Freeze Mice Not Eaten ???

Not sure where to post this...

My niece purchased live mice to feed her BP's yesterday and they refused to eat. She does not have a setup to keep the mice alive for a week.

Is it healthy (for the snakes) to kill the mice (blunt force), freeze them and offer them to the BP's next week? If not, what other option does she have?

Thanks
JohnNJ

For my one live eater, I get around 4 female mice at a time.

I purchased a very inexpensive and small cage for the mice (it was under $20). I also purchased a water bottle ($5) and some food ($5).

I like this set-up as I am able to flesh out the (usually) puny mice prior to feeding to my snake :)

I'm sorry to not answer the 'blunt force' part of your question since I am just not a proponent of that methodology. She could rig up a CO2 chamber and then freeze them....

ummm as far as feeding them frozen / thawed mice yes this is ok! blunt force or co2 either way. I only buy already frozen as I don't wanna do the killing. I should add make sure you put them in the fridge the night before feeding day and then warm them up in a WARM bowl of water when its feeding time.

gl!

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Originally Posted by starmom

I'm sorry to not answer the 'blunt force' part of your question since I am just not a proponent of that methodology.

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We will be purchasing frozen mice at a show in three weeks so this issue will go away. I was just asking out of curiosity.

Let me rephrase the question. Would freezing a dead mouse that may have had some internal bleeding, and then thawing and feeding it to a healthy Ball Python have any negative effect on the snake?

Thanks.

It will be ok... You can even refrozen it a several times (provided its not starting to decompose) if for some reason your snake dont eat it....

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Originally Posted by RuGGeR

It will be ok... You can even refrozen it a several times (provided its not starting to decompose) if for some reason your snake dont eat it....

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you can refreeze it but i wouldnt every time u freeze it the ice crystals that form in the tissue kills more and more of it every time. than since there is less tissue there is less nutrition.
just my 2 cents

Hi,

Plus the more times they are frozen/ thawed the greater the risk if setting off the mouse grenades. :ninja:


dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

Plus the more times they are frozen/ thawed the greater the risk if setting off the mouse grenades.

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Derek:

Thanks for the reply but the original question was about freezing mice that were not killed "humanely" and may have had some internal bleeding. Freeze them immediately to feed at a later date.

Is it bad to feed a traumatized mouse to a snake? I'm guessing that it's OK and will not harm the snake. I'm sure the mouse would disagree.

Thanks.
JohNJ

Hi John,

Appologies - I should have clarified I was responding to Rugger's post on re-freezing multiple times.

Regarding you original question then I would say it would obviously depend on the amount of trauma caused but I think the only concerns from the snake's point of view would be the mess. The method you used to defrost them will affect this though I think if the damage was extreme?

But I have to say I really don't think you should use that method of killing the prey items on moral (and, over here, legal ) grounds.

Were the snakes she has eating F/T or live previously?

If they were on live then it may take some time to switch them over and getting a small critter keeper and food/ waterbottle for uneaten prey items makes economic sense - and, as Starmom said, it gives you a chance to up the quality of the food as a side effect.:)


dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

Were the snakes she has eating F/T or live previously?

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Her BP's have been on both live and F/T. I haven't noticed a difference in which they prefer.

She gave the mice to a friend but I don't think she'll get them back as feeders. I refuse to keep mice. I bred mice when I had my snakes many years ago and the smell is unbearable. I offered up the males ASAP. I eventually bred gerbils and fed them exclusively.

When I gave those snakes to a friend's son, they switched back to mice and rats without missing a meal.

Thanks.
JohnNJ