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wild mice!

Jaspers dad

New member
I caught a mouse outside a couple of days ago and was going to feed it to Jasper. Then I thought about diseases the mouse might have and let him go. Was this a good choice or do you guys think it is ok to feed wild mice or rats. Im guessing its not a good idea!
 
I would NEVER feed w/c mice to my snakes. The possibility of parasites are very high and just not worth the risk.

IF I HAD to feed w/c... they'd go into the freezer to kill off the larger parasites at least. But I'd never feed fresh caught. Nope... not worth it to me.
 
In my opinion, you made an excellent decision. I would never feed any of my snakes wild caught prey. There is no telling what kind of diseases and parasites a wild caught mouse could possibly pass on to your snakes. I would also be cautious of the health of any feeders you may purchase from a pet store, as I have seen many sickly feeders in pet stores in my area.
 
If I should stay away from pet store feeders, where do you suggest I get them? Thats really the only place around here to get live feeders
 
I'm not saying that you can't find perfectly healthy mice at a pet store, I'm just saying that you should make sure they look healthy before you get them. You should also consider converting your snake to frozen/ thawed mice. When you freeze a mouse odds are any un-noticed parasites will be killed before feeding to your snake, plus, there is no chance of your snake getting scratches or bite marks on it.
 
In my limited experience... no. Not really. I HAVE thrown away quite a few rejected f/t pinks, but eventually, I WIN! LOL.

My Black milk was a live feeder when I got him... but he's taking F/T just a couple months later... and NO wasted food items. I just had to jiggle them to make them "look" alive. Now, I put the F/T fuzzy (ies) in and BAM... he's gone to town. LOL.
 
I have 8 adult snakes that were raised on live. 6 corns and 2 balls. All 6 corns converted easily on the first try and have never looked back. 1 ball converted and the other ball will only eat live. It pretty much just depends on the snake.
 
My snakes went to F/T with no problems. Like other ppl have said, when moving from live to F/T you might have to shake it around a little. Wise on not feeding the w/c.
 
Not all live feeders will convert. But it is definately something to at least attempt to do. I always make sure when I feed the live eater that I have a snake to feed that eats frozen thawed. I first try to coax the live eater to eat the F/T'd, but if it won't, at least I have a snake in back up that will eat it so I don't end up tossing the F/T'd away.
 
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