Quote:
Originally Posted by Show Me
Oh and by the way I would also recommend that Stu quarantines his collection now as well unless they were located in a different location with no cross contamination.
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With Show Me's advice above 100%
ZD or not, due to the sensitivity of these snakes and the unknown factors of possible disease, this is a very good reminder. While a good keeper quarantines ALL new stock coming in (or should), by the time the possibility of a unknown disease that could be
contagious is thought to be present cross contamination has usually had time to happen (washing water/soaking bowls in the same sink, neglecting to wash hands just once, swapping cage lids/hides after washing in same said sink)
I also agree with the 6 month statement Show Me made, the info I read on different conditions (including ZD), all showed large variations in self correcting skin problems and disease incubation times (4-12 months varying per condition and/or disease and individual snake) so Jerry, just to er on the side of caution I would keep these 6 snakes in quarantine for 12 months and document the progress. I say this because in fact it could help put more documentation out there on these beautiful creatures and things that try and wipe them out. If they have a full awesome recovery you have step by step documentation to go with them and posting that somewhere (here @ Fauna of course is my vote
lol) could really help someone with similar issues and keep them from destroying a collection on a maybe...(tho at risk of an entire collection I myself would go on that "maybe"). And if for some chance it is ZD and they don't make it, log photograph and save snakes everything and send the info to a university or someone that can further research this and with more knowledge of it find a way to prevent or at least treat it.