Can I use a waltzing rat as a feeder?

[Aryia]

One of the males I was going to raise up as a breeder started waltzing, running in circles and just generally disoriented. He still eats fine but obviously cannot be used for breeding purposes. Can I use him as a feeder or should it just be disposed of?

[kc261]

I believe the spinning and disorientation is usually caused by something that is at least roughly equivalent to an ear infection. Nothing that will hurt your snake, so go ahead and use him as a feeder.

If you have any others that do this, or if you have a fair amount of sniffling and sneezing (there should be almost none), then you will want to look into what is causing it.

[Rhasputin]

Yes, there should be no reason you cannot feed a waltzing rat to a snake. The ONLY thing that I would worry about, is if the rat got loose, and you found it, then it started waltzing, because it may have eaten something poisonous. But if it has been caged the entire time, it is either an ear problem, or a neurological problem, and shouldn't effect your reptiles.

[kc261]

Yes, there should be no reason you cannot feed a waltzing rat to a snake. The ONLY thing that I would worry about, is if the rat got loose, and you found it, then it started waltzing, because it may have eaten something poisonous. But if it has been caged the entire time, it is either an ear problem, or a neurological problem, and shouldn't effect your reptiles.

Good point about if it had been an escapee or otherwise exposed to unknown stuff.

[MarkS]

I prefer to teach my rats the tango but they're all tasty.

[Aryia]

Okie thanks! are any diseases from rats transmissible to snakes? Respiratory infections?

[kc261]

As a general rule, parasites and other diseases don't transmit across species that are so vastly different as snakes and rodents. Even the list of things humans can get from cats & dogs (other mammals...much more closely related than snakes & rodents) is fairly small in comparison to the total list of diseases we can have. But... there are still things that can be deadly (rabies comes to mind). So... you don't need to panic about it, but do proceed with caution. Also, if you don't at least have a good idea why your rodent is sick, consider possibilities such as whether or not it could have been exposed to anything poisonous, which would likely be poisonous to the snake, too.

As far as respiratory infections, I believe most of the ones that rats get are caused by myco, and I don't believe that can be transmitted to snakes.

[Aryia]

Alright thanks! Are there any respiratory infections caused by bacteria that can infect both rodents and snakes?

Also a lot of the new rats usually come to me sneezing, (and unfortunately due to a lack of suppliers I have to deal with this to start my breeding colony). I medicate them with doxycycline/tetracycline. Any idea how long after medication it takes for the medicine to fully leave their systems? Don't want to dose the snake for no reason.