Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay...I am still a newbie when it comes to bps. I have read about some horror stories about people that do not quarantine their new arrivals and end up with a collection full of sick snakes. I currently have three balls, but I am getting a few more higher end snakes within the next two weeks or so and, while I am in no way anticipating sick snakes given the breeders that I am dealing with, I know that it is highly recommended by most that there be a quarantine period. My question is how do most people handle the quarantine of their new arrivals? And for how long (I have seen from one month to six)? Thanks, and sorry if I don't make 100% sense!
-----
2.2 Beardies:
Ozzie--GG X
Dunkin--Sandfire X
Caine--hypopastel clear nail het leuc., poss. het trans.
Matilda--hypopastel clear nail het leuc., poss. het trans.

2.1 Cornsnakes:
Chester--anery stripe motley
*RIP* Ducky--bloodred
Josie--anery
'No name'--ghost

2.1 Ball Pythons:
Percy--normal
Fynn--pastel
Layla--normal

2.2 Other Pets:
Simon, Cooper--chihuahuas
Cleo--DSH cat
Piper--cockatiel

i generally keep the new arrivial in a glass tank, news paper for bedding, in a seperate area. this is also a good time to get it in its feeding schedule, then i keep it there until it deficates then have a fecal exam done. if all is good to go from the exam i usually move it into the snake room from there.

In my opinion, quarantine for any animal should be at least three months. This gives time for incubating or dorment diseases to manifest themselves. Some viral or bacterial infections take several weeks to a few months to appear such as IBD (I think that is the acrynom for it). Also, during these three months, 2-3 fecals and at least one vet examination should be done as well, to ensure the snake has no other problems, especially with internal parasites, lumps etc.

Practically, 2-3 months quarentine and a clean fecal should be good, providing the snake is eating well, not loosing weight, no odd things about their poop (ie runnny, extra smelly, rice like objects in the poop etc). Also, clean and feed the quarentined snake last, keep it's cleaning/feeding utensils separate from the other snakes and washed in a different sink, or disinfect the sink well before putting other snake's stuff in it.

Oh yes, another thing I like to do, is spray the new snake's cage with PAM (prevent a mite) before I put the new coming into the cage. This way, if it comes with mites or ticks, that problem is solved before the little buggers can migrate and infect all my other snakes. I hate mites once before and it spread to all my snakes (fortunately I only had three at the time, but still it was a pain cleaning all their cages, disinfecting them, soaking the snakes every week, till I gave up and bought a can of PAM. By then I did have it down to just one snake but she was thick with them...I think she was the original one to have mites...or they liked her best of all...between a ball python, corn snake and brazilian rainbow boa...the boa has them the most. Pam cleared it up completely within two months. SPray the cage once a month, or after any total cage cleaning for about 2-3 months or longer if more are seen in water dishes a few weeks after the last spray)
-----
PHLdyPayne

A lot of people quarentine for three months with good results. I prefer to quarentine for six months to avoid things like IBD which usually kill pythons very quickly but can lie dormant. There is no reliable test for IBD. If you test a living snake that has it you will get odd results but they only tell you that something is wrong, not what.
-----
"Because life is preciouse...and god and the bible..."