Dead rat.. can I use it?

[Shelby]

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.

[BiGBaLLiN]

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.

[Shelby]

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.

[greenmonkey51]

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

[Shelby]

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

[TekWarren]

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?).

[Shelby]

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.)

[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?

[Shelby]

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?

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.

[TekWarren]

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

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