General Care Discussion :: Quarntine?

[Swaypippin]

Ok so here's the story (if you saw my pic post of the new guy). I bought this new little guy (approximately 4 inches) about two days ago. We were on vacation in FL and I came across this guy in a Pet Co... Horrible living conditions. They weren't ever sure which kind he was. Either a "map turtle" (so not) or a "yellow Belly" (thats what I'm guessing). (side note: apparently they have outlawed the sale of RES in the state of FL, RES of any size this is... Thats was news to me) Anyway.

I am going to be keeping him in a small set up for now, until I get the new tank (yes another one) for Sisqo then I'll move the new guy to Sisqo's tank... But I was curious as to how long it would take for a sickness (if any is present) to show up in my guy. He seems pretty healthy, other than a rew chips in some of his schoots and not shedding (ever by the looks of it) also he has a lot of algea, more than I've seen in a long time. He was swimming and being friendly with the other 20 turts in his tank (about a 90 gal breeder if I was to guess). He was even eating for a bit while in his tank at PetCo before I brought him home. (Not so much now, but I expected it because of the move.)

He's pretty human friendly. He doesn't hiss wien you pick him up (which I've been trying not to do too much because I don't want to stress him more.) He does like to have his head rubbed (or well as much as you could rub a turts head.) He doesn't breath abnormally, blow bubbles, have puffy eyes, or have any snot, no rubbing of the eyes. So he seems overall, dispite the horrid conditions he was living in, healthy to me.

Anyway my real question is how long would it take to see an illness if he had one. I was considering placing him in the tank with sisqo until I can get him a biggre one (after I get sisqo's big one) but I wouldn't want to make Sisqo sick if the new one is.

[BullDog]

Turtles are very good at masking their illness.
A minimum 90 day quarantine is recommended.

Even though he sounds healthy, you never know if he's carrying something he picked up from the poor conditions.
You don't want to put Sisqo at risk...
If you've got a rubbermaid storage container hanging around, that would make a good home until you can get a tank

[imderanged]

I've heard the new FL law is that they can only sell color morphs like albinos and pastels, they cannot sell the "normals". My Sylar was bought from a FL company (online) and shipped to NJ, where you cannot buy or sell turtles either (AND he was under 4 inches), so go figure.

[Swaypippin]

Thanks for answering so quickly Bull.
I was thinking a 3 week minimun but I think the 90 days would be best, I deffinitely don't wany Sisqo sick. That would break my heart.

[megcornell]

Definitely the longer the quarantine the better. Industrial girl rescued a hatchling who was doing wonderfully for quite some time and then died of a mysterious illness. Thankfully she never let the hatchling meet her older turtle Sheba, and that quarantine saved Sheba from getting quite ill and possibly dying.
As for the tanks, I'm doing the same thing you are: as Leo outgrows her tanks, Ezra moves in. When I first got Ezra he lived in a tupperware storage bin until I could get Leo's old 30gallon from my aunt's house for him. He was fine in the storage bin for the few months, and I didn't have to worry about illness that way.