Quarantine and captive methods
After reading the thread about wc or ranching, it got me thinking about our quarantine and captive methods. At our place, both in Scarborough and in the Niagara region we keep C.B and W.C animals. We have many rare and common animals and we take no short cuts in our reptile rooms. Taking a chance of losing all our animals is just not an option. We also have a rodent room to deal with. So a discussion on how EVERYONE keep there collection clean and disease free would benefit all of us.
For W.C. animals we keep them in separate rooms from the C.B. and we sterilize all equipment we use ( tongs, dishes, hide box, ...etc,) even if it's for the C.B animals. And in every room we use Ionize and ozone airfilters too get rid of odours and UV and hepa filters to kill most if not all airborne particles and germs. These filters are especially useful in the rodent rooms for the odour and the Quarantine rooms for possible Diseases. The filters are Expensive, but the lives and health of our animals far out weighs the cost.
As for fresh imports and treating them, As soon as the animals arrive, we give them a simple setup. We treat for possble skin parasites immediately, and wait to worm them. We want the animal to rest and not be stressed before we treat them for internal parasites. I'm a firm believer that if you treat a stressed animal for internal parasite. The medication could do more harm, possibly kill the animal. I usally try to get the animal to voluntarly eat by itself for a couple of weeks before I start medicating it. A STRESSED animal will not eat on it's own, and a stressed animal do not have a strong immune system. Without a strong immune system it will not be able to go through the medication process. Everyone has to be aware that the medication that kills the internal parasites is POISON, the body has to fight that and the buildup of dead parasites that the medication killed. How toxic do you think that is?
I know C.B is better, but there are animals that we have that are just not captive produced or we would like to add new bloodlines. I'm for C.B and W.C, but no matter which one, the animal must come first and not us. We must not find ways that is convienient for us and give a half *** job in taking care of these creatures. We owe it to our animals to give them the best possible captive lives.
Wow this thread is getting long so I'll shut up. Hope everyone took the time to read this and put your 2 cents in. Would really like to hear everyone's methods and oppinion.
__________________
I look Fear straight in the eyes and laugh my head off!!
|