How careful are you about quarantine?

I'm starting to think I'm a little too germ-paranoid, so I need some input.

In the past, I've dealt with some nasty parasites in my leos, so I'm very aware of quarantine procedures. What I'm unclear about is where I can draw the line and begin to relax a little.

I generally keep my leos in separate tanks--so for some people, that in itself is enough of a quarantine. However, what I like to do is go the extra step of having quarantined animals in their own room with a separate sink, tub of mealworms, maintenance supplies, etc. I've been wanting to acquire more leos though, so this won't be possible any longer. This wouldn't bother me much except that I would probably be quarantining about 4 leos at the same time. Does that sound like too much?

I do have the room, the time, supplies, and I can afford a vet. It's just this one thing that's stopping me from getting more leos, so I was curious to see what other people think.

Great question! You can never go too far when it comes to quarantining. I always have separate supplies, food etc for newly acquired animals. I also put them in a separate room (as far away from the reptile room as I can) housed singly. I’m constantly cleaning everything with Nolvasan. Am I paranoid, maybe but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I’ve also heard a lot of stories of people housing their quarantine animals in a totally separate building or house. They don’t want anything to be carried through the air. But hey you can’t blame them.

Hey Olivia,

I believe everyone is paranoid in a sense about quarantine. I do it myself...I dont want any addition to my colonies to be no where near them for a while. At least until I am conviced that they are perfectly fine.

The first thing I always do is get leos from breeders that i trust, and that i've bought in the past and never had problems with, healthwise. Even then, I still quarantine them...because we never know.

What you mentioned about the seaparate set of supplies, and all that sounds to me like a plan for quarantine...i dont see any problem...i am sure that if most breeders had the time and the space to do, will do it as well (am i sure most of them do, if not all).

I am not a leo keeper but have lots of other herps. I quaratntine my animals in seperate enclosures away from other herps, but not in a separate room. While I can see the possible benefits of using a seperate room to prevent spreading any airborne pathogens, or something like mites of ticks - I do not have the room. I am of course careful to disinfect my hands while moving tank to tank - heck this is something I do on a regular basis even with herps that are not quarantined. I am also carful to examine for mites/tick/unisual fecal samples etc... With W/C animals I shotgun treat for parasites, and I use a mite treatment immediately. This has worked well. I have had very few health problems with any of my herps in the last 20 years.

I also see a bit of a problem with having a seperate room to quarantine more than one herp at a time. If you quarantine more than one herp at a time in this 'quarantine room' you are exposing each of those herps to one another. This of course keeps your other herps safe, but opens up the new comers to possible infection or infestation from one another. So if you ever intend to acquire a particularly expensive herp for your colection, I would suggest acquiring that one alone from others. Keep it in quarantine by itself to lessen any risk of it catching something from another quarantined animal.

I also see a bit of a potential problem keeping herps together in the same room that are not from the same parts of the world or are not of the same species. These herps all require different digestive fauna/flora. Exposure of other herps to this stomach or intestinal fauna/flora could cause problems for the other herps; this is one of the major reasons it is not recommended to keep different species together. I know people who actually worry about this. I don't worry about it at all. I have never had a probelm that I know of with keeping different species in the same room, nor when on the rare ocassion when I have kept more than one species in the same enclosure. I also have never had a problem keeping quarantined animals in the same room as my other animals - even wild caught quarantined animals. I guess it depends a lot upon how well you clean up after handling each enclosure of animals.

Of course no mater how well you quarantine animals, you still can pass diseases or parasites onto them through the food items they eat, through pests such as flys that may enter their enclosures. Yes some flys are small enough to enter even a fine screen mesh. Godd cage hygeine can go a long way to avoid any chance of disease or parasite buildup.

Best regards,
Glenn B

Cody - I clean everything with Nolvasan, too. I used to even clean my spray bottles of Nolvasan with Nolvasan, after scrubbing them down with dishwasher detergent. :x I don't worry too much about airborne pathogens with my leos. My main reason for keeping the quarantined animals in a separate room is to help me remember to be more careful about quarantine. I wouldn't accidentally mix something up or forget to wash my hands--something really simple like that.

TG - I totally agree with you. I've only actually purchased two of my leos; most were handed/given to me by various friends. So when I started having fecals done for my leos awhile back, the vet was finding all sorts of stuff in their poop. It was a lot of work to get rid of the worms and protozoa. I would do it again if I had to, but I don't want to repeat the experience. Now that I've got more leos on my hands, I'm definitely going to have to be more aware of who I purchase from.

Glenn - Those are very interesting points, particularly the one about quarantining animals of different parts of the world. I'm not sure at what point I'm going to start acquiring other other kinds of herps, but it probably won't be until after I'm comfortable that my leos are fine. What you said about the fly is disturbing. I already see the occasional bug hanging around my feeder insects, and it's scary thinking about what germs they might be transmitting. *shudder*

Thanks for your responses, everyone!

I'm glad you brought this subject up. I cannot stress the importance of quarantine enough to people. I know of a breeder in Oregon who lost his entire colony of Leopard Geckos to cryptosporidia from one infected leo by playing "musical food." I have heard horrific accounts from people losing their reptiles due to lack of quarantine protocol. It is heartbreaking, especially when it could have been prevented.

I think one of the biggest problems with people not quarantining is the space issue, as well as those who are too anxious to breed a new reptile and ignore quarantine completely. I have several new Leopard Geckos right now from reputable breeders that are being quarantined. It's pain in the butt, but I just cannot risk the consequences regardless of how remote the chance of any being infected.

It's my opinion that all newly acquired reptiles should be quarantined in individual enclosures for 90 days or more, regardless of from where or who you got them. As far as keeping them in a separate room.. well if you have the space that's great, but I know that for most folks this is not practical.

I also completely agree that fastidious housekeeping and husbandry is essential. Cleaning water bowls and changing paper towels often will help prevent the geckos from re-infecting themselves, as well. By keeping all hides, bowls, etc., designated to their own enclosures and keeping hands clean should be done even with your existing gecko colonies. Throw away ALL uneaten feeders, and do not "recycle" them into other enclosures or food bins. Sometimes being paranoid is a good thing!

I'm glad you brought up "musical food," Marcia. I've been thinking about this heavily. I've lost a couple of leos now and it's been plaguing me...I have no doubt that I inadvertently spread the illness from one leo to another with mealworms.

I go through all my leo cages once a day, removing all the uneaten mealworms and replacing them with fresh ones. That way, the mealies always have a full tummy. But, sometimes they do get out and roam the bins...eating the paper, etc. I try not to waste but it would have made much more sense to throw the uneaten ones away! And, if I have any sick ones in the future, I will absolutely do that...I don't want to lose any more of my precious babies.

Hmmmm......interesting on the musical food. I have always thrown out what is not eaten. I have quarantined all of my new Leopard Geckos - in different parts of the house away from the main reptile room my basement.

I make sure I wash my hands, tweezers, etc after feeding each group to make sure I don't spread anything.

Good topic.

Regards,

Terry

Oh yes, I am obsessive about washing my hands...but that mealworm thing I just didn't think about until recently. I feel so dumb for not hitting upon the idea earlier (as I'm very much an attention to detail person) but sometimes we miss the obvious.