Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am just curious on exactly what procedures I need to take with a wc snake. I know it needs to be quarantined for 3-6 months (my disgression) but does that mean that my other snakes shouldn't come into contact with anything it has touched or should they not even breathe the same air? I know it has a possability of ticks but can it have mites? I think I remember hearing that mites that parasatise snakes are not from around here and that snakes get them from coming into contact with snakes that got them from a petshop or something similar. I also know a fecal is in order. Is that all?
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Onyx"

You'll get several opinions here. They are probably all good. Remember you are getting this advice over the internet where it is fair to challenge anything you hear.

My take is:
“quarantined for 3-6 months (my disgression)” - good.

“my other snakes shouldn't come into contact with anything it has touched” – good

“breathed” - possible, not probable. The air born pathogens are more probable if your animal room / cage location is hot, humid, and stagnant. It’s more probable that your other captives may infect your new animal!

“ticks” are very obvious. Just pick them off with tweezers. Don’t bother with “Boy Scout First aid techniques”. Antiseptic and Neosporin can’t hurt.

“ mites?” – possible – several commercial products and procedures are good. – I also assume that your friend who collected the animal did not expose it to parasites or pathogens from his collection, including snake bags.
However, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

It’s been my experience that good husbandry is best, especially dry cages.
Like most parasites, it’s important that they don’t kill their hosts to continue their life cycles in nature. In a cage that has warm humid places and a convenient host, they can overpopulate and cause allot of damage.
Watch carefully around the eye sockets and under chin shields. Use a good light and a magnifying glass.

“I also know a fecal is in order.” - good – Even a vet who is not great with reptiles, can generally give you a definitive fecal float. (Some exceptions, of course)

“Is that all?” –
The best you can do is know your enemy.
Being a hobbyist with no product or services to hawk here, I have found one of the most practical, down to earth, easy to understand, starting books on parasites, your most probable enemy with animals from a North American temperate climate, is
“Understanding Reptile Parasites”
by Roger J. Klingenberg D.V.M.
(ISBN 1-882770-21-8).
When you’re comfortable with that, if you want more, there are several more technical books that can be recommended.

Summary –
Pay attention to the animal.
Stay with your probabilities, not all possibilities.
Weigh your advice, and “trust the force”.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – just learn from them.

Good Luck, You'll do fine.
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Regards, Bill McGighan

almost an entire collection due to not giving the ample time of quarantine or not thinking of cross contamination of a bacterial disease.........it was in the same room ( my reptile room ) and the Mexican species of rock rattlers. While I definitely had the snakes quarantine, I didn't think of cross contamination of pulling water bowls out with snake tongs. The tongs were not de-contaminated when I went from cage to cage. I paid for it by losing 2/3erds of my collection.
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I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

Wow! Those events are scary when they happen.
On that one, were the Mexican animals the introduced infected species?

My biggest screw up was when I had a turtle pond in the snake room with powerful filters.
I had to travel for two weeks on business.
My wife and kids changed water for me in the cages, and, as you've probably guessed, some bowls were filled from the turtle pond (it looked clean!)
1/3 the collection was lost because of being attacked by Entamoeba invadens. By the time the enteritis symptoms showed up, even metronidazole was of questionable help.

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Regards, Bill McGighan

I was told that the parents were wild caught but were captive for sometime. They were sent with neonates that was only several months old. I had one parent autopsy and one juvenile and both were infected with if not IBD sure similar to it. They didn't act strange at first for 3 months but started to show signs after. Having dealing with protozoan, bacterial and amoeba diseases I should of fired one off to a vet with the signs but even in the huge metropolitan city of Kansas City, no vet would look at venomous. Mind you this was more than 20 years ago.
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I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

Will a fecal float show these kinds of infestations?
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Onyx"
0.0.1 Black Ratsnake "Shadow"

These types of infections we're talking about usually require a reptile vet to detect.
If you have access to one and the $$$$$, it can't hurt having a complete physical.

What Mr. Chambers mentioned is to be taken very seriously. We all should do as much for captive animals as we can with reasonable resources, especially if we remove them from the wild.

My disaster was clearly a husbandry issue. This was a long time ago (mid '70s) and information was lean. I should have been clearer with instructions to my family.

That said, if your friend didn't infect the animal, it's less probable that a wild Missouri animal has anything but worms!

Questions to ask about your friend:
- Does he/she keep snakes on a regular basis, as opposed to Uncle Joe found this animal in his barn and caught it for me?
- Does he/she keep many snakes?
- Does he/she keep, or has kept in the past, any oriental snakes, or tropicals? (Big red flag here.)

Yes to any of these increase you probability of infection to some degree.

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Regards, Bill McGighan

I know he has kept snakes but don't know which kind. He kept the snake in a "toolbox" for 2 days before it got to my house so I doubt he had many other animals in the toolbox with it He is more of an aquantance that just remembered I was into black rats so he found it crossing the road. What should I say I want the vet to do when I take her in? I sprayed her with "reptile relief" de-mite spray just in case she had any mites or ticks. I had noticed she was soaking in her bowl so I sprayed her.
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Onyx"
0.0.1 Black Ratsnake "Shadow"

It probably doesn't hurt with the mite spray, but you may want to observe mites first in the future.

You can wipe her down with a white damp cloth or paper towel and look for "moving pinheads". You probably won't see any now, because of the mite medicine. Try again in two weeks with the wet cloth and look with a magnifying glass.

Mites are introduced into almost everyone’s' collection sooner or later. They are very controllable.

Let the vet decide what to do, and then report back. You may have a vet who is motivated to research. There are several vets who have published work for other veterinarians, including Dr Klingenberg and Dr Frederick Frye.
It is true that most vets don't know or care to know about reptiles, but sometimes they surprise you.

The best thing you can do is isolate her for a few months, get her feeding, and watch her closely. This is so she can relax and you can relax!
This makes it interesting for you and insures that any symptoms are detected early.
If you suspect she is gravid, put in a nesting box for her to lay her eggs in.
Wash your hands before and after handling her, or anything she touches, with a good anti-bacterial soap.

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Regards, Bill McGighan