be ok if I kept it if I quaratined it for a couple weeks? Let me know what you think, thanks!

[KITKAT]

Hi there!

Lucky find!

But no, I would not combine them for at LEAST 4 weeks!

Your Wild Caught ribbon will need to be quarantined, checked for mites, and have a fecal exam with a vet, then treated if anything is found, before I would combine it with your original snake.

I could tell you a very sad story about a group of Collared Lizards I owned once...

[Morph]

if you are going to introduce a wc animal you should quarantine for 6-8 weeks and get a fecal smear if possible before introducing to your other animals. i doubt there would be much of a problem keeping them together as long as you feed them seperately. wc animals tend to be a little more aggressive when feeding in my experience.

remember i am not an expert so i hope someone else will come along and give another oppinion.

[Elliot]

if you are going to introduce a wc animal you should quarantine for 6-8 weeks and get a fecal smear if possible before introducing to your other animals. i doubt there would be much of a problem keeping them together as long as you feed them seperately. wc animals tend to be a little more aggressive when feeding in my experience.

remember i am not an expert so i hope someone else will come along and give another oppinion.

Ok, thanks. The thing is my other snake is a wild caught snake to, from the same area, so there shouldn't be a problem keeping them together.

[KITKAT]

Ok, thanks. The thing is my other snake is a wild caught snake to, from the same area, so there shouldn't be a problem keeping them together.

Well... I hate to say this, but I totally disagree with that evaluation, unless your snakes were caught together in the same hide, within a week of so of each other.

Lots of things can infect one wild animal and not get to the other from the same area.

[Morph]

Well... I hate to say this, but I totally disagree with that evaluation, unless your snakes were caught together in the same hide, within a week of so of each other.

Lots of things can infect one wild animal and not get to the other from the same area.

i agree with KITKAT on this 1. your new snake could have any illness that your old 1 doesn't. could of been bitten by a disease ridden tick for example.

[Elliot]

Well... I hate to say this, but I totally disagree with that evaluation, unless your snakes were caught together in the same hide, within a week of so of each other.

Lots of things can infect one wild animal and not get to the other from the same area.

Well I guess I see your point, I didn't think of it that way.

[KITKAT]

Well I guess I see your point, I didn't think of it that way.

The problem is captivity... when an animal is sick in the wild, other animals can avoid it. Rain and sunshine can kill the pest or organism that is making the one animal sick.

But in captivity, they are forced to be together intimately. They share the same substrate, food dish, and water dish, and these items are not "cleaned" by fresh sunshine, rain, and temperature fluctuations, etc. And even though you clean the viv weekly or bi-weekly, wash the dishes and change the substrate, the pest or organism that is making the animal sick can concentrate there to infect the viv-mate.

So you want to be sure that the new animal is healthy (as well as the old animal) before having them share quarters.

Back when I was new to keeping reptiles, I rescued a collared lizard from a bad pet store. He was so sick that his skin had turned hard and black but had not shed. In the course of about one month, I was able to get him healthy.

After about two months, I thought he was lonely, so I got him a female from a reputable breeder. I did not quarantine her, and I got lucky and they were both fine. Several months passed...

Next, I thought to add a second female to my little family. I bought another female from the same breeder. By this time, I was getting advice about quarantine, so I did quarantine the new female for two weeks... despite being warned by people that I should quarantine for 4 - 6 weeks.

But after two weeks, I grew tired of caring for both vivs, and she seemed healthy, so I introduced her to the pair.

Two weeks after the introduction, all H E double hockey sticks broke out! The new female began wasting. She was treated with wormers, but she still died. I cleaned out the viv and gave a worming to the other two... but four weeks later, my other female died... and two weeks after that, I lost the male!

Live and learn... I will always quarantine for the full 6 weeks now!

[Elliot]

Wow that sucks, I'll be keeping mine in qurantine for a good long time now too.

[GarterGuy]

Have to agree with the above advice....best to quarantine you new snake for at least a month before introducing it to an established captive. Very good idea to get fecals done as well. Also you'll want to be very observant about how the snakes "get along" once introduced to each other. You'll want to make sure there's no problems with food bullying or anything like that. Good luck with them!
Roy