Pet Store Mice Smelling Bad

[cristacake]

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?

[Jeanne]

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

[Reinz]

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.

[cristacake]

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

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

[Jeanne]

Yeah, better safe now than sorry later.

[O'Mathghamhna]

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

[cristacake]

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

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

[O'Mathghamhna]

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!

[Sauzo]

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.

[distaff]

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.