Wish us luck!

[Invictus]

We're taking our first attempt at breeding BCC. So far, things are going ok.

Erin obtained an adult male Suri about 3 months ago. In turn, I was lucky to obtain an adult female shortly thereafter.

Admittedly, they aren't the nicest Suris we've seen... but I've seen some incredible things happen from some pretty ugly parents, so we decided to give it a shot.

They have been housed together since we got the female. We decided to start reducing their light cycles too 8 hours or so per day. Even with the light/heat source off, their temp never goes below about 75, because of the ambient temp in my house. In spite of this, it seems to have worked, because for the last 2 days, when I check on them at night, they are tail locked!!!

Wish me luck, hopefully this will be a successful project for us.

[Locklynn]

Good Luck Babe ; )

[SnakeFetish]

Are they both Suri's?

[Jeff_Favelle]

Best of luck! Should be exciting!!



They have been housed together since we got the female.

No quarantine??

[MarcB]

Good luck Ken, wishing you guys a big load of BCC's...

[Invictus]

Thanks everyone.

Jeff - Yeah yeah, bad practice I know, but our house space is limited as is. We're in the process of rearranging so that we can do proper quarantining.

[Bartman]

Good luck. You must be excited! :D

[Linds]

Originally posted by Invictus
Jeff - Yeah yeah, bad practice I know, but our house space is limited as is. We're in the process of rearranging so that we can do proper quarantining.

If you don't have enough room, then why keep adding? There's a bunch of things I would like to get paired up here, but I simply don't have the space, so will just have to put it off until a time I do, as not to risk the animals I already have.

[MouseKilla]

Ken,

I knew you'd have people all over you about the quarantine thing and you probably did too but in my opinion they're your animals so it's your risk to take. None of my business.

For those of you wagging a finger I wonder what your practices are and your reasons for them.

Do you quarantine for the "several years" The Boa Constrictor manual tells us that it may take for IBD to surface? It would seem to me that anything less would be equal to no quarantine at all for the purpose of avoiding the spread of IBD. Or is IBD not the main concern? Either way, how long?

Do you quarantine for the same period of time for every new snake that comes into your collection regardless of the purpose of obtaining it or have you ever picked up an adult for the sole purpose of breeding it that year and either rushed or skipped quarantine?

Finally, do you ever consider the source of your acquisition when determining if or how long you will quarantine a particular animal? Is it the same whether it comes from a breeder, a friend (who's husbandry you know to be good) or a pet store?

For me it's different with every animal, purpose, source and space being the main factors in deciding how long to quarantine an animal if at all. I'd love to hear what others do.

[reptiguy420]

pretty good questions...

[Jayson]

Normally we would Quarantine for a min of 6 weeks, However If i buy from someone who i know personally and i know that there have been no new editions to thier collection then i may skip the quarantine period.
I never buy from pet shops.

[Jayson]

Oh ya and good luck with breeding Invictus! :)

[herpers2]

Good luck!

[BoidsUnlimited]

Good luck man.

Lets hope you can make enough room for 20 plus babies if its successful.

[Linds]

MouseKilla,
Below are my quarantine practices taken from <a href="http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57063">this thread</a>, currently being discussed. As for IBD, it is the least of my concerns, as it is an incredibly rare disease. The hype is quite entertaining considering just how rare it is, and how many dozens of other *common* problems have similar symptoms. Somehow IBD is always the first thing people assume though :rolleyes: I've had animals come just in time for breeding or brumation, from reputable sources or not so much, and in all cases have pushed back the schedule to accomodate what I deemed to be an acceptable quarantine period, which is at the minimum, several months. Even then, I'm always uneasy when a quarantine barrier is broken, be it after 4 months or 4 years. I'm not a very trusting person, so regardless of the source, I do my best to quarantine for as long as possible, and in essence, all my animals are generally in some degree of quarantine at all times, with the exception of breedings.

Originally posted by Linds

All my animals have their own set of sponges, which each have their own compartments so they do not touch eachother at any time. In between handling each animal, I wash my hands with dishsoap up to my elbows or shoulders and give a good soaking with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I make sure when cleaning to take in to consideration action and placement when disposing of stuff to avoid any aerosols. When touching something communal, such as bedding, I wash my hands again first as to not carry anything over. For the most part, I tend to stick to this routine even after any set evaluation period has passed.

I do pretreat for mites, any animals coming in to my collection. I used to 'shotgun' treat with fenbendazole any animals entering, but have discontinued that practice, as I feel it to be unnecessary. Antiparasitic drugs wreak havoc on an animal's system, no matter how 'mild' it is said to be, and I only treat animals now which actually need to be treated. If animals are healthy and continue to be so, unaffected, then there is no reason to be poisoning them.

[marisa]

"ever picked up an adult for the sole purpose of breeding it that year and either rushed or skipped quarantine"

Nope. Breeding is the least important aspect of keeping snakes IMHO. I want to breed certain things of course, I already have, but its like not even near the top of priorities in keeping a collection of snakes. Far from it.

"Finally, do you ever consider the source of your acquisition when determining if or how long you will quarantine a particular animal? Is it the same whether it comes from a breeder, a friend (who's husbandry you know to be good) or a pet store?"

Yup. The same. I don't care who I get the animal from. And it's really not about trust, it's more about accidents. If a breeder somehow catches something, a nasty bug say, and it takes a couple weeks or even longer for symptoms to show, then I purchase a snake from him....and put it in with my collection...he then finds out something is happening but guess what? It's already too late. This has happened to people. Many times. And really the only person at fault in that situation is the one who didn't simply keep the snake away.

For something SO simple, I don't get why everyone doesn't do it. And frankly if I didn't have the room to quaranteen a new snake, I wouldn't be getting a new snake.

This is not to say Invictus is wrong. It's HIS animal, HIS collection. I just want to clear up the questions you asked Mousekilla. I hope Invictus does have good luck because more BCC around is good in my mind as they are one of the few boas I like.

Everyone has their own way of doing things. I do it one way, he does it another, another person yet another. But I am also not quiet about my views. :P :P

Marisa

[Jeff_Favelle]

Ken,

I knew you'd have people all over you about the quarantine thing and you probably did too but in my opinion they're your animals so it's your risk to take. None of my business.


Who exactly was "all over him"? LOL!

I asked if he quarantined, and Linds said that quarantining is good. How much bigger of an exaggeration can you get? Bwaa haa! Its all good. I fully expected Ken to say "I didn't quarantine because I got the snake from a friend who has a clean collection". I just wanted other people to see it and think "hey, maybe buying adult animals and trying to skip some steps can have its drawbacks".

And I STILL wish Ken the best of luck. Not the way that I would do things, but not the wrong way either. Just different.

[Invictus]

Well, like Tim mentioned in another thread, there is no point in quarantining if it's not done 100% properly. Doing it under less than ideal conditions is just as risky as doing nothing. This house isn't big enough, even if I only had a handful of snakes, to implement a total zone of quarantine where NOTHING enters the quarantine room until everything in that room is out of quarantine and into general population. But, we do the best we can. Yes, both Suris came from people who I trust.

[MouseKilla]

I guess I'm a few days behind this whole quarantine discussion, I totally missed that other thread.

A lot of interesting answers and practices in both threads but it looks like quarantine means something different to nearly everyone, the length of it isn't even agreed to by all (or even by any 2 of us!). For this reason the word "quarantine" itself holds very little meaning if we aren't all talking about something close to the same thing. It's hard to say if something has been done properly if we don't agree on what that means. LOL!

I'd love to have a seperate building just for quarantine, complete with paper suits and conditions fit for doing open heart surgery but I think I am like most other keepers who have been at it a while (and don't have the means to have a seperate "snake house") that have given away pieces of furniture and pushed other pieces into corners to make room for new cages, we live in the space between the cages. LOL

I have a minimum of 2 rooms in my house with snakes in them and I do what I feel I need to in order to protect my collection from anything that may come in with a new acquisition but I have no set practice. It all depends on where/who it came from, why I got it and what I may be suspicious of. Some people like to be very precise with things, quarantine for 6 months, feed every 7 days, breed after 3 years, I tend to do things a little more by "feel" I guess. I quarantine until I'm satisfied that the snake isn't sick or carrying mites or other nasties, I feed when I think it's right for that snake and I breed when I think they are in the condition to do so.

I guess that is the drawback to buying adult animals as a short cut to breeding, it gives you a good reason to bend your own rules, whatever they may be. It all reminds me of an argument against atheism that says that if your morals (or quarantine practices in this case) are only self determined and self imposed, they are very easily bent or re-written and thus have no real meaning at all.

Sorry for steering your thread off the road here Ken, good luck and I can't wait to see the babies.

[foman]

Good luck, there can never be too many red tails around.

How about some pics of the parents to be?:D

[Stav.T]

Good luck Ken;)

Stav

[LdyDrgn]

I wish you the best of luck, Ken :)