The great mouse disaster!!!

[Velvet]

Hi Guys!

So a while back, at a local petshop, I spot some STUNNING black and white mice, GORGEOUS little things! I buy them and take them home. They all die...presumeably of some horrible bacterial infection, that I am afraid to say looks suspiciously like Salmonella :uhoh: but then, MANY mouse diseases have these same symptoms.

Now all my OTHER mice in OTHER colonies have got it and are dying off, so last night I made the decision to wipe them all out, seriously DISINFECT EVERYTHING and start all over again.

I have made arrangements to have the bodies incinerated (when they are dead of course!) so that other animals will not feast on their flesh and possibly contract and spread the disease, whatever it may be.

Thank HEAVENS none of my snakes have eaten any of these mice! But they will be dosed with antibiotic just in case (they are due for a dose anyway).

Also, thank HEAVENS I am so religious about SCRUBBING my hands after handling the rodents or the snakes, and I mean scrubbing, up to the elbows in the hottest water I can handle with a scrubbing brush and disinfectant soap!

But still, now I have to buy food for my snakes (which I haven't done in months and am totally horrified at the price of mice these days) and buy some more breeding stock and start all over again.

I have contacted the petshop to inform them of the situation, not to blame them at all (I don't) but just so that they are aware of the situation and to be extra vigilant of the mice they get from suppliers, LAST thing they need is to sell mice carrying something nasty to people who feed those mice to their snakes and have a whole bunch of sick snakes!

Wish me luck with all the "growing pains" of starting a new colonny with young mice!! :laugh01:

Thanks "Murphy"! 10 points to you! :angry01:

 

[diamondlil]

That's bad news, Meg. Condolences.
As an aside, have you read about b/w patched mice strains being associated with GI tract deformities? I thought I had a 'clean' strain but the pinky production definately dropped when I added the patched mice in, which is why I'm phasing them out for the satins.

 

[Velvet]

I hadn't heard that no...

I've had seriously low fertility rates...also, I will have HUGELY preg females, glossy and fat, then next day they are not preggers (pinks are gone, presumably still born and eaten) and moms are anorexic and hunched up...no good!

 

[diamondlil]

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46307&highlight=patched Have a read of this. I too had the adults lose condition and have to be culled at a younger age than I did with the PEWs I started out with

 

[Velvet]

Thanks Janine! Will read that now!

My toughest mice (just about the only ones I have left) are my agoutis, blacks any my PEW male. I'll be buying those in future. The female blacks have been my best breeders.

 

[diamondlil]

With the satins, I'm actually keeping better records of their ages and litter sizes, so I can track a bit more accurately how their production measures up. To go from self-sufficient to having to rebuild has been a pain. The only good thing about the b/w patched problems showing up is that I got lucky with finding the satins in a local shop and that the original pair have now produced 5 different colours. Even if I do switch back to PEWs for snakefood, I'm going to keep the satins going as a side project because they're so pretty.

 

[Velvet]

Thanks for the link! I enjoyed reading that...I had no idea marked mice tended to have megacolon etc etc! And here was me TRYING to breed them! lol Only plain mice for me from now on.

And yeah, going from completely self-sufficient to having to buy is a real pain in the neck, not to mention expensive! Hopefully I can get some adult mice at the petshop and they will breed before long! I need mice for my hatchlings as well! That's 27 snakes total!

 

[Taryn7]

Shame Meg - that sounds awful!

You have alot of mouths too feed - especially when your eggs hatch! I pay R3.50 for a fuzzy and R4.00 for a rat pup.. Its such a rip off.. I know there is someone who sells in bulk but he insists a minimum of a R500 order.. Its not worth it for me seeing as I anly have 3 mouths to feed but it may be worth while to you. I would love to breed but I have to wait until I move out one day because my mom refuses to let me breed them anywhere near her. Lol.

 

[funnynonsense]

Shame Meg - that sounds awful!

You have alot of mouths too feed - especially when your eggs hatch! I pay R3.50 for a fuzzy and R4.00 for a rat pup.. Its such a rip off.. I know there is someone who sells in bulk but he insists a minimum of a R500 order.. Its not worth it for me seeing as I anly have 3 mouths to feed but it may be worth while to you. I would love to breed but I have to wait until I move out one day because my mom refuses to let me breed them anywhere near her. Lol.

lol - thats still cheaper than I get them - I pay R4 a fuzzy - where are you getting them from Taryn?

Meg I'm sorry to hear about that - Not the best thing to happen with all the new babies and still the ones that are gonna hatch soon. Hopefully starting again will be painless

 

[Taryn7]

lol - thats still cheaper than I get them - I pay R4 a fuzzy - where are you getting them from Taryn?

Meg I'm sorry to hear about that - Not the best thing to happen with all the new babies and still the ones that are gonna hatch soon. Hopefully starting again will be painless

I get my feeders from Reptilians.. I like going there cos they let me go into the back and pick the sizes I want. Also - they sell frozen which alot of places dont. But - if you go to Paradise Pets I think they charge R3.00 for fuzzies and rat pups.. I dont mind paying the extra at Reptilians because they keep their animals under much better conditions and I would rather support them.. I go to P Pets only if I have to..

 

[Jessicat]

Well I guess it's a very good example of why you should ALWAYS quarantine, no matter what new animal you are bringing into your collection. Sorry for your loss, that must be devastating.

 

[Morph Collector]

Hi Guys!

So a while back, at a local petshop, I spot some STUNNING black and white mice, GORGEOUS little things! I buy them and take them home. They all die...presumeably of some horrible bacterial infection, that I am afraid to say looks suspiciously like Salmonella :uhoh: but then, MANY mouse diseases have these same symptoms.

Now all my OTHER mice in OTHER colonies have got it and are dying off, so last night I made the decision to wipe them all out, seriously DISINFECT EVERYTHING and start all over again.

I have made arrangements to have the bodies incinerated (when they are dead of course!) so that other animals will not feast on their flesh and possibly contract and spread the disease, whatever it may be.

Thank HEAVENS none of my snakes have eaten any of these mice! But they will be dosed with antibiotic just in case (they are due for a dose anyway).

Also, thank HEAVENS I am so religious about SCRUBBING my hands after handling the rodents or the snakes, and I mean scrubbing, up to the elbows in the hottest water I can handle with a scrubbing brush and disinfectant soap!

But still, now I have to buy food for my snakes (which I haven't done in months and am totally horrified at the price of mice these days) and buy some more breeding stock and start all over again.

I have contacted the petshop to inform them of the situation, not to blame them at all (I don't) but just so that they are aware of the situation and to be extra vigilant of the mice they get from suppliers, LAST thing they need is to sell mice carrying something nasty to people who feed those mice to their snakes and have a whole bunch of sick snakes!

Wish me luck with all the "growing pains" of starting a new colonny with young mice!! :laugh01:

Thanks "Murphy"! 10 points to you! :angry01:

At least you show exceptional handling technique, and sanitizing. If a lesser keeper had this problem the infection would have most likely spread like wildfire to every animal in the house. Good idea on "taking care of the problem" I would do the same thing, even though its a big blow the my "economy" lets face it, herpers are poor (at least I speak for my self on that one

I have to say congrats on keeping it contained, honestly, I know you aren't looking for congratulations on all of your rodents "peacing out" but hey, your snakes are saved!