How and Why
The purpose of quarantine is to protect the mouseries, ratteries, and animals of all our members. We require that each person bringing animals to an FMBA event observe a quarantine period described below. In the event that quarantine is broken or evidence of disease or parasites are discovered, that person will not be able to bring any animals to the event.
Quarantine for any FMBA-sponsored event begins 30 days prior to the event. During this time, no attendee may expose their mice to new animals from outside of their own mousery, nor bring their mice elsewhere and then return them to the mousery. This means no new mice, rats, or other mammals may be brought into the airspace containing the mice. Mice may not leave and return to this airspace during the quarantine time. During this quarantine, the attendee should be looking for evidence of disease or parasites. If signs of disease or parasites are found by the attendee, including but not limited to: newly raspy breathing, sneezing, crusty eyes, lice, mites, nits, fleas, or unexplained deaths, that person will not be able to bring animals to the event. Because the owner is looking for signs of disease, “preventative” treatments of antibiotics should not be used during this time, as it may mask an underlying disease. If the animals have been observed to be bug-free, owners may preventatively treat for mites no less than four days prior to the event.
Should attendees travel in groups, exceptions may be made during the last twenty-four hours of the quarantine period for animals traveling in a car together, or those kept in a hotel room together. If, and only if, all owners have been keeping quarantine up until that time. Even during this period, owners should be vigilant and do their best to keep animals separated as much as possible. Prior to this last twenty-four hours, mice coming from two separate air spaces which have each been quarantining cannot be intermingled; this would break the quarantine for those animals.
After the event, we suggest but do not require another 30-day quarantine before attendees re-introduce the mice brought home from the event to their animals at home. This helps to ward off New Shed Syndrome, as well as preventing accidental introduction of diseases.
Remember, quarantine only works if we all do it, but when we do, it helps everyone! We all want the best for our animals, so we each must do our part to help each other.