Question for Mutiple Snake Owners ?

I took Voodoo to a vet last week for a basic check. I wanted to know Weight, Approx Age, If she was actually a she (doubts occured recently), and if so, any chance of her being Gravid. . . .and in general, if he noticed any health issues.

Found a great vet here in Columbia SC with a Dr that Specializes in Herpatology.
After spending about an hour in his office checking her out and talking back and forth, he asked me if I thought I'd get another snake any time soon ?

I told him that I was definitely looking at getting another in November. . . .Dr Foy went "Isolate, Isolate, ISOLATE. Can't stress that enough". He said "When you pick the snakes up on the same day, make sure to handle this one (voodoo) first. She's the older one, she came first, she gets to be picked up first" ! Then said "Wash your hands thouroghly before picking up the other snake".

My question:
I understand what he was getting at about washing the hands as not to spread any possible infections/ diseases, and the part isolating the snake (somewhat). . . Is there a particular reason you would want the older snake to be handled first (jelousy maybe), or anger at another snake in her territory ??
And I'm assuming the isolation of the snakes is short term ? I've seen a lot of the pictures of the vivs you all have set up, and in a lot of cases, there are multiple vivs in the same room in close proximity to each other. So, I'm guessing after an "adjustment period" it would be OK to put the Vivs in the same room . . . . Correct ?

He's saying that so you're always handling the "clean" snake before the "dirty" snake. I always do that- feed the new ones last, and don't use the scrubber I clean the old snake water bowls with on the new snake. It's just for the isolation period.

I don't have much time right now, so I'll be brief.

Picking up the "older one" first would only be so you don't pick up the new one that "could" have something and transfer it to your current snake. It is often recommended that you sequester any new specimens away from your collection for a period of anywhere from a month to six months.

As for handling snakes in your collection already, the only time I've washed hands going from one viv to the next is during breeding season. I handle the males first and wash hands before going to the females. I've had males release sperm plugs, or even expose hemipenes and some ejaculate, when smelling females during the Spring.

D80

Nanci said:

He's saying that so you're always handling the "clean" snake before the "dirty" snake. I always do that- feed the new ones last, and don't use the scrubber I clean the old snake water bowls with on the new snake. It's just for the isolation period.

Click to expand...

Taking notes here:

So why do you call the new snake the "Dirty" snake ?
And about how long is the Isolation period ?

Thanks for the Quick Response too.

Points sent

Drizzt80 said:

I don't have much time right now, so I'll be brief.

Picking up the "older one" first would only be so you don't pick up the new one that "could" have something and transfer it to your current snake. It is often recommended that you sequester any new specimens away from your collection for a period of anywhere from a month to six months.

As for handling snakes in your collection already, the only time I've washed hands going from one viv to the next is during breeding season. I handle the males first and wash hands before going to the females. I've had males release sperm plugs, or even expose hemipenes and some ejaculate, when smelling females during the Spring.

D80

Click to expand...

Thanx guys . . .all the advise is much appreciated !

isolate

even if they are in separate cages as breeding adults they can pick up scents in a small room of another snake and thus be more agressive like looking for the other as a possible mate. I noticed when I got my second corn the first on of 2 yrs. would always be active and out of its hide all day and night. I think he or she sensed there was a prospective mate in the vicinity...

The old snake is considered clean becaue you have had it longer and should know it doesn't have any problems. The new snake could have any number of problems you haven't figured out yet.

The main thing I worry about with new snakes is mites. This is something that you will figure out easily within a month of getting a new snake. If it has been separated from the rest of the collection, then you will hopefully have only one snake to treat.

bfreewally1 said:

even if they are in separate cages as breeding adults they can pick up scents in a small room of another snake and thus be more agressive like looking for the other as a possible mate. I noticed when I got my second corn the first on of 2 yrs. would always be active and out of its hide all day and night. I think he or she sensed there was a prospective mate in the vicinity...

Click to expand...

wade said:

The old snake is considered clean becaue you have had it longer and should know it doesn't have any problems. The new snake could have any number of problems you haven't figured out yet.

The main thing I worry about with new snakes is mites. This is something that you will figure out easily within a month of getting a new snake. If it has been separated from the rest of the collection, then you will hopefully have only one snake to treat.

Click to expand...

Thanx.
New to raising snakes so sorry if any of the questions sound "dumb".
I'm not going to breed these snakes. . . just don't have the time or room to get into breeding snakes, although if I did, it'd be a hobby / business I would definitely enjoy.
I just have a fasination with snakes in general, and have always wanted a Corn Snake since the first time I saw one in my yonger days. . . . Can't stop with just one though. I want another one and am getting ready to buy one at the Herp show that's coming here in Columbia in November.

I guess I used the terms "clean" and "dirty" because I work in a hospital. One tech stays "clean" and handles the equipment, one tech is "dirty" and touches the patient. (When working with known or suspected patients with something contagious).

A typical isolation period is three months.

Quarantining new aquisitions is good practice.

I always use a quarantine period and during this time the snakes are kept on paper towel or newspaper which is diposable, in easily cleanable tanks/tubs, with water bowls and cage furniture that is either disposable or easily disinfected. They are also kept in a seperate room from my established collection, to remove as much possibility of cross contamination as possible, in case there turns out to be a health concern.

On cleaning and feeding days, if established and new fall on the same day, I deal with the established animals first, then after washing myself thoroughly, I move on to the new animals, using a completely different set of cleaning and feeding equipment.

I am pleased to hear that your vet recommended this, quarantine is not always recommended enough

Susielea said:

Quarantining new aquisitions is good practice.

I always use a quarantine period and during this time the snakes are kept on paper towel or newspaper which is diposable, in easily cleanable tanks/tubs, with water bowls and cage furniture that is either disposable or easily disinfected. They are also kept in a seperate room from my established collection, to remove as much possibility of cross contamination as possible, in case there turns out to be a health concern.

On cleaning and feeding days, if established and new fall on the same day, I deal with the established animals first, then after washing myself thoroughly, I move on to the new animals, using a completely different set of cleaning and feeding equipment.

I am pleased to hear that your vet recommended this, quarantine is not always recommended enough

Click to expand...

Yeah, I really liked this vet.
I was really expecting a quick check over, tell me what I asked him to check, and then "Thank you, you can pay the bill at the front desk on your way out"

But this guy was very good. Came in and picked up the snake and for the first 20 minutes he was asking me questions and looking at the snake all the time he was talking. Asked if I had noticed a change in her behavior the last week or so, and I told him no, in fact she had gotten a little "less nervous" around me and my wife, and seemed pretty active over that time. He asked if I had noticed a difference in one side of her face over the other. . . . thought It was strange that he asked that, because the reason I called her Voodoo, is because when I bought her, I noticed that her left eye had a blue tint to it, and the right eye was Black. I thought it was cool, in a wierd sort of way.. . . . when I told him this, he got me to look at her very closely and asked if I had notice the off color scaling around that eye? . .when I said no, he said that he had seen something similar to this before. He said this could be a natural birth defect, some sort of trauma she had suffered in her early development, or it could be a type of infection growing under her scales. . .he said he has seen that type of infection get bad enough to where he's had to cut away some of the scales to relieve the infection.
But said if I had had the snake for that long, and had noticed it right after I bought her, it was probably not an infection. . .but said it was something I needed to keep an eye on, and if it started swelling, he wanted to know about it immediately.
We were in his office almost an hour and I left there feeling very good about the snake knowing there was a guy like that close by "just in case"

Sounds like you got yourself a vet worth his weight in gold