Pet Store Mice Smelling Bad

I chose some adult mice from a local pet shop (not a single store in this city had rats fuzzy to weanling the day I went buying) and got 10, frozen, since the guy was offering a discount. I figured since they were just mice I could try and feed Donuts 2 every five days or something like that until someone in town got weanlings. But as soon as I opened the bag, I was really unpleasantly surprised by the smell. I know mice don't exactly smell great when they're dead but these were pretty funky. It makes me not even want to feed her them just because I am so off-put by them! Also, there are woodchips in the bag with them which I guess is fine, mice don't take baths before they go get eaten by snakes in the wild, but it made me even less comfortable using them. I guess I'm stuck on the human idea that food should be rinsed and free of dirt /:

So TD;LR- The mice I got smell unusually bad. Should I give them to my BP or just throw them out? :snake:

If you dont trust them, dont use them. Thats my best advice.

For me, if the smell is not just feces and urine, I'd throw them out or return them. The excrement can always be washed off.

While they might not kill or cause illness, your snake may regurgitate them. Then you have another problem.

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Originally Posted by Jeanne

If you dont trust them, dont use them. Thats my best advice.

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You know what, you're right. I'm gonna go ahead and listen to my instincts on this one.

Yeah, better safe now than sorry later.

What *kind* of stink? Pee/poop? Or decay? :dead:

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

What *kind* of stink? Pee/poop? Or decay? :dead:

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Not peep (because somehow i got into the habit calling pee & poop that), maybe decay? I'm not sure, they just smelled off. But I guess I've never really smelled anything dead and improperly refrigerated before so it could have been a little bit of decomposition that went on somehow. Who knows, I'm just glad to be rid of them

Interesting... To me when F/T rats start to turn, they smell sour. At that point I'll toss them. Otherwise I think they have their own distinct smell, which is slightly funky but not *bad*. As everyone says, trust your gut, which I'm glad you did!

I wouldn't chance it. I would toss em. Also any reputable rodent dealer will package his rodents well and clean them before packaging. If I bought a package of frozen rats and they were covered in pee and poo and smelled like it, I would definitely complain about it I mean sure a snake isn't going to be eating a sterilized piece of meat in the wild but then again, in the wild they are exposed to a lot more parasites and "junk" that their immune systems can build up against. in captivity, our pets aren't subjected to that kind of inoculation. Not to mention if I pay for rats, I expect them to be in a presentable condition, not covered in pee and poo.

In a wild environment, the prey would be clean, and only scavenger prey species will touch anything that isn't fresh.

I've seen rodents raised in some yucky conditions (even on YouTube). Doubt the sanitation is any better once they are put down.

And for what it's worth, I try to advise people throwing old mice/rats out: if you have a patch of woods near your house, chuck it in there! There are plenty of hungry scavengers who will gobble it up, and that way the rodent doesn't have to die in vain. :) Just make sure it's far away from any roads where nothing will get hit trying to eat it!

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

And for what it's worth, I try to advise people throwing old mice/rats out: if you have a patch of woods near your house, chuck it in there! There are plenty of hungry scavengers who will gobble it up, and that way the rodent doesn't have to die in vain. :) Just make sure it's far away from any roads where nothing will get hit trying to eat it!

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Great idea, thanks for all the advice.

And everyone else too, you're right. I won't be returning to that pet store

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

And for what it's worth, I try to advise people throwing old mice/rats out: if you have a patch of woods near your house, chuck it in there! There are plenty of hungry scavengers who will gobble it up, and that way the rodent doesn't have to die in vain. :) Just make sure it's far away from any roads where nothing will get hit trying to eat it!

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Not to derail the thread, but how do you tell if feeders are too old to use? The smell, right?

0.1 Super pastel

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Originally Posted by Kimchi~

Not to derail the thread, but how do you tell if feeders are too old to use? The smell, right?

0.1 Super pastel

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Pretty much. For lack of better description, I tell people it just "instinctively smells bad." Also if the feeder starts seeping fluid/deflating. So just trust your instincts.

Why not order some from online? It sounds like you have a hard time finding them locally.

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Originally Posted by Yodawagon

Why not order some from online? It sounds like you have a hard time finding them locally.

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Good question. Mostly the shipping cost is what deters me to be honest. Also I have to share freezer space so I don't know if the smallest order you can make would take up too much room? Idk, I should be probably be considering it. It does seem expensive though.

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Originally Posted by cristacake

Good question. Mostly the shipping cost is what deters me to be honest. Also I have to share freezer space so I don't know if the smallest order you can make would take up too much room? Idk, I should be probably be considering it. It does seem expensive though.

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Same problem here: shipping costs? I just can't justify it. Although I'm almost thinking about getting a mini-freezer and just buying in bulk since it's cheaper... But I only have 2 BPs and a BCI that doesn't eat nearly as often, and I worry about the freshness of the rats. Decisions, decisions...

If you do have freezer space, do the math for, say, 3 months, 6 months, and maybe a year's worth of frozen, including shipping. For us, it ended up cheaper to buy frozen in bulk, and a vacuum sealer in a reasonably short period of time (vs. Arctic Mice from PetCo - YMMV based on what your local supplier/prices are).

Also look at smaller local reptile expos, there may be frozen suppliers there that are good, too. Ours has one I have bought from and would again, but is juuuust far enough away that I pay Big Cheese to ship to my door instead.


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I did the math of petstore frozen for a year based on feeding patterns, how many snakes, weights etc vs how much the years worth of frozen shipped ones would be. Shipped one's, including shipping, saved me a ton of money. Yeah, it was a huge NOOO from me when I saw how much shipping was, but when you but in bulk for a long time, it's really worth it in the long run. They didn't take up much freezer space either.

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Originally Posted by pastelballs

I did the math of petstore frozen for a year based on feeding patterns, how many snakes, weights etc vs how much the years worth of frozen shipped ones would be. Shipped one's, including shipping, saved me a ton of money. Yeah, it was a huge NOOO from me when I saw how much shipping was, but when you but in bulk for a long time, it's really worth it in the long run. They didn't take up much freezer space either.

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Did they retain freshness fairly well? Meaning were they freezerburned when you thawed them towards the end of the year?

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

Did they retain freshness fairly well? Meaning were they freezerburned when you thawed them towards the end of the year?

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They did surprisingly well. I think a big issue I had, mostly due to laziness was me not getting all the air out of the bags when I put them back in. I was usually good about it but some days I was in a rush. I think if you have the money and space, you could try it. Or do your own calculations and see what you'd prefer.

The frozen at my house were always more convenient as well, because I didn't have to drive the 20 minutes to the nearest place with them when I ran out.

Or you can get a quick and dirty estimate as follows:
A 6-pack of X brand pinkies is from PetWhatsit is $12
9 of those is 54 fuzzies, 9x$12=$108

A 50-pack of Y brand large pinkies is $15 + $30 shipping = $45

Shipping looks a lot less painful now.

Then continue by adding another four packages of pinkies (or whatever combination of other sizes) for another $60, and the total is $105, for a *lot* more mice.

A package of 50 large pinkies from Big Cheese is about the size of a quart zippy bag. Their tray of rat pups (IIRC 25 of them) fits in a gallon zippy bag. Re-packaging into smaller bags increases space a bit, but not much. We got 20 frozen small adult rats from a local dealer, re-packed into packages of two in vacuum bags, and got all but of those one stuffed back into the gallon zippy bag the rats came in to start with - albeit the bag was fuller at that point.



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Thanks so much everyone!! I'm gonna give it a shot.