HELP! "Scary" frozen mice...safe to feed?

[Salamander Rising]

I just got 130 frozen mice and 5 rats from a breeder and while picking through them to sort them for size, I noticed many had "bald spots" and "wounds".

He said, to his knowledge, they aren't ex-lab mice, he'd never had problems using them and they came from someplace like "Mice Direct" or somesuch name.

They look weird, though.

Can y'all take a look and tell me what you think caused the hairlessness?



How would I know if they'd gotten thawed out and refrozen or were freezer burned?

I have absolutely no sense of smell so 'sniff tests' are hopeless.

[Kimosobey]

Its a disease if seen this on pet rats at our local pet store and they got ride of them because they ended up getting a guine pig and hamsters sick. Its not worth it but are they all like that??

[Salamander Rising]

Its a disease if seen this on pet rats at our local pet store and they got ride of them because they ended up getting a guine pig and hamsters sick. Its not worth it but are they all like that??

No, just some of them.

Other than being bald, they look okay but I'm worried about my snakes eating them and the $47 doesn't seem like such a good buy, now.

The guy was on his way to work so there wasn't time to pick through and examine 130 mice.

[Slither4]

Personally dealing with mice they do have a tendancy to fight at times and it looks like that could have been the case here, usually the hair comes off where the cuts are. The mouse in the middle looks like it still has a scab on it. You dont know if they were treated with any meds but regardless I would def stay away and cut ur losses on these IMO.

[Salamander Rising]

Personally dealing with mice they do have a tendancy to fight at times and it looks like that could have been the case here, usually the hair comes off where the cuts are. The mouse in the middle looks like it still has a scab on it. You dont know if they were treated with any meds but regardless I would def stay away and cut ur losses on these IMO.

These mice look like somebody put NAIR on them.

Just absolutely, utterly, newborn baby skin -bald-.

The worst one has a totally bald back.

I've seen ringworm, I've seen "barbering" and I've seen Pyoderma in rodents but I've never seen anything like this, before.

It reminds me of the fur sloughing off of a rotted animal.

My hubby is gonna go ballistic.

We drove 45 minutes each way to get them tonight.

[Salamander Rising]

Personally dealing with mice they do have a tendancy to fight at times and it looks like that could have been the case here, usually the hair comes off where the cuts are. The mouse in the middle looks like it still has a scab on it. You dont know if they were treated with any meds but regardless I would def stay away and cut ur losses on these IMO.

The guy called me back and was really nice about it.
Said he'd refund my money gladly but these are the same mice that he's fed his snakes for years, bald spots and all and he'd never sell mice he wouldn't use, himself.
His snakes looked great, BTW.

His opinion was they were 'fighting' and many of the mice do have torn/bitten/healed ears.

The next herp show is a long ways off I don't know what to do....

[RichsBallPythons]

Its not a disease at all nor a sickness.

Looks like the breeder is using subpar food which high fat and protein contents. Causing excessive scratching which leads to balding on the neck and under belly.

It wont harm your snake as its specie specific as what a mouse has cant be given to your snake. Just like you being sick, cant make the snake sick.

[RichsBallPythons]

Freezer burns are white spots on rodents skins that will slowly turn color. Yours are still flesh color indicating what i posted aboce

[meowmeowkazoo]

If you keep them frozen for long enough, I don't see what the harm would be in feeding. Any parasites or fungus would eventually be killed by the freezing process. It would make me nervous too, to be honest. This is part of the reason I breed my own feeders.

[Salamander Rising]

Its not a disease at all nor a sickness.

Looks like the breeder is using subpar food which high fat and protein contents. Causing excessive scratching which leads to balding on the neck and under belly.

It wont harm your snake as its specie specific as what a mouse has cant be given to your snake. Just like you being sick, cant make the snake sick.

Thank you Rich!

This is what "Mice Direct" says about their feeding:

3. "What kind of food do you feed your mice?"

We feed both our mice and our rats the FRM rodent feed, which is scientifically formulated and has a reputation for being the best rodent diet in the nation. We also offer this product to our customers who wish to raise or maintain live rodents.

For my live feeder mice, I use Rat Chow blocks.
They're all fat, furry and sassy.