Dead rat.. can I use it?

Hehe, fainting rats. *Play dead, rattie!*


With a necropsy, you would incise an opening from her chin to her groin. You can open up her chest with scissors.

Start with the internal organs, look for any swelling, bloating, abnormal coloring on the liver(spots), rupture in the uterus, tumors on the ovaries, blockages in the small/large intestines. Then look in her chest, check the heart for abnormal swelling, blood in the pericardium(sack around heart). Then check the lungs for pus pockets, excess mucous on the inside, etc.

It's not too difficult, but can be puzzling if you don't know what to look for.

id say its fine, freeze it for about a week though to be safe. i know someone who has a 15' burmese python, and they took a wild pig, killed it, froze it for a week to make sure and kill any potential parasites, then fed it to the burm, and nothing has went wrong. that was about 3-4weeks ago. just freeze it solid for a week or so, and it should be ok. just look for anything wierd before you feed it after thawing. im sure whatever killed it cannot be transferable to a snake. and if the off chance that it was internal parasites, the freezing would kill them.

Well, these fainting rats get cold and stiff. :/ :P

Wowee.. a necropsy might be kinda interesting.. I'd be afraid I'd ruin her though.. lol *blop* whoops.

:bleh:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rex322

if the off chance that it was internal parasites, the freezing would kill them.

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No it won't. It would put them in suspended animation, but wouldn't kill any parasites inside the animal. Even if the rat had parasites, it's not a cause of death nor is the rat going to transfer the parasites to the snake. Species specific! Another one of those internet myths that people cannot get over.

April, you're not going to mess up the rat doing a necropsy. if you can use some really sharp, pointed scissors, you can make a clean incision in the abdomen and chest. Then, when you are done looking through the organs/tissues, you can just sew her back up with a simple suture using 100% cotton thread. The snake can digest or pass the thread easily and no harm done.

Ok.. I actually have a dissection kit with a nice scalpel. Just gotta find it.

F/T rats are stinky.. *sigh* oh well it'll be interesting to find.. whatever there is to find.

The rat probably died of hemorrhage but you never know.
If I where you I wouldnt take any chances...
I´d rather buy a new rat without risking a dead snake.

I'm coming to the conclusion that there ISN'T a risk.. that's the whole point of this thread.

I trust SatanicIntention.. she's very knowledgeble.

Not worth any risk to me. I would just toss it.
~Jim

You know when a thread is titled "dead rat" anything I really should NOT read it right after eating dinner! LOL


~~Jo~~

lol.. yeah I could have posted pics! :P