1) Chuck every rodent in the freezer, bleach it, and order more from somewhere else.
- As much as I want to do this I cannot afford a new mouse order and the vet bills right now as I just had my son and things are tight as it is. I always buy my mice from the same breeder, they always come in frozen, and I contacted him asking if he had heard anything back about his last shipments.
2) Find a GOOD herp vet where you can bring the sick snake for exam, the dead snake for necropsy WITH histopathology of at least the GI tract and preferably all major organs, and fecal exams for all snakes.
- There is only one herp vet in the area. I was talking to the secretary but she couldn't give me information on the tests so I have to discuss the tests with the vet Thursday.
3) Ask the breeder you got them from if she has seen anything like this in her collection. She may be one step ahead of you (if she will tell you).
- She has had more reguges than the norm, her snakes have not had testing, and shes giving me a full refund. A friend of mine got one from her around the same time I did, his died last weekend.
4) Put the entire collection on lockdown. It does not have to be too late for your other snakes. All regurging or non-feeding snakes should be moved to a separate room. The rest of the collection/racks should be entirely emptied and cleaned with bleach. I would keep everyone on paper and use disposable hides and water bowls until you get this figured out. Get a box of latex gloves and designate a pair of gloves for every individual tub/cage. Deal with the sick snakes last and do not go back into the main snake room until you have showered and changed.
5) Identify "critical control points" such as the door knob to the snake room, the sink faucet handle, the temp gun, your shoes, etc and do everything you can to minimize cross contamination at these points.
- I think if majority have it already they likely all do?
6) Get an accurate gram scale and start weighing all snakes regularly. This will help you judge overall health as well as dehydration. I would also learn the "pinch test". Most snake species get much of their liquids from their food and regurging snakes can dehydrate quickly and may need to be soaked regularly. Keep in mind that this is stressful and should be kept short, luke warm, shallow, and closely supervised.
- I weigh my snakes every feed night. Most of them are packing on the weight, regurgers have stayed close to the same weight, ones that have dropped dramatically have been moved to smaller bins to keep a closer eye on them, and get a quick soak.
Majority of my collection is corns, the only other snakes I currently have is a trio of checkered garters, showing no symptoms.
Also there are no lumps, no other symptoms. They are all perfect. Here are some pics from last week ;
Refusing food
Refusing food
Regurging
Regurging
No Symptoms
No Symptoms
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