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Mites from mice?

C

Cornelia

New member
My boyfriend bought some mice from the pet store for his snakes and realized after he got home that they are kind of mangy looking. They have little spots of hair loss on their faces, but they act perky. Is it likely that the snakes could get mites or some other parasite from them if they are just pre-killed and fed to the snakes like normal? If so, would freezing overnight kill the mites or whatever it is or should he just take them back to the store? The snakes are very healthy if that makes any difference.

Most of the info I've found so far has talked about snakes getting mites from other snakes, not from other feeders, so I'm not sure what the best course is to take here. Some knowledgeable advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 
imo yes, the snake can get mites from feeders. Just another reason to just buy already dead frozen rodents and thaw them at home. ........
 
We're gonna get frozen ones at the september repticon, but for now it's cheaper to buy them live and pre-kill. For now I need advice about the current situation, not preaching about buying frozen. Thanks!
 
Don't see how it's cheaper but anywhoo...
You answer your own question and Starevol did too. If you want... get the prekill to save ya the hassle.

OK...I'm done preaching. : )
 
I usually would freeze any rodent from an unknown source for at least two weeks prior to feeding. I say two weeks because that is how long we let prairie dogs freeze before feeding them out to raptors. After two weeks no one has to worry about the plague coming to get them so we can butcher the prairie dogs and squirrels with bare hands.
 
Lennycorn said:
Well, from this quick internet search, I was wrong!!!!

Looks like you should freeze your meat for a month!!
http://www.ehow.com/how_7734135_freeze-meat-kill-parasites.html

Goodluckwiththat.
Click to expand...

Dang... I've doing it wrong. LOL!

At a little over a dollar a feed for live versus $2 a feed plus shipping
Click to expand...

Also I get my adult mice for .55 cents each. I don't know where you get the "$2" figure from.

Frozen is waaaaaaaaaay cheaper.

I'd love to links of your proof on the frozen feeder claims. :D
 
As regards if mice can give snakes mites, I don't know.

I do know that freezing does not necessarily kill bugs. It mostly prevents them from multiplying but whether it actually destroys them depends very much on the nature of the parasite.

I would take one back to the store and ask if they know why there is hair loss.

The guy who thinks frozen immediately means dead has a worryingly bad grasp of safety. Mate, really, take some kind of hygiene course ....
 
anarch said:
Where does it in that article mention that freezing kills the larvae of said parasites? Terrariums are perfect containers for thawing and hatching parasite larvae.
Click to expand...
What lavae? How much larvae. And what stage is the larvae. Was I even talking larvar here?
This could go on and on.
What proof do you have?


anarch said:
I never said that frozen in bulk is not cheaper... rather I said live in small quantities is more economical for my personal situation.
Click to expand...

If you did the math and order bulk... it would work!
 
anarch said:
Here you are;
Freezing at −18ºC or −20ºC for 24 hours kills both adults and eggs (Subden and Threlkeld 1966, Allison and Hilton 1994). (Refrigeration at 5ºC slows mites but does not kill them.) Conidiashow high survival after freezing, but ascospores do not. Thus freezing is not an option for crosses.

But hey! perhaps you have some sort of super freezer that simpletons such as I do not.
Click to expand...

If you did you would buy in bulk.
 
If freezing kills all parasites and micro-organisms why is there such a fuss about cooking the 'thawed' Christmas turkey thoroughly?

I don't see why a frozen mouse can be automatically more safe than a live one. It kind of depends how healthy the mouse was when it died. And how it is stored. The issue is finding a supplier you trust.

Obviously freezing does not kill, for example, salmonella. Or we could have raw turkey at Christmas no worries :D

If you suspect the mouse is not healthy the last thing I would do was (personally) put it in my freezer (UNLESS you have a freezer for only snake food). I know you can wrap them, but really ...?
 
I've never worried much about external parasites, as I've read a decent amount of research and literature out there, which seems pretty consistent - most mammal parasites cannot (or will not) use reptiles as hosts and vice versa.

Here's a good write up, with resources cited:
http://www.vpi.com/publications/the_life_history_of_snake_mites

And a statement from this write up:
Snake mites usually do not infest mammal species, yet they have been known occasionally to parasitize rodents and humans, taking a blood meal and then moving on (Mader, 1996). Snakes are not known to be parasitized by any of the mite species that commonly parasitize rodents.

Believe it or not, there's actually a decent amount of literature out there you can Google.
I'd be more worried about bringing in parasites when purchasing/trading or moving around other reptiles, as opposed to feeders.
 
Thanks to you guys who answered my questions :)

The mice were returned today, they looked even worse this morning than they did yesterday so we figured having them be snake food was a bad idea since there was obviously something wrong with them. I appreciate the responses from people who know what they are talking about. I'm hoping more people than just me benefited from this thread.
 
Thanks Anarch! :)

On another note, it sounds like it was a good idea to take them back. If they were in that bad of shape, then it's more than likely that they are nutritionally deficient and probably not the best thing to be feeding your snake anyway.
 
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