Update on pet shop "rescue"

[Pixall]

Mmkay, "Vi" gave us quite a scare. On Wednesday we thawed out a fresh frozen mouse(just a week ago the thing was running on a wheel and pooping everywhere lol). My colony produces colored mice, this one was the closest to the "lab type" that Petco sells/uses(Arctic mice... bleh). This mouse was a BEW with a black dot on its nose. Anyway, I thawed it out, heated it in warm water. made it "dance" to get her attention, and then left it and her alone in her tank overnight. Well, the darn thing was still there in the morning(surprise, surprise). I stuck the mouse back in the freezer to feed to the cat in a few days(he loves mice, lol).

I am on a limited time frame here so I made a jump I would NEVER consider under any other circumstances. Today I grabbed an 18 day old mouse out of my colony, scented Vi's room, and then let her have it. Yup. After a week I gave in and offered her live. She took it and ate it no problem, so that is good. I am going to continue this till she gets to a healthy weight. Supervising her while she eats is a small price to pay for having a healthy snake. I don't know if I made it clear at first just how skinny she is, but yeah. Spine, ribs, the whole shebang. Her eating is a blessing.

[Slim]

1) Please don't feed the re-frozen mouse to your cat...especially after it's been in the snake enclosure over night. That just can't be a good idea. Mice are like Doritos...eat all you want, they'll make more. I would hate to see your cat get sick.

2) I think it's perfectly fine to feed live if the snake was going to starve to death. Once you get it up to proper weight, you can try switching it to F/T again. If it ends up being a live eater, worse things have happened in life.

[Pixall]

Is there any particular reason it isn't good? My cat has one heck of an immune system. He is a raw fed animal, so if you are saying just salmonella or something, that isn't really a valid excuse for his particular situation... But if there is an actual reason, please let me know, I don't want him getting sick either!

I agree. I plan on trying to get her back on f/t after she is in good condition, but for now this is an okay situation in my mind. And I agree, a permanent live eater is better than a permanent dead snake.

[Slim]

Being a raw feeder is one thing, being a carrion eater is another thing all together. That mouse sat over night in your snake's cage decomposing and breaking down. Now you've re-frozen that tissue and if you re-thaw to give it to the cat it's that much more damaged. I just don't see how that can be a good idea. Cats who eat raw, by and large, eat fresh kills. That mouse in your freezer doesn't qualify. Will your cat eat it? Yeah, probably, but that doesn't make it good for the cat. Most likely, nothing will go wrong, but is it worth the risk?

There has long been a rule of thumb in the snake keeping community that if a snake were to refuse a F/T, you never re-freeze it, you just toss it out. Generally, rules of thumb get that way for a reason.

I'm a very firm believer in personal liberty, and you certainly have the right to feed your cat anything you see fit, I just don't think feeding that mouse would be safe.

[Pixall]

Mmkay. I wasn't questioning you, just what you were saying. And not in a I don't need to listen to you kind of way, just trying to get information.

[Slim]

Mmkay. I wasn't questioning you, just what you were saying. And not in a I don't need to listen to you kind of way, just trying to get information.

No offense taken. Forums are all about the exchange of ideas...take the one that are useful and toss the rest. Only you can really decide what's right for you

[Mike41793]

Being a raw feeder is one thing, being a carrion eater is another thing all together. That mouse sat over night in your snake's cage decomposing and breaking down. Now you've re-frozen that tissue and if you re-thaw to give it to the cat it's that much more damaged. I just don't see how that can be a good idea. Cats who eat raw, by and large, eat fresh kills. That mouse in your freezer doesn't qualify. Will your cat eat it? Yeah, probably, but that doesn't make it good for the cat. Most likely, nothing will go wrong, but is it worth the risk?

There has long been a rule of thumb in the snake keeping community that if a snake were to refuse a F/T, you never re-freeze it, you just toss it out. Generally, rules of thumb get that way for a reason.

I'm a very firm believer in personal liberty, and you certainly have the right to feed your cat anything you see fit, I just don't think feeding that mouse would be safe.

Ive definetly heard people on here say its ok to refreeze a rodent once or even twice....
I feed live so I have never done it but im pretty sure its ok to. Someone with somemore experience would have to clarify.

[Slim]

Someone with somemore experience would have to clarify.

Yes, SOMEONE with some experience please clarify

[angllady2]

Take it from me, refreezing and rethawing a frozen rodent is NOT a pleasant experience.

When I was new to ball pythons and trying to save every penny, I did this once with a bunch of rats that got refused. Well, when I re thawed them and was getting ready to feed, I kept noticing a less-than-pleasant smell. I didn't know for sure what it was, I thought maybe someone had made a mess.

Well, I picked up the first rat to feed, and when the snake struck, it exploded! Literally exploded. And the horrible smell was coming from the rat! The mess was unbelievable, and the snake who up until then had been so eager to eat, not only refused to eat what was in it's mouth, she refused to eat for three weeks afterwards. After I cleaned up the worst of the mess, I picked up one of the intact rats and sniffed. You guessed it, it smelled like rotten hamburger. I tossed them all and started over. Maybe it was just that particular incident, but I decided then and there it wasn't worth the risk.

So, maybe it was an isolated incident with me, but I can tell you from experience that it's not always a good idea. And after my experience, I would never refreeze another rat, unless it was in a trash bag to await the next garbage day.

Gale

[Domepiece]

Yes, SOMEONE with some experience please clarify

If it was just thawed and they do not take it I will sometimes refreeze it once if it is right away but then it is reserved only for the snake it was offered to. I would never refreeze a rodent after it has been left over night, those get tossed, I agree with what you have said 100%. Thawing and refreezing over and over does nothing good. It breaks down the rodent and decomposition on top of that will make things much worse.