a slight part of the mouse got burned, is it safe to feed it to my snake?

[Trackstrong83]

Alright I am getting ready to feed my BP. What I usually do is let the rat thaw out for about am hour,then set it under my bearded dragons heat lamp. A slight part of the rats fur got burnt, is it safe to feed it to my snake?

[Shadera]

Cooked meat is not good for a snake. I'd throw it out.

[Trackstrong83]

Well that's the thing, the meat wasn't cooked, its just the fur that came in contact with the bulb for a second. Only the fur is burnt, i checked under the fur and the skin is untouched.

[John1982]

The lamp didn't have to touch the skin to cook the mouse. If the fur burned I doubt the mouse is still 100% raw. It's your snake but for the price of a mouse I'd toss it and try again tomorrow.

[whispersinmyhead]

Personally I wouldn't take the chance. Your snake and your choice (as stated above). I would also just toss the rat an feed tomorrow. Why risk your snakes health?

[loonunit]

If it's just a singed ear, it's okay. Some snakes do find the smell of singed fur off-putting. But it's definitely not enough by itself to trigger regurgitation. I've been feeding a dozen animals f/t for several years in a row, and burned ears just aren't a big deal.

But you do want to make sure you didn't cook the mouse whenever you remove it from under the heat lamp. To be safe: take the mouse and wrap you hand around it. If you can FEEL the heat through your palm, and your brain says: "man, that's a pizza burn waiting to happen", then yeah, you've cooked the mouse. At the bare minimum, you'll be cleaning up exploded mouse guts if you feed that rodent to a snake. If it feels like cooked meat in your hand: THROW IT OUT.

[MrLang]

A regurg is very stressful for the snake and looks like a huge pain in the butt for the keeper. Save yourself the 99 cents and don't risk it.