Quarantine Options

[changelingash]

Originally Posted by chairman

It is good that you are looking to quarantine a new acquisition. Quarantine is a very useful way to keep parasites and diseases from new snakes from infecting your current snakes.

You will find a lot of opinions about proper ways to quarantine. The real answer is that you do not have the resources to properly quarantine an animal. Neither do I. You essentially need a laboratory environment to properly quarantine.

But what you can do is keep the snakes as far away from each other as possible. And by possible, I mean given the space you have and the ability to keep the snake's environment correct. There's no value in quarantining a snake in the bathroom if the room is too cold, too hot, etc. Bathrooms are going to have massive swings in humidity, so research your snake and see if the humidity changes are going to be an issue. It is better to stick the snakes in opposite corners of the same room than make it difficult to meet the husbandry requirements of your snake.

Wash your hands after handling each snake. Either use different equipment with each snake (like feeding tongs, snake hooks) or thoroughly wash off such equipment before using it on your other snake. Don't contaminate things, say by washing off both water bowls in the same sink at the same time. If a snake refuses to eat then don't try to feed off the mouse/rat on your other snake.

And then just keep an eye on your new snake. Keep it on paper towels and soak it occasionally for the first 2-3 weeks to watch for mites. Monitor its breathing, listening for sounds associated with respiratory infections. Look for other odd behavior, too.

After your new snake has gone for 3 months without issues then you can look into changing the housing arrangements, either by placing the new snake in your rack or sticking the cages closer together.

Thank you so much for the info, and pointing out the issue with the bathroom, I hadn't thought about that. I'll take all those precautions and tips into account!

Originally Posted by craigafrechette

I personally wouldn't. Bathrooms are just not good rooms for snakes. If it were me, I'd wait until my living situation changed.

Adjoining rooms really aren't far enough to properly quarantine. I'm fortunate enough to have a two story house and I quarantine my new animals on the first floor as far away from my snake room on the second floor as possible.
My thought is this: it's our choice and our responsibility when we bring animals into our homes. They don't get a choice. So unless we can provide the right home and situation for the animal it's not fair to bring it home.

I suppose that is true. I would have to talk to my roommates about possible arrangements to see if he would be able to situate somewhere in the basement for a while, and if not, I could follow the advice of chairman for precautions, or figure out something with a friend or my family to watch over him until the quarantine is over.