Quarantine Procedures

I like a lot of people have a lot of time and money invested in my animals. One part of owning them that is usually overlooked is quarantining your new pet. I know it is exciting to bring your new baby home and you want to hold it and get it in its tank, but that could lead to real problems. Personally anything that comes into this house is quarantined for 4 weeks. It comes in the back door into our spare bath. That bath is completely sprayed down (walls and floor) with the equate bedding spray from walmart. I also spray down the door and floor outside the door. Mites are the size of a poppy seed and can travel up to 50 feet in one day. I do not try to feed the snake until the second week so it has time to settle in. I don't handle them other than cleaning purposes. When I do go in there I spray the bedding spray on myself to keep the little bugs off me. Any bedding we buy sits out in the garage and is sprayed with prevent a mite before it comes in the house. This may seem extreme, but I have heard horror stories. A little extra work to save on a lot is worth it to me. Does anyone have any other suggestions or how they do it? I feel this is a very important part to owning animals.
Thanks
Gary

Better safe than sorry!

Our animals we know are happy, healthy, and clean are all upstairs, when we bring in a new animal the tank will generally stay downstairs in a quiet room until the quarentine is over and we know that they are healthy and won't spread mites or other grossness to our other scaley and feathery friends!

I have a dedicated reptile room. Whenever I add to the collection the newbie goes directly to my bedroom or 1 of my sons for a minimum of 4 weeks. I prefer 2 months and at least 2 fecals. Never had an issue in 31 years of herping.

At the zoo, we quarantine reptiles for 90 days and 3 clean fecals.

inclusion body disease, though admittedly rare, can be asymptomatic for 6 months or more, and there is no (at least not yet) way to test for it on a live animal. Other than that, the rest is just keeping clean, and keeping an watchful eye on your herp, and knowing who you're buying from.

My procedures are put new snake into a separate dedicated quarantine room for a 3 month period. Observing clean procedures(feeding,watering and cleaning cages last) and no handling for the first week. A vet visit is done first chance available.

This is great that you guys are aware of this. I know animals tend to circulate through forum friends and no one wants to pass their problems unknowingly to someone else. I also did not see any threads on the subject matter and new people to the hobby should be made aware of the practice in my opinion. It sounds as if all of you go above and beyond. AWESOME. Any other products that you use or anything are always greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the feed back you guys really do rock and I am glad I found this site.
Gary

Here's something for you, I also use Equate bedding spray- if you check the active ingredients- it has the same exact active ingredients as Provent-A-Mite spray and is WAY cheaper. That is something I frequently pass on to new folks also. These threads are usually in the help section. You also go above & beyond- for that, YOU ROCK TOO!!!!

I also did not see any threads on the subject matter and new people to the hobby should be made aware of the practice in my opinion.

Quarantining is one of the things we stress to newbies asking about aquiring new animals. There may not have been specific threads, but it is talked about.

I also do a basic visual inspection before I purchase the animal, check the mouth, vent, nostrils, eyes, look for mites, listen to the breathing, etc. I still quarantine, but it's good to know before you buy of any potential problems.

I have seen a lot of posts on mites. I wanted to bump this post to the top and any additional info will be most helpful. The best way to avoid a mite problem is to not get a reptile with one.