Weird white liquid in rodent belly?

Hello! I feed frozen thawed rats to my ball python and also feed my cats frozen thawed rabbit weanling. From the same supplier. Sometimes there is a white liquid in the belly of either the rat or the rabbit. I'm not sure if this white liquid is milk or pus? So I've been throwing them away. Is this safe to feed?

What size feeders are you talking about? pinky & fuzzy mice & rats are not weaned, they were still nursing, & white = milk

'Belly' or 'stomach'?

I would guess milk, if it in the stomach. Any age other than adult should be expected to have some milk in the stomach. There wouldn't be pus inside the stomach.

If there's a large amount of white liquid inside the abdominal cavity, that's possibly worth troubleshooting. Organ failure and other conditions can cause an excess of peritoneal fluid, and if it white I suppose that could be a sign of bacterial peritonitis. I'm not sure how common that would be in feeder rodents.

Are there any other signs that this might be a less than high quality supplier?

I'm a little curious how you notice that there's anything in there, as usually (at least for snakes) the prey is fed whole.

Bottom line, it seems you've been throwing away perfectly good prey- I've never raised rabbits, but I'm sure you're not talking about feeding adult rabbits to a cat...are you? (Is this a tiger? :D )

So yes, any prey that was young enough to still be nursing (& with mice, even young hoppers will nurse a little if they can get away with it) so they'll have "white" in their bellies.

Oh my goodness, I just realized i haven't been posting my replies.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Malum Argenteum

'Belly' or 'stomach'?

I would guess milk, if it in the stomach. Any age other than adult should be expected to have some milk in the stomach. There wouldn't be pus inside the stomach.

If there's a large amount of white liquid inside the abdominal cavity, that's possibly worth troubleshooting. Organ failure and other conditions can cause an excess of peritoneal fluid, and if it white I suppose that could be a sign of bacterial peritonitis. I'm not sure how common that would be in feeder rodents.

Are there any other signs that this might be a less than high quality supplier?

I'm a little curious how you notice that there's anything in there, as usually (at least for snakes) the prey is fed whole.

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I feed the rats whole to my BP, But with my cats it gets a little messier.
I think its only the weanling rabbits. Thank you guys!!