To Feed or not to Feed?

[nbelval]

Hello Everyone,

I'm expecting my first litter of rats and plan on expanding very soon to provide food for my growing collection of BP's and Corns. I like to plan ahead so I thought if I could get these questions answered now it will save me rushing around and trying to find the answer later on. Some of these may seem like common sense, but I'm really trying to see what the majority does in these situations. Thanks in advance!
Hope these don't put anyone off, but I figure these have to be fairly strong stomachs to be reading and posting here.

Feed to your Snake, Y or N?

1. Large Wound or Abscess on the rat, obviously infected?

2. Small wounds, various scabs from fighting?

3. Stillborn?

4. Birth Defects?

5. Dead in cage (still warm and floppy)

6. Dead in cage (cold and stiff)

7. Respiratory Infection (rat, not the snake)?

8. Mammary Tumors?

9. Other tumors, growths?

10. Unexplained illness?

Thanks! Any additional input is appreciate, but a simple Y/N to feeding is helpful too! I couldn't think of anymore off the top of my head, but feel free to add problems that I missed.

Nicole

[suzuki4life]

Hello Everyone,

I'm expecting my first litter of rats and plan on expanding very soon to provide food for my growing collection of BP's and Corns. I like to plan ahead so I thought if I could get these questions answered now it will save me rushing around and trying to find the answer later on. Some of these may seem like common sense, but I'm really trying to see what the majority does in these situations. Thanks in advance!
Hope these don't put anyone off, but I figure these have to be fairly strong stomachs to be reading and posting here.

Feed to your Snake, Y or N?

1. Large Wound or Abscess on the rat, obviously infected?

2. Small wounds, various scabs from fighting?

3. Stillborn?

4. Birth Defects?

5. Dead in cage (still warm and floppy)

6. Dead in cage (cold and stiff)

7. Respiratory Infection (rat, not the snake)?

8. Mammary Tumors?

9. Other tumors, growths?

10. Unexplained illness?

Thanks! Any additional input is appreciate, but a simple Y/N to feeding is helpful too! I couldn't think of anymore off the top of my head, but feel free to add problems that I missed.

Nicole

y=1-4, 7-10
n=5 & 6

[kc261]

1. Large Wound or Abscess on the rat, obviously infected?
Probably not. Would put down rat & dispose of it.

2. Small wounds, various scabs from fighting?
Yes.

3. Stillborn?
Probably not, but the odds of catching a fresh stillborn are pretty small anyway, so in practice, definitely not. Maybe with rats you'd find them more often, but mice (which is what I raise) tend to eat their dead pretty quickly.

4. Birth Defects?
Depending on the defect, yes.

5. Dead in cage (still warm and floppy)
Would not feed under any circumstances.

6. Dead in cage (cold and stiff)
Would not feed under any circumstances.

7. Respiratory Infection (rat, not the snake)?
These are usually caused by myco, and are not transferable to the snake, so yes.

8. Mammary Tumors?
Yes.

9. Other tumors, growths?
Yes.

10. Unexplained illness?
Depends. I occasionally get and feed off some mice that have that hunched over, fluffed up look, which is a sign of illness, so I guess that counts. But if it was much more than that, and yet I had no idea what was making it sick, I wouldn't feed it off.

*** On all of these, it would depend on the overall condition of the prey animal, and also, to a lesser degree, on which snake I might feed it too. I'll feed off a mouse that is a little sneezy, but not one that has an advanced case of myco and its overall body condition is going downhill. Same with most of the other stuff. A borderline mouse I will give to one of my bigger females that is eating multiples at each meal, but not to a littler snake whose entire meal consists of the one item. I feel it is very important that the snakes get quality feeders, since it is the only thing they eat. I saw a sign at a restaurant recently (the kind that has the food ready in advance, so sometimes they have to toss stuff that has been sitting for a while) that perfectly describes my theory on the feeders: When in doubt, throw it out.

[Mike Schultz]

Feed to your Snake, Y or N?

1. Large Wound or Abscess on the rat, obviously infected? Freeze + feed

2. Small wounds, various scabs from fighting? Feed

3. Stillborn? Toss out if not already eaten by rats

4. Birth Defects? Feed

5. Dead in cage (still warm and floppy) Feed

6. Dead in cage (cold and stiff) Toss out

7. Respiratory Infection (rat, not the snake)? Feed

8. Mammary Tumors? Feed

9. Other tumors, growths? Feed

10. Unexplained illness? Feed

[tomfromtheshade]

Over millions of years snakes have survived by eating the prey that they could catch. This is usually the sick, old, slow etc. I'm sure that the snake would be fine eating ALMOST anything besides a poisoned rat.

[Jenn]

I give less than perfect rodents to the corns.

[tnelsonflorida]

N/Y/N/N/N/N/N/N/N/N
Basically I say that under most broad and worst case scenario. I have always raised my own feeders. Mice,Rats,Gerbils, and now ASF's. I have mainly ASF's now I bought from someone who had 4 different lines and I have added another genetic line.I can honestly say I have some of the most healthy feeders I have ever had. Feed and treat them right, be very careful of line-breeding and you will have less problems down the road.

[kc261]

N/Y/N/N/N/N/N/N/N/N
Basically I say that under most broad and worst case scenario. I have always raised my own feeders. Mice,Rats,Gerbils, and now ASF's. I have mainly ASF's now I bought from someone who had 4 different lines and I have added another genetic line.I can honestly say I have some of the most healthy feeders I have ever had. Feed and treat them right, be very careful of line-breeding and you will have less problems down the road.

This brings up a very good point that should be obvious but it is worth addressing.

If you are breeding your own feeders, you should not be experiencing most of the listed problems except on rare occasion. I'll comment on each one individually.

1. Large Wound or Abscess on the rat, obviously infected?
Should only happen extremely rarely if at all; has never happened in my colony.

2. Small wounds, various scabs from fighting?
Unavoidable on a small scale, but if it is happening a lot, or any of your rodents gets a serious injury from fighting, it is probably an indication you are doing something wrong (overcrowding, underfeeding, etc.)

3. Stillborn?
Unavoidable, but most babies should be born live & healthy. If not, something is wrong.

4. Birth Defects?
Unavoidable, but most babies should be born live & healthy. If not, something is wrong.

5. Dead in cage (still warm and floppy)
Occasional unexpected & unexplained deaths will probably occur, but if it happens more often, something is wrong (an exception would be if you allow your retired breeders or other favorites to reach old age).

6. Dead in cage (cold and stiff)
Occasional unexpected & unexplained deaths will probably occur, but if it happens more often, something is wrong (an exception would be if you allow your retired breeders or other favorites to reach old age).

7. Respiratory Infection (rat, not the snake)?
Myco is present in most rats & mice. However, healthy ones show few if any symptoms. If you are getting myco flare-ups, you either have animals with weak systems (selectively breed to improve your stock) or an enviromental issue causing it.

8. Mammary Tumors?
I get these in my mice occasionally, but usually only in ones that were close to retiring anyway.


9. Other tumors, growths?
I get what I believe are lipomas occasionally, but usually only in ones that were close to retiring anyway.

10. Unexplained illness?
Occasional unexplained illnesses will probably occur, but if it happens more often, something is wrong.

It can be hard to get a healthy rodent colony going. Mice tend to be a little harder than rats because they have roughly the same health issues, but also a much bigger tendency to eat their babies due to stress issues. However, once you get over the initial hurdles of finding some healthy stock and getting them producing, you should have very few issues. If you are having consistent problems, you should examine everything to try to identify and eliminate the source of the issues.

[nbelval]

Thanks Casey. But would you mind telling if you would feed or not feed these to your snakes? Or is it a "no" on all acounts?

I do realize that these shouldn't be happening often, but I have heard things from others about feeding off sick or injured rats, and it got my brain going as to what the "norm" is in the feeder world.

Thanks so much!
Nicole

[kc261]

Thanks Casey. But would you mind telling if you would feed or not feed these to your snakes? Or is it a "no" on all acounts?

Um, I already did. Second response to your thread.