What a waste...

Only their throats were bloody, so I didn't see it until I took some out-- they were vac packed. It is odd... I don't know why he would have done it after they were dead, but there wasn't blood on their backs or paws or anything.... I will take a pic of one tonight and post it.

That's what I was thinking... if they were slit, they'd bleed all over their fur, I'd think. Is it at all possible that their necks broke after they were frozen? If they were vacuum sealed like you said, maybe the vacuum caused their heads to move a certain way that cracked them. I know several of the fuzzy rats I ordered online literally broke in half. I think they were frozen so hard, that they just cracked and broke in half like glass. Just a thought...


...or then again, that guy could be Norman Bates. :weirdface

I've heard of this before but I believe it was rats and the supplier was getting lab surplus. Usually in the reptile industry when someone says 'lab rats' in regards to feeders, they are never the mice/rats that were *used* in the lab (since those could have unknown chemicals or toxins), they are the overage/extras that were not needed by the lab. Some feeder suppliers buy from multiple sources including those lab surplus to fill orders. Google search finds various threads from 2008 and 2011 discussing others that have found the same thing (slit throat) with their feeders but as for the why it was done, I cannot speculate and doesn't look like it was ever found out why it occurred. As others mentioned, it seems very inefficient.

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Originally Posted by LittleTreeGuy

That's what I was thinking... if they were slit, they'd bleed all over their fur, I'd think. Is it at all possible that their necks broke after they were frozen? If they were vacuum sealed like you said, maybe the vacuum caused their heads to move a certain way that cracked them. I know several of the fuzzy rats I ordered online literally broke in half. I think they were frozen so hard, that they just cracked and broke in half like glass. Just a thought...


...or then again, that guy could be Norman Bates. :weirdface

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I bought some fuzzies and hoppers locally that would break in half. They were just packed in a ziplock bag.

I believe that they broke in half because they were not physically developed yet. The stomach and back muscles are just not there yet. The peritoneum is thin, the skin at the abdomen is thin. Just handling them as they thaw, those undeveloped parts can not support the weight of the upper torso as you flip the fuzzies over by the tail to thaw. Or if you grab the head to turn over, the abdominal area can't support the weight of the lower body. Basically the thawing process is too rough for them.

Maybe he's into some sort of occult ritual that requires lots of mouse blood, a cauldron, eye of newt, mystic incantations, and is performed at full moon in a circle of stones that aligns with the sun on the solstice. Or maybe he was just trying to use kosher slaughtering methods, adapted for rodents?

People often slit throats to kill animals. In fact, slitting the throat properly should result in a very quick state of unconsciousness and then death as the brain's supply of O2 is shunted away immediately. Kosher slaughter of cattle for instance, the throat is slit and the animal is unconscious in seconds. That's when it's done PROPERLY.

I know the few videos I've watched about butchering guinea pigs in South America also slit the throats.

Now, to be true, it's not efficient, and seems rife with potential to get bitten by mice and messy and just plain odd. It can't result in an ideal feeder either. I definitely would not want feeders that have been bleed out to feed to my animals.

I really don't think snakes care if their dinner is kosher or not1

I've had that problem before but unfortunately mine came from the breeder I got Lucifer from... I called them and they just told me "buyers beware"..,. Lesson learned.

Now I purchase F/T from a local pet store. The only problem is their sizes very too much.

I was getting mine from the local pet store, but he's lost his damn mind lately... he wants $2.50 a piece for frozen rat pups. I have 8 (soon to be 9) snakes... and that's just way too much.

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Originally Posted by Hypancistrus

I was getting mine from the local pet store, but he's lost his damn mind lately... he wants $2.50 a piece for frozen rat pups. I have 8 (soon to be 9) snakes... and that's just way too much.

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I thought there was a local (private) supplier up your way who sold bulk feeders? Something like "East Coast Feeders"? Or is that the supplier who you purchased from at the show?