Live Rats Carrying in Mites

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Originally Posted by 5GsReptiles

BTW wild snakes almost always have mites, they live together in the wild. The snake gets rid of the mites once it sheds and slithers away... The snake does not have this freedom in a cage and it becomes a vicious cycle if not treated... Its not the end of the world, you just need to take of the problem

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All the research I've ever done has told me that NO wild snakes have mites. They have ticks, but not mites. Snake mites aren't even native to the area where ball pythons come from. I BELIEVE this is in the Barker's book, but I could be wrong.

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Originally Posted by 5GsReptiles

Is there a reason why your feeding live? Are you going to breed them? With live you do get the full nutritional value from the rat BUT its dangerous in many ways rats do carry certain types of diseases where just freezing them kills it off and also of your higher end morphs or even a normal that you care about you are running the risk of your snake getting bit.... If your snake were to get bit on the head or the neck area you most likley will have an infected wound on your snake which is hard to get rid of and not to mention he/she will stop eating...

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There have been no conclusive studies on the nutritional value of live rodents versus f/t rodents. I believe they are the same as long as the rodent is consumed in a reasonable amount of time (ie: not sitting in the freezer for 2 years).

You are correct in that live does carry its own possible problems, but i believe the OP said she was feeding live because that was the only prey type those snakes took. Most bps will switch to F/T without a problem, but that is not true for every animal unfortunately. :/

OP:

As far as the mites go; if you want to continue using aspen, spray it first with PAM (prevent-a-mite) and then let it sit. This should kill the mites in the bag. Do this for every new bag you pick up and you shouldn't have a problem with the mites coming from that source.

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Originally Posted by 5GsReptiles

If your snake were to get bit on the head or the neck area you most likley will have an infected wound on your snake which is hard to get rid of and not to mention he/she will stop eating...

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If you were to stick to facts your posts would be much shorter.

There is something to be said for brevity.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I do much prefer to feed f/t but I have two bp's that will not take f/t at this time. I am hoping to switch them both back to f/t eventually.

Its been over a week now and I haven't seen any signs of mites - so hopefully I cleared them out.

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions on how to get these two to eat f/t? My female use to eat f/t but then went on a 7 month fast and it took offering live to get her to eat again - now she won't take f/t anymore.

My other live feeder came to me this way - he is 5 years old and the breeder said he never was able to get him to take f/t - this one may be a lost cause in trying to switch him over at this late age.

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Originally Posted by L.West

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions on how to get these two to eat f/t? My female use to eat f/t but then went on a 7 month fast and it took offering live to get her to eat again - now she won't take f/t anymore.

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I have found it easier to go from live to fresh kill before trying f/t. That way it's a dead meal but it smells like a live rat. Sometimes even that doesn't work though. Laying a clutch usually flips their eating switch too.

I don't do any breeding with my snakes - so the clutch option is out. But, how do you suggest I prekill the rat - I need something really humane and not messy - I have a weak stomach and a big softey to all living things.