Dead rat.. can I use it?

Ok, one of my female breeder rats died. I don't know why.. she wasn't old, she had a litter a month ago (was due for another) there was no sign of violence on her body.. she was housed with another female who had a litter about two weeks ago, and the male.

???

My main question is, can I use this rat as a feeder? Such a waste to just throw it away. I check my rats daily of course, so she was dead less than 24 hours.. not stinky either.

I'm having tough rat luck.. one of my other females lost her entire litter to a birth complication.. an unusually large baby got stuck in her birth canal. Luckily she's alright.. the mom that is.

when one of my rats died, i was thinking the same thing but decided against it b/c i dont know what he died from. like yours, my rat wasnt old or had any signs of illness. just saw him twitching and few minutes later, he died. i dont know what he died from and i didnt want my snakes to be affected by it so i just tossed him out. didnt want to risk it.

I'm not sure that there's anything a dead rat can pass to a snake though.. I'll see what others have to say too.

For now she's just chillin in the freezer.

Is it really worth it to take the risk, ya it may be ok and everythings fine. What happens though if its not fine.

Well, I'm just trying to find out if it's not fine. I'm sure someone has a more definitive answer.

if it passed away for "unknown" reasons I'm not sure why there would be a question of if it is "ok" or not to feed it off... There is no question in my mind that I would definately NOT feed a rodent that I didn't kill myself specifically for feeding to my reptiles.


Would you want to eat or offer to your friends, beef from a cow that died of unknown causes?? -I sure as heck wouldn't!

sure maybe it was old age...but its not worth the risk if it was a breeder it served its purpose dutifully(sp?).

lol.. alright I'm just asking a question.

It just didn't seem to me that anything that would kill a rat 'naturally' would harm a snake. (I mean I know she didn't eat anything poisonous.. lol I wouldn't feed some dead rat I found outside or anything.)

If there is no possible way that poison or anything had gotten into the cage, then I would think it would be fine to feed her off. She may have hemorrhaged, had a uterine rupture, it really could be a number of things. Could have had a brain tumor or any other tumor that wasn't visible from the outside, and she could have died from that. Who knows.

You could always do a necropsy and when you are done, sew her back up with cotton thread and feed her off. It won't hurt the snake whatever you decide to do.

Is the rat in the fridge or the freezer?

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

If there is no possible way that poison or anything had gotten into the cage, then I would think it would be fine to feed her off. She may have hemorrhaged, had a uterine rupture, it really could be a number of things. Could have had a brain tumor or any other tumor that wasn't visible from the outside, and she could have died from that. Who knows.

You could always do a necropsy and when you are done, sew her back up with cotton thread and feed her off. It won't hurt the snake whatever you decide to do.

Is the rat in the fridge or the freezer?

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Nothing got in the cage.. I'm sure. And everyone else she was living with is fine.. babies she was nursing and all.

What on earth would I look for if I did a necropsy?

She's in the freezer.

...maybe you've happend upon a new strain of rat...fainting rats!

-poor attempt at being funny...and sorry if I sounded jerky above :|

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:

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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

i wouldnt use it just incase there is something wrong with it

Pics of the autopsy might require some warnings, but those would be cool. I used to hate that stuff in high school, but now I have this insatiable, morbid curiosity. Let us know your results. :D

lol.. yeah I'll put warnings. :D

I always loved dissecting stuff. Dissected a shark once.. that was cool.

(the following may disturb some)

Worst was.. when I was younger (ag stupid) I tried drowning a bullfrog that I wanted to dissect. I shouldn't say 'I', my cousin was in on it too.

So we stuck the poor frog underwater for about.. oh an hour. Took it out, it was floppy and lifeless.

We thought.

Wasn't until after we had the skin pulled back and pinned down.. had the stomach out ('ooh look at what he ate!') etc etc... that we saw the heart beating!

I took a brick and smashed his head three times. Whew.. he's finally dead.

I thought.

We continued dissecting this frog (albeit cringing at every cut) Then it TWITCHED!

I finally did kill it.

Aghh.... horrible horrible horrible.

omg thats so sad!!!

Oh my and bleh.

The following is my dissection story so continue reading at your own risk.....
We had to dissect a frog in college, and the TA just couldn't seem to pith (sp?) it correctly. We were supposed to be observing the nervous system but apparently it was still a little too sensitive. When touched with the metal probe, the headless frog jumps out of the tray. :eek: After the third time we were too nervous to approach the silly thing. :rolleyes:

i dont know about the feeding thing but in any case could u dissect it and take lots o pics?

Geesh I guess I am a real weenie LOL. I got kicked out of senior biology because I flat out refused to dissect an unborn piglet! I offered to monitor and take notes but refused to do the actual dissection.....apparently this ticks off biology teachers LOL. Oh well....I've gotten to age 44 w/o any real need to dissect unborn piglets so I guess I turned out okay :P


~~Jo~~

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Geesh I guess I am a real weenie LOL. I got kicked out of senior biology because I flat out refused to dissect an unborn piglet! I offered to monitor and take notes but refused to do the actual dissection.....apparently this ticks off biology teachers LOL. Oh well....I've gotten to age 44 w/o any real need to dissect unborn piglets so I guess I turned out okay :P


~~Jo~~

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I dissected a squid in jr high, then we had kalamarie (sp) in my class. But in hs biology they required not only that we dissect a fetal pig, but a feral cat as well, I refused to take that class on principle alone. So I ended up with two years of Chemistry to fulfill the h.s. science requirements.

Now I have no problems. If something is already dead, but still refuse to kill something just to see it's insides, waste of life to me.

I don't think it is a waste because you can learn so much from seeing how the body works.

I think it'd be facinating to dissect a fetal pig.

Oh, and calamari is tasty stuff. yum.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

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

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Yumyyy! :hungry: :D