Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I understand that if you are housing multiplie snakes in the same enclosure you would want to quarantine them before adding to the group setup.

I can also understand quarantining snakes before putting in a rack setup - since they will be in such close quarters.

But, I'm having a hard time understanding if I need to quarantine new snakes if they are only going to be housed in individual tanks and boaphile cages (these will be stacked). I'm also trying to understand if you have to quarantine new snakes in a separate room or not - I believe I've heard to quarantine in a separate room. Are there airborne illnesses to worry about that make the separate room quarantine necessary?

I'd also be interested in any good sites that detail how to properly quarantine or any advice/tips anyone has to offer.

Thanks!
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1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

My main concern with using the same room would be external parasites such as mites and ticks which could carry diseases from one cage to another. If you don't have the option of another room for some reason then make darn sure you kill off any external parasites as you bring the new snake in.

Also, there are some internal parasites that can sustain infection for some time (strongyloides) so unless you are getting a fecal exam done during the quarantine you still risk something like this or even a sickness that might last but not be detected.

A vet student once told me about snake STD's and I wish I had paid more attention as some of them where self limiting in one sex but not in the other and I don't know what the symptoms and treatments where.

So, blind quarantine does a lot of good, especially against devastating and fast acting problems like IBD in pythons (but not boas) however you might still need some diagnostic work or treatments to be sure and get rid of a number of possible long term problems.

I plan to take all my snakes to the vet for an exam and fecal. Does the fecal check for all internal parasites?

"make darn sure you kill off any external parasites as you bring the new snake in."

As far as external parasites, other than using a mite treatment as a precaution what else should I do?

As I understand it, when doing cage cleanings or handling any of the snakes I should work with the quarantined animals last.
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1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

fecal should get all the parasites that have been known to man. so unless theres some new super-parasite in your snake, they should all die.

Yes, the fecal checks for internal parasites. Apparently tapeworms don't continuously pass eggs so they can be missed sometimes but they are very hard to transfer snake to snake anyway (they get them from infected feeders). Other than that I think the fecal exam by a vet who knows what they are doing should be pretty accurate at diagnosing internal parasites. The drugs they prescribe are supposed to be very effective but I don't suppose a follow-up exam a while after treatment is complete would be a bad idea to make sure you got everything (assuming anything is found in the first place).

I've not had to deal with mites in years so I don't know about the modern treatments but depending on your cage setup (i.e. wood = bad) they might be hard to eradicate. Probably best to assume that any new animal has them and treat carefully and quarantine until proven otherwise. Seems to me that missing one pregnant mite would be pretty easy.

You brought up a good point about cleaning and handling the quarantine animal last. You probably want to use a good disinfectant on any cleaning equipment after as well. In the perfect world the quarantine animal would not only be in it’s own room but it would have it’s own cleaning equipment.