Wild mice / rats a bad idea?

[Kinstrome]

I work near a stable where rodents are an ongoing problem. When I mentioned to the owner that I have a snake, she suggested I save money by trapping mice here and feeding them to her.

I suspect this probably isn't a great idea, but they wouldn't be getting killed by poison traps and they would be getting frozen fully belong before being fed. Is there still a risk? Someone told me frozen mice and rats at pet stores aren't much safer, so I thought it was worth asking.

Sorry if this is a common question.

[distaff]

Wild rats are more aggressive. I would never handle one live. Also, too much risk of poison already in their systems, from neighbouring properties and maybe a build up resistance in their systems from the farm you would be collecting on.

Additionally, who knows what they might be carrying: mites, fleas, Hanta virus, rabies...
I'm not a vet, but I don't see any upside.

[KayLynn]

I get phone calls all the time from people who find injured mice, orphaned mice, etc. I will sometimes take them, depending on the situation, but every time I've dealt with a "mouse patient" they come with some kind of mite or parasite, or bacterial/viral issue that I have to treat. They stay in my shed that I've modified for the animals I rehab, away from my house and my other animals.

Even if they're frozen, I wouldn't risk it. Just from the experience of having to deal with them occasionally, I don't recommend it at all.

[dadofsix]

When one of my cats caught a mouse in the house, I also thought about feeding it to one of my snakes. A call to a friend who owns a pet store made me pause to consider whether this might be a very bad idea. "Your snake," he said, "will be eating an animal that is notorious for eating, or nibbling on, just about anything it can. Some of those things going into that mouse just might be toxic to your snake." He finished by saying "when a snake eats, it is taking into its body anything that that mouse ate or has in its body when it died. I would never force a snake to take that risk." Nuff said for me! :-)

[distaff]

I get phone calls all the time from people who find injured mice, orphaned mice, etc. I will sometimes take them, depending on the situation, but every time I've dealt with a "mouse patient" they come with some kind of mite or parasite, or bacterial/viral issue that I have to treat. They stay in my shed that I've modified for the animals I rehab, away from my house and my other animals.

Even if they're frozen, I wouldn't risk it. Just from the experience of having to deal with them occasionally, I don't recommend it at all.

My town thinks I'm that person! Twice, people have brought over stray dogs that got hit by a car. One lady tried to re-home a goat with me, and got rather difficult over my refusal. I'll take unwanted chickens if the owner is OK that it is getting butchered. Otherwise, I always say No (we have three shelter dogs already), but one neighbour talked me into taking in a baby wild rabbit. (Except, that it wasn't a rabbit, and I still don't know the creature was, and it unfortunately died a week later. Both to my sadness, and relief - it had huge alien eyes, but only a stub for a tail - reminded me of one of the Pokemon characters.)

Animals also find me. Am currently caring for what is probably a baby Ringneck (Collard ?) dove. Found it on the ground, but couldn't find the nest. We've had a lot of storms recently.

[RickyNY]

Don't do it.

[dadofsix]

My town thinks I'm that person! Twice, people have brought over stray dogs that got hit by a car. One lady tried to re-home a goat with me, and got rather difficult over my refusal. I'll take unwanted chickens if the owner is OK that it is getting butchered. Otherwise, I always say No (we have three shelter dogs already), but one neighbour talked me into taking in a baby wild rabbit. (Except, that it wasn't a rabbit, and I still don't know the creature was, and it unfortunately died a week later. Both to my sadness, and relief - it had huge alien eyes, but only a stub for a tail - reminded me of one of the Pokemon characters.)

Animals also find me. Am currently caring for what is probably a baby Ringneck (Collard ?) dove. Found it on the ground, but couldn't find the nest. We've had a lot of storms recently.

*** My compliments. You are a kindly soul. :-)

[iddah]

Don't. Feeder mice/rats are bred to be food items, they exist for a reason so they can be fed to captive reptiles, the result of breeding has usually also made them lose their instinct to attack/fight the predator, so instead of fight response, they just freeze, or don't even seem threatened by the snake, reducing the risk of your snake getting injured by the prey item. And like others have pointed out, wild rat and mice can also carry parasites, disease and/or bacteria. It's safer to use feeder mice and rats, or f/t, if your snakes takes it, or you're able to switch from live to f/t.

[KayLynn]

My town thinks I'm that person! Twice, people have brought over stray dogs that got hit by a car. One lady tried to re-home a goat with me, and got rather difficult over my refusal. I'll take unwanted chickens if the owner is OK that it is getting butchered. Otherwise, I always say No (we have three shelter dogs already), but one neighbour talked me into taking in a baby wild rabbit. (Except, that it wasn't a rabbit, and I still don't know the creature was, and it unfortunately died a week later. Both to my sadness, and relief - it had huge alien eyes, but only a stub for a tail - reminded me of one of the Pokemon characters.)

Animals also find me. Am currently caring for what is probably a baby Ringneck (Collard ?) dove. Found it on the ground, but couldn't find the nest. We've had a lot of storms recently.

Hah yeah, it's always something or other lol. My info is listed on the fish & wildlife website for my state, so I get random calls constantly. Lucklily baby season is starting to wind down, because I was overwhelmed for a while. I took some stuff from the wildlife rescue place up the street from me (because they ran out of space) and it was almost more than I could chew. I still have 2 groups of orphaned squirrels, a couple ducks, a gannet, an eastern box turtle I fiberglassed back together who's in it for the long haul, a milk snake and a black racer.

I'll be a much happier person when the squirrels are weaned and I don't have to get up every 3 hours to feed them


Anyways, no wild mice, op!

[SPIDERBALL]

i think its a bad idea because you don't know what it ate last. it could have eaten poison 2 minutes before you caught it. and if you feed the snake right after you catch it..... cant be good.