Well, this is a new first...

[sw204me]

Bought two hopper mice and an adult mouse for my snakes today. Temp outside is 93.4 degree, got the mice, went and got gas, and then drove home, about 20 miles. The way home all the windows were down and there was plenty of air in the car. When I got home all the mice looked like they were in a damn steam room. The big adult mouse didnt look two good and wasnt moving but still breathing, the hopper mice were fine, just wet. So I put Jade in with the hoppers and she ate both just fine. I took Max out and put him with the adult mouse who just layed there. Max got close enough to it that his tongue was hitting it but it wouldn't move, so I pushed it around with a pen, nothing. So I put max back in his cage and was just gonna keep the mouse for later, gave it some water, and put it in the container it came in. Few min later I hear a bunch of noise come from the container so I took a look and the darn thing was dead.... So there went $1.25, have no mouse for Max later, and I had to toss it out. Anyone else have a mouse die due to heat? I'm guessing thats what it was although I didn't think it was near hot enough for that to happen. First time Max has refused food, he is in shed, but he ate last time he was in shed so I didnt think anything of it. Might have been the shed, might have been cause the mouse was dieing.....any guesses?

[MeMe]

what were they housed in for the ride home?

wait I just read that you said that it ws 93.4 outside.

More than likely you had them in some sort of box container...

If it is 93.4 outside how hot did you think it would get inside a closed box with barely any aiflow?

for 20 minues! :eek:

that's ashame.

[sw204me]

there were in a plastic container with a bunch of holes punched in the top inside a paper bag. And Ya, I feel pretty bad about it all, worse then when I feed em to my snakes, his death was my fault and a complete waste and I do feel horrible about it Was a really good size mouse too, would of been a great meal for him . Next time I get feeder mice I will be sure they have plenty of air and its not getting to hot for em, just never had anything like this happen before, and I have had them on the way home in hotter weather then this and they were fine. Ever hear of mice dieing from heat before?

[Purrrfect9]

you could try getting one of those critter keepers. i bought a decent size one for $10 that could easily hold one or two full grown rats for a car ride home. They're hardy, and they have the venelated top of decent air flow. That and I always wait to pick up my mice/rats last after all of my errands.

[MeMe]

lesson learned.

and yes the heat kills animals all the time.

maybe next time do not put them in a paper bag.

just a well ventilated container.

[SarahMB]

Yeah, this happened to me as well. When we went to Ft. Worth to pick up our order of 200 mice, I brought 2 long Sterilite tubs with holes all along the sides. The time before that, I took 2 of my mouse tubs, with mesh tops, since I was only getting 100.
We had the AC blowing the whole way home, but by the time we got there, all the mice were soaking wet. I lost 5 of them to the heat. Next time I will take mesh top enclosures again, it's a hard lesson learned

[sw204me]

Last time they weren't in a bag, I think thats what did it...wonder which is worse dieing from heat, or by a snake...

[SarahMB]

Being a Texan, I would say heat....but I've never been constricted...

[Royal Tartan]

Being a Texan, I would say heat....but I've never been constricted...

classic

[sw204me]

Being a Texan, I would say heat....but I've never been constricted...

Thats a good thing though, would be a real bummer if you knew what it was like to have the life squeezed out of ya.

Been thinking about this all day, while updating all my snake records and getting them moved over to Excel, people keep telling us snake owners we are sick and cruel, and look at how we feel when one dies not to our snake, I only lost one, a few post up someone lost 5 out of 100 or so and I bet when they saw those 5 dead they felt like crap. I just find it kinda ironic they say we are cruel and evil yet look at how we feel over the loss of our pets food....Just kinda interesting I thought.