What to do with a live hopper mouse?

[EvesFriend]

I have an extra LIVE hopper that I do not need to feed my snake until a few days, possibly next week. I just fed her one live one and I am wondering what to do with the other. obviously I am going to have to kill this thing and what I am wondering is would it be ok to just stick it in the freezer why it is still alive? I am not worried about the mouse's well being to be completely honest, i just don't want it to contaminate my food. Is this safe?


Please understand I don't condone the mistreating of animals but for somethingtolive (my snake), something has gotta die. Cycle of life baby, cycle of life.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Be kind and whack it over the head first, then put it in a ziploc baggie. Freezing animals alive is just sick and wrong.

[jjmitchell]

break its neak..... put it in a small tub with a lid and keep it around... if your snake is eating live you dont wanna kill it and not have food fer your snakie...

[bamf64]

Keep it as a pet until u need to feed it

[Danounet]

Why would it contaminate your food, I dont understand

They dont need a lot of space, something small to keep it, water and bread or dog food, or anything really... I think it's easier to keep it alive for 1 week than kill it freeze it and defrost next week.

[BuckeyeBalls]

Keep it as a pet until u need to feed it

[Mettle]

You say you don't care about the well being of the mouse and then in the next breath say you don't condone mistreating animals...

Snap its neck. Or a stiff, blunt force to the head. Make sure it's actually dead though and not just stunned so that it doesn't wake up in the freezer and panic.

As for the dead/frozen mouse being in your freezer... As long as your food you have in there is properly sealed and the mouse is properly sealed you won't have anything to worry about. I keep up to a couple hundred frozen rats in my freezer at a time. Granted they're sorted by size and stored in their own container, but I've never had issues. (And no one else I know has either.)

[EvesFriend]

You say you don't care about the well being of the mouse and then in the next breath say you don't condone mistreating animals...

Good question, and big difference.

I don't care about its well being to the extent that I do not care if it lives or dies.

However, I'm not going to drown the thing or burn it on the stove or torture it or anything.

Got it?

[EvesFriend]

I have the thing in a very small rectangular tupperware container with holes punched in and some food thrown in as well. He keeps trying to bite his way out through the holes I punched in the top. Any way he can do it?

[dr del]

Hi,

Very probably yes - if theres one thing rodents do well it's chew. If they can get a tooth hold then they can do a lot of damage really quickly.

If you feed live it's always a good idea to have a critter keeper or something with a waterbottle and some rodent food - refused feedings are a fact of life so it helps to plan ahead.


dr del