Reptile Quarantine

The term quarantine originates from the Italian word quaranta (forty). By definition this is isolation on purpose, enforced to prevent the spread of a contagious disease from the isolated individual to the other individuals -animals or humans. The main point of that procedure - if the newly acquired animal is in an incubatory period of infection when you receive it, to prevent dissemination to the main collection. The quarantine for reptiles has to be at least 2 month (6 months is recommended) and animals have to be monitored very closely the next 4 months. You can consider your boa free of a disease after a period of around a year. The main concern of quarantine of Boa constrictor is Inclusion Body Disease

In the perfect quarantine condition, the quarantine area should be fully separated. Usually, this is impossible when you have a few animals at home but could be done in a separate room.

During the perfect quarantine condition you should:

• Keep your snake with simple care in order to provide the basic needs. Heat source, paper substrate, water bow and a hiding box (if required) is enough. The plastic or glass enclosures are preferred because they are easier for disinfection. Avoid fancy arrangements and wooden enclosures;
• Use different cleaning tools for quarantine rooms and don’t use the same tools for the rest of your collection;
• Use gloves every time you work, handle or clean your animal. Use the lab coat every time when you are working in the quarantine room;
• Observe your animal closely. Reptiles remain wild animals and as such they are trying to cover every sign of disease in order to survive;
• Work with a quarantined animal after you are done working with the rest of your collection;
• Maintain clean not only the animal enclosure but also the whole quarantine room;
• Perform disinfection after all mechanical cleaning;
• Use a different ventilation system for your quarantine room.

Pay attention to:

• general behavior of your reptile
• skin - lesion, discoloration etc…
• feeding response of your snakes
• regurgitation
• mouth surface- lesion, excess mucous, necroses
• breeding- noises, open mouth breeding, liquid coming out of the nostrils
• defecation and urine- consistency and color
• stools should be examined for parasites or at least preventive anti - parasitic treatment should be done.
• nervous symptoms- uncoordinated movements, improper position of the head or body

During the quarantine period the reptiles should normally gain weight and establish a normal feeding routine. If you are in doubt about the condition of you animal after the quarantine period, don’t put it back together with the main collection!

Important things you should know:

• Never house two snakes from different geographic region together, especially if they are WC. In different regions different microorganism and different strains from the same microorganisms are present. The different strain or microorganisms define the different immunologic background of the individuals. For example, the bacteria that your Burmese carry as normal flora could be dangerous for your boa and vise versa;

• WC reptiles have to be concerned as potential parasite carriers. They must be examined or treated in a prophylactic way against internal and external parasites;

• One anti-parasitic treatment is often not enough to completely eliminate the parasites. Very often the migrating larvas in the snake body remain unaffected and repeat the parasite cycle

• Never use prophylactic antibiotic treatment. Some of the bacteria like Salmonella can’t be completely eliminated and the human threatening strain could be created after an inappropriate antibiotic treatment!

Personally, I consider every newly acquired animal with unclear origin (pet shops, wholesalers, animals that have changed many owners for the last 6 months) as potentially infected. That keeps me vigilant and helps me avoid potential mistakes. Keep in mind that a virus disease may kill a whole collection.

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