The importance of quarantine

Since breeding season is here and there will be alot of excitement and new snake owners, I thought this was a subject worth bringing up again.

I aquired a new hatchling from a pet shop last week because it's unusual coloring intrigued me. (I'm not going to make this a pet shop purchase debate) I inspected it's mouth, vent, and feel of the body. It was exceptionally thin, but after bringing it home and rehydrating it, she drank like crazy, I fed it and left it alone to digest and acclimate itself to its' new home.

Well, yesterday when I got up, it was out cruising around the viv, and didn't shy away or hide when I approached it, and I could see it had defecated so I figured I would handle it for a few minutes to start the "bonding" process lol. Before I took it out, I was looking at the coloring that intrigued me to begin with, still trying to figure out exactly what color it was supposed to be. Upon inspecting under incandescent lighting on the top of the viv, I noticed a couple of tiny black bumps on its' back. Then I noticed another one further up, and it was moving. Then another, and another. ACK! Mites! I could not see these in the pet store under the florescent lights.

This situation could have been MUCH worse had I not quarantined this snake well away from the rest of my collection. Instead of having one snake and viv full of mites, I would have had 5. BIG problem! And here I will put in another important precaution when buying any animal from anyone. Get a guarantee, and save your receipt! I had a 14 day guarantee, and promptly called the pet shop and notified them that I would be returning the snake as she was infested with mites. No problem there.

I have taken the viv outside along with all the furnishings and water bowl, and they are soaking in a bleach solution. I have also wiped down everything within the room with Nix dilution, and hung no pest strips to rid the carpeting if they traveled down there.

Sorry this has been so long winded, I just wanted to make some of our newer snake owners here aware of the importance of quarantine with ANY new purchase. It is well worth the effort to save the rest of your collection from any potential health hazards.

VERY good point Jen, I have purchased several snakes from pet shops also. I always quarrantine any new snake regardless of where it came from. I have been fortunate not to have any mite problems, and it's easy to let your guard down.
I certainly hope everyone reads your post. Having a health issue can easily discourage new snake owners.

new owner here( but i ony have one snake, so it is like constant quarantine lol and i am definitely going to quarantine the one i am going to get)

do you have any pics of the snake, i would really like to see what it looks like.

If you could that would be great. :crazy02:

We have also been very fortunate in our new acquisitions. Now, though, we do have a quarantine room and will be using it from now on with any new snake for a four week period. Very good advice!!

Thanks guys. Most new snake owners ask the typical "what temp", "how big a mouse to feed", "when to handle after eating", type questions, that the quarantine issue was kind of left to the wayside, but just as important. Kriz, I have one very blurry pic on this thread : http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18826

Jen, why'd you return it?

Why not trasnfer it to a sterilte with some sevin dust for a few days and kill the mites off? I know you were intrigued with the snake, so I'm just curious as to why you'd return it for something as simple as mites---especially if you had it quarantined.

Honestly Joe, considering the thinness of the snake when I got her, I think she may have been infested for quite awhile. There may have been a myriad of health problems in the future requiring vet visits (anemia, etc.) stemming from the mites. I was intrigued by her yes, but not so intrigued as to potentially transfer the mites to the rest of my snakes. And I certainly wasn't happy with paying for the infestation. Hopefully, the pet shop will recognize that they have an infestation and treat the problem. And sorry, I know you use Sevin dust, but I wouldn't use it on my dog, much less one of my snakes. I just don't think it's safe.

I am curious about your bad experiences with Sevin dust.

Back when we were part of Glades Herp, people constantly sent us infested herps that we had to treat. We never had a problem with Sevin, no matter what species we used it on. If I ever get mites again (sure hope not!), I would not hesitate to use it. I consider mites less of a problem than fleas on my cats, although I also would be unhappy to find the unexpected "bonus" on an animal that I paid full price for. And of course, mites can be disease vectors and cause anemia. But if the animal ate and fully digested a meal or two, and looked healthy, I would probably consider it fairly safe (but still quarantine it of course!) By taking it back, of course you won't have to deal with these possible problems though. Guess it just depends on how much you want the animal.

But I am always interested in hearing new info or experiences that I can pass on to future customers regarding treatments of various types, so let me know if you have had some bad Sevin tips to pass on.

Thanks for your input Kathy! My parents bred and raised basset hounds and always used Sevin dust to kill the fleas/ticks. I, myself, couldn't breathe when it was in the air, nor could I hold the animals when they were treated with it. It honestly choked me. And the dogs always seemed lethargic for a few days after treatment. That, being the case, I wouldn't use it on my own animals. The Nix dilution, however, did not cause any reaction from me or my other animals. Had this snake been a "high dollar" prized purchase that I had had for months, I would have treated it. But, being as it was, a "low dollar" 1 week purchase that had no genetics behind it to further my breeding plans other than curiosity to see what she produced, and was exepctionally thin to begin with, it was in my best interests to return her to the pet shop that she came from.

Thanks for your post.

I guess it has been so long since I used it that I forgot about how fine the dust is. I should have mentioned that point. Although I never saw any adverse reaction from herps, I have never used it around cats or dogs. BUT - I did notice that it was so fine that I was starting to breathe it, especially when I used it in a lot of cages. That CAN'T be good for lungs at all! So I just held my breath if it was a quick application to one cage, or used a mask if I did several cages. I feel it wasn't too bad for the snakes because it was a quick application and I didn't leave them where the dust was swirling around for more than a few minutes. But it is something to consider.

Sounds like you made the right decision in returning the possibly problematical snake that you didn't really need anyway.

Thanks for the dust reminder!

I'll just add in that Gino advised me to use Sevin Dust when I emailed him last year when I had a pretty bad mite infestation.

I left my BP's in a cage with sevin dust on the bottom for about a day, and also sprinkled some in my corns viv, and the BP's viv after a very very good cleaning.

Haven't had a problem since then, and didn't have any problems with the dust.

Mites crawl up in the oddest places. In my 7 years, I have not encountered a single mite on any of my corns. I gave a friend of mine a pair of my hatchlings last year, completely mite-free. I went in to check on the corns about two weeks ago, and all seemed alright, one was about to shed and they were both eating fine. Then I asked him when he was changing the water, because I wasn't sure how long it'd been in there. He was getting ready to change it before I said anything, I turn around, and his bowl has mites floating in it. I asked him about it and he said that he had never seen the little buggers in the waterbowl. I gave him basic cleaning instructions, and told him to go get the mite-off spray for the snake that wasn't yet ready to shed. I'm going back to check on the snakes this week. They should be in good shape.

I'll add here, I have never used Sevin Dust on any of my animals, so I can't say that it doesn't work, just that I personally don't like the stuff. This is also the first time I've used Nix (diluted as in TrpnBils post), but again, not on the animal. I'm sure Kathy and Joe, if it worked for you, then there is something to be said for it. That's the great thing about this forum, everybody has different experiences to lend to the decisions we all make in taking care of our snakes! :cheers: