Feeding a captive snake wild mice?

[Sita]

I know this is a zombie thread, but it is important information.

GamerAgeDad, I think the number one concern about feeding wild mice is that you have no idea if they recently ate poison. That alone is enough to deter me. That single risk far outweighs ANY benefit.

True, wild snakes eat wild mice all the time, and deal with those parasites, but we don't know how many of those snakes die eventually from those parasites. A lot of it can be genetics, stress, etc. that allows one snake to deal with the same parasite load that would kill a different snake. And who's to say that with all the captive breeding, that our pet snakes have lost the ability to deal with wild parasites. I know that at my job as a vet tech, we sometimes see snakes with runny stool that have a heavy parasite load and have lost weight and/or have other issues going on, and all we do is treat for the parasite, and they are back to health.

we eat all kinds of wild animals that we cook thoroughly and no one ever gets sick from it

You are probably not eating the digestive/organ systems of these animals, which is where most of the "bad stuff" would be carried. And snakes can't digest cooked meat very well, and can lead to malnutrition. I know I've actually seen a study on that, I will try to find it again.