To Feed or not to Feed?

[kc261]

1. Large Wound or Abscess on the rat, obviously infected?
Probably not. Would put down rat & dispose of it.

2. Small wounds, various scabs from fighting?
Yes.

3. Stillborn?
Probably not, but the odds of catching a fresh stillborn are pretty small anyway, so in practice, definitely not. Maybe with rats you'd find them more often, but mice (which is what I raise) tend to eat their dead pretty quickly.

4. Birth Defects?
Depending on the defect, yes.

5. Dead in cage (still warm and floppy)
Would not feed under any circumstances.

6. Dead in cage (cold and stiff)
Would not feed under any circumstances.

7. Respiratory Infection (rat, not the snake)?
These are usually caused by myco, and are not transferable to the snake, so yes.

8. Mammary Tumors?
Yes.

9. Other tumors, growths?
Yes.

10. Unexplained illness?
Depends. I occasionally get and feed off some mice that have that hunched over, fluffed up look, which is a sign of illness, so I guess that counts. But if it was much more than that, and yet I had no idea what was making it sick, I wouldn't feed it off.

*** On all of these, it would depend on the overall condition of the prey animal, and also, to a lesser degree, on which snake I might feed it too. I'll feed off a mouse that is a little sneezy, but not one that has an advanced case of myco and its overall body condition is going downhill. Same with most of the other stuff. A borderline mouse I will give to one of my bigger females that is eating multiples at each meal, but not to a littler snake whose entire meal consists of the one item. I feel it is very important that the snakes get quality feeders, since it is the only thing they eat. I saw a sign at a restaurant recently (the kind that has the food ready in advance, so sometimes they have to toss stuff that has been sitting for a while) that perfectly describes my theory on the feeders: When in doubt, throw it out.