Wild Snake Pet

[Ostrommaysi]

Ok So recently a friend of my brother's found an extremely young corn snake. Thing is as thick as a pencil and about half again as long.. Anyways my question is should I get rid of it in fear of my beardie contracting any diseases or bacteria? I wash my hands naturally after handling it but still I worry something might pass through. I must admit I'm not an expert on diseases but I'd rather be safe then sorry later on.

So should I get rid of it or is there any precautions I should be taking other then washing my hands? I'm sorry if this is not the right area for this I wasn't really sure where to put it. I will note that I didn't know it was a wild catch till after it was was given to me. The guy breeds snakes and I had assumed it was just offspring.I've always wanted a snake but I love my beardie to death and it will go in a New York second if there is any danger. Thanks for your time

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

unfortunatly friend i cant help you but here is a bump so that hopefully someone else can

*but i have a friend that has both a beardie and a snake, and of course they practice good hygine... hand washing between animals but they seem okay with having both....

 

[Aleu]

There is nothing that can be passed from a snake to a dragon unless they come into contact with each others' feces (internal parasites) or external mites. All you have to do is quarantine and practice good hygiene and you will be fine. For an easy quarantine enclosure, put the snake in a small plastic tub with air holes, paper towel bedding (to monitor for mites) and a heating pad and water bowl. Then, just look for little black or red moving specs, or what looks like pepper in the water bowl and paper towel. A snake with mites will often soak itself a lot. I would probably stick a plastic hide in there too to limit stress if you are going to have this temporary enclosure out in the open. Don't use anything porous until quarantine is done.

If your snake DOES have mites, you can get rid of them with oil and frequent bedding changes:
First, soak the snake in a tub of water for about 20 minutes. The snake will likely drink the water, and that is ok. This is why you soak in water first. Then put veggie/olive oil in the water already in the tub with the snake so that the snake gets covered in the oil. Let it soak in this for about 20 minutes.

After soaking, take the snake out and put it back in it's temporary tub enclosure WITHOUT the water bowl to ensure that the snake does not get oil in the water. You can put the water bowl in the next day. You should see dead mites in the water it was soaked in upon removing, but you will see loads of them on the paper towel by the next day. Keep checking it's water bowl for dead mites. The snake will soak itself too in between oil treatments.

You can also use diluted NIX lice shampoo, but this can be dangerous to the snake and it is not yet proven if it causes neurological damage like all of those flea and mite sprays out there.

 

[Ostrommaysi]

Thanks for the info I will definitely do that to make sure the snake is free of mites and such. I really didn't want to get rid of it as it seemed like such a horribly irresponsible thing to do but I was blindsided by the fact it was caught in the wild. I do plan on taking it to the vet for an official check up. (And to make sure it really is a Corn Snake and not something a little more dangerous)

As much as I'd hate to turn any reptile away as they have always been my greatest love, my beardie Vitti is my life. I just didn't want to risk anything and I'm glad he won't be put in harms way. I am religious about hygiene and sterilization of stuff so that part won't even be a problem. I go through copious amounts of hand sanitizer and soap

I hope a tank will make a decent enough quarantine enclosure. I had set up Vitti's old 30g tank for the snake to use and it has a lock on top so theres no danger of the snake escaping for a midnight romp.

I'll follow your instructions to the T, I appreciate the info. Hopefully he won't have any mites and I can rest easy knowing Vitti won't attract them from being held by me

 

[Aleu]

Glad I could help! I wanted to add...make sure the snake or it's things do not come into contact with your clothes during the quarantine period. You can handle it, but be sure to wash your hands (and forearms if you are that worried). Baby mites can easily hitch a ride on your clothes and skin. You can also get mites from eco-earth, repti-bark and other reptile bedding. I usually just use aspen or newspaper after quarantine with paper towels is over. I'm sure the vet will know what to look for with regards to mites too. A 30 gallon tank is excellent and more than big enough for an adult. This snake was lucky to find you! It's ok if you don't have tub for now. One reason I suggested the tub is that you will have to clean every little inch of the 30 gallon tank if it turns out that the snake does have mites. Getting rid of the mites in a small plastic tub is much easier, which is why I suggested it for now.

Some other info just in case:
This might not happen, but since your snake is a wild caught neonate/hatchling, it's possible that it might be more easily stressed than a captive bred or born adult or baby and refuse to eat in such a large tank. IF this happens, you can first try to remedy this in the 30 gallon by providing tons of hiding spots, aspen to bury himself in (once you're sure it doesn't have mites) or you can put a divider in the tank to make it smaller for him. If that doesn't work, you can put him in a shoebox tub setup as described in the previous post to help ease the adjustment from the wild to your house. They feel safer if it's darker and in a more covered and private space and this will reduce his stress and encourage him to eat. Make sure his hot spot (belly heat) is 85 degrees and the cool side does not go below 65-70 and you should be well on your way to establishing a good feeder

Good luck! Do you have a name picked out yet? I hope you will be posting pictures in the snake section

 

[Ostrommaysi]

In that case I may switch him back to the old large Cricket keeper I had before i switched to dubia. I'll probably try to handle him as little as possible till I'm certain with the mite situation. I just cannot afford for my beardie to get them. I dunno why but the thought of mites terrifies me I guess because they make me think of fleas and I shudder remembering episodes dealing with those. I got plenty of supplies left over for the snake to use, I'm paranoid and tend to buy multiples of everything in case cash flow or whatever comes along. Cleaning and sterilizing the tank isn't as hard thanks to the steamer I bought to do Vitti's 75g. I still think I'll put him in a Cricket keeper for now. (It'll be a cold day in hell before I go back to crickets)

When thinking of a name I had considered doing what I did with Vitti and looking at their scientific name. However the Corn snake name doesn't really lend itself as well and secondly I'd like to be sure 100% its a corn snake before I make a decision like that. I'll post up pictures after a grace period so that I can get some decent pics without worrying about mites and such.

Tomorrow I'll give it a bath and soak it in oil like you mentioned. Even if it doesn't have mites I can't imagine it'd hurt and if it does the dead mites would be easy to find

 

[Aleu]

Whatever you want to do will be fine You know what you're doing and will know what's best for him. You don't have to worry about him not eating until he actually does it. I was just telling you this just in case so that you can remedy it quickly because I often get asked by people how to make their *insert snake species* eat and reduce stress.
You're right. Doing the oil treatment now wouldn't hurt as you would see the dead mites on the paper towel, so I'd say go for it. I would just wait a day or two after the oil treatment to feed him so he is less likely to regurgitate from stress. Good luck

On a random note, do you have a shark steamer? I have that for my bird and I love that thing.

 

[Ostrommaysi]

I have a portable Shark steamer. Figured it would be more handy given the limited room I have to work with. Makes sterilizing a breeze really and its good at getting roach splatter off the glass.

I tried giving him a bath tonight but he shot right out of it and would not let me put him into it without racing out of it. He did however allow me to let HIM drink out of it. (Didn't have oil in it yet. I'll try a bigger, steeper container tomorrow. I did noticed on the bottom of the tank which is lined with paper towels that I do not see any specs at all so he may not even have mites but I'll keep a look out.

Hopefully he'll get more acceptive of baths in the future.

 

[Aleu]

lol yeah the shark steamer is good. vacuums are my second best friend for cleaning beardie cages.

You need to put a lid on whatever container you put the snake in to soak. Snakes usually never willingly soak themselves.