• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

F/T vs. Live mice

F

franklin

Pantherophis Fan
Can anyne tell me if parasites are easily spread through live mice which could be passed on to snakes which in turn would cause them to stop eating and die? Are F/T really better for snakes. Also, what type of dewormer is same for mice and eventually food source for snakes??

Thanks,
 
I don't know how likely live feeders are to pass on parasites, but it's not a risk at all with f/t - they don't withstand the cold. I know nothing about dewormers, unfortunately.

I think the biggest reasons to feed f/t are cost and safety. It's less of a hazard with mice, but weaned rats can seriously injure or even kill your snake if it's not hungry or uninterested. I feed some of my snakes live for a variety of reasons, but I know my sources are reliable and haven't had pest problems. Also, I never, ever leave my snakes unattended with live prey for any reason.

Try searching the existing threads for more information on parasite transfer.
 
If you're worried about your mouse supply, take in a mouse or fecal samples of the mice and a fecal sample of the snakes to a vet and have a fecal analysis run to determine if anything is abnormal in the first place.

Are you allergic to vets or something? You seem rather reluctant to seek the advice of a qualified person who know what they're doing and knows how to help. If I had snakes dropping like flies after eating mice I thought to be bad I'd be in the vet's office the next business day to see what could be the problem.

Live mice can carry a whole host of parasites I'm sure...worms, bad bacteria, etc. So I think you need to determine EXACTLY what the cause is before you take the shotgun approach and give the mice any medicine you think might help.

For all you know it may be something wrong with the snakes, crypto comes to mind. Especially the not-eating and bloated appearance. Crypto is a pretty serious thing and to date no known cures are available. Whether crypto can be transferred via rodents, I don't know. If they're in close proximity to reptiles in a crowded environment, then I'd say anything is possible.

With f/t the chances are a lot less likely of mice being infected with something that can kill snakes. Freezing for 2 weeks or more is known to kill most internal parasites within the gut of rodents or other feeder animals. So I'd say switch your remaining snakes to f/t until you determine whats going on.

Are these your own feeders that you raise or are you buying live feeder mice from a pet shop? If its the latter, I'd consider a different source or inquiring if they've had problems with their stock making their reptiles sick. I personally don't think I'd ever feed my snake live feeders from a petshop. They keep them in less than adequate conditions and you never know what they're being fed or medicated with, or even what chemicals or diseases are running around the stores' animals. I raise my own and am confident they're healthy and well taken care of.

So until I try to help further, please PLEASE take your snakes or mice to the vet to see what could be the issue. I don't want to try to help and end up making situations worse than they already are.
 
franklin said:
Can anyne tell me if parasites are easily spread through live mice which could be passed on to snakes which in turn would cause them to stop eating and die? Are F/T really better for snakes. Also, what type of dewormer is same for mice and eventually food source for snakes??

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Yes, parasites are easily spread through live mice. Yes, they can be passed on to snakes. Yes, F/T is really better for snakes. If you have to deworm the mice, don't feed them to your snakes.

AND, everything Misty said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please get your snakes to the vet asap!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top