CornSnakes.com Forums  
  Tired of those Google and InfoLinks ads? Register and log in!

Go Back   CornSnakes.com Forums > The CornSnake Forums > Feeders
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Mark Forums Read

Notices

Feeders Any and all issues about raising rats, mice, or anything else that you feed your cornsnakes.

Trouble feeding "on-sale" hoppers...?
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-06-2015, 09:37 AM   #1
BeauBoi
Trouble feeding "on-sale" hoppers...?

Hi All!
Has anyone else experienced anything like this:
On my last purchase from a very well known rodent dealer (I won't say who, let's just say that they are real Rodent Professionals...), I noticed that the dealer has some hoppers marked down to a really low price, .19 (cents) each and I bought 100 of them.

I thought, "What a great deal!", however, I am now beginning to have second thoughts...
My two snakes (a large yearling Everglades Rat Snake and a slow-growing California Kingsnake) both keep spitting the hoppers out! Both of them started to eat the hoppers the first time I gave them, but they spit the mouse out when it got almost 1/2 way down! In all subsequent feelings since the first, the will strike the mouse and put the head all the way in their mouths, but then spit it out.

I have tried feeding them a pinkie first to "get the juices going", but irregardless they still spit out the hopper. If I offer them a fuzzie (which were not on sale) after they spit out the hopper they readily accept one (or even two!), so I know they are hungry. I even let my male just go with out food after he spit out his hopper. This went on for 20 days (normally a 5 day feeding rotation; when he spit it out I didn't not offer a fuzzie, I just waited 5 more days and tried again...and when he spit it out, waited 5 days...spit it out....) before I relented and fed him hoppers.

Did I get a bag of Bad Mice..? Has anyone else had anything like this happen?

Thanks in Advance!
Beau
 
Old 12-06-2015, 09:52 AM   #2
Myca
That sounds terrible. I always buy my mice on sale. Do they smell bad? Mice would be like any other meat when it starts to rot. I always heat mine up in water. Usually heating up bad meat increases the bad smell. Also, are the mice frozen separately, or does it look like they thawed and then stuck together?
 
Old 12-06-2015, 10:15 AM   #3
BeauBoi
They don't smell bad (to me at least; other than the normal "mouse" smell). They seem like any other hopper I have ever defrosted.
Nor do the look to have been defrosted and re-frozen. The only possible difference ~might~ have noticed is they might seem a little bit "stiffer" when defrosted than past mice, BUT I didn't notice this "difference" until after I started ~looking~for differences, and I am not really SURE it IS a difference :/
Beau
 
Old 12-06-2015, 12:19 PM   #4
daddio207
Where they vacuum sealed when you bought them ?
How do you defrost them ?
 
Old 12-06-2015, 02:16 PM   #5
BeauBoi
Yes they were vacuum sealed. I defrost by putting them in a zip lock and putting it in warm water for about 15 minutes.
Beau
 
Old 12-06-2015, 03:19 PM   #6
daddio207
Quote:
Originally Posted by BeauBoi View Post
Yes they were vacuum sealed. I defrost by putting them in a zip lock and putting it in warm water for about 15 minutes.
Beau
Since they're packaged vacuum sealed and you aren't contaminating them in the defrost process then I would go by what the snakes are telling you (they're unpalatable) and not feed them those mice again. The snakes are sensing something wrong with them.


Don't make one of my many "I'm an idiot" moments and ignore warning signs
 
Old 12-07-2015, 07:25 PM   #7
Myca
Daddio is probably right. If you can't feed those mice to your snakes, I would sure be on the phone with the company you bought them from. You either need a refund or some fresh mice.
 
Old 12-07-2015, 10:21 PM   #8
BeauBoi
Well, to be truthful, I already complained to the company. Just not for this problem with the hoppers.
When I first got the order, I opened a bag of fuzzies and there was a LOT of mouse poop in the bag. It was stuck in the fuzzies' fur and every time I got one out of the bag, mouse poop would rain done on to my floor.
I called and complained to the guy who answered the phone; he said he was the owner. He asked me what "he could do to make up for it", but I told him I wasn't after anything free, that I just thought he should know. He called me back later and asked for the numbers written on the the bags. He seemed to take the complaint seriously and was repetively nice.
I am going to write him an email and let him know about the problem with the hoppers, but I think I am going to switch rodent suppliers...
Beau
 
Old 12-08-2015, 09:31 AM   #9
daddio207
I never bought from Rodent Pro but it sounds like they have great customer service.
I buy from Big Cheese and Mice Direct. Very happy with both in quality and customer service. I recall a bag of mice that had a lot of mouse droppings in it a few years ago but since then no issues. Not sure which it came from but it was an isolated event.
 
Old 03-25-2016, 02:46 PM   #10
BeauBoi
This was the first thread I posted here, so it is quite old, but I thought it would be worth updating:

Since I recently started raising ASFs, I opened up my deep freeze to inventory my current supply of feeders, so I could get an idea of how many frozen feeders I have left and wether I needed to order more or if I have enough to last me until my ASF colony is established enough to provide.

The bag of hoppers that I started this thread over was still there (I have now tossed them into the trash), but I thought I should make a final comment on them:

Only 2 of the hoppers were ever accepted by my snakes (and not by the same snake). None of the other 20 or so that I tried to feed off were ever accepted.
I can only conclude that there was something seriously wrong with these mice that the snakes were able to detect but that was not apparent to me.

I did write an email to the supplier (to which I have received no reply), where in I explained the situation (again) and told him I would no longer be ordering my feeders from him because of this problem and his lack of desire to rectify the situation. (Note: I am referring to the supplier as "him" because the numerous times I called, it was a "him" who answered, and at one point he defined the company as "his" company)

In a way, I am grateful for this experience. It led me to look into the process of raising feeders myself and a better understanding of the nutritional needs of my reptiles. Though I may order frozen feeders at some point in the future, it is something I plan to avoid if possible, and I have no intention of ever ordering from this particular supplier again.

Thanks to all who posted!
~Beau
 

Join now to reply to this thread or open new ones for your questions & comments! Cornsnakes.com is the largest online community dedicated to cornsnakes . Registration is open to everyone and FREE. Click Here to Register!

Google
 
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:52 PM.





Fauna Top Sites
 

Powered by vBulletin® Version
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Page generated in 0.04051495 seconds with 9 queries
Copyright Rich Zuchowski/SerpenCo