Quote Originally Posted by pretends2bnormal View Post
As far as I know, being frozen for at least 1-2 weeks is enough to kill pretty much any mites, so it should be definitely dead. Mites on rodents are different than snake mites in most cases (unless it is a traveler from snakes kept near the feeders, for example), and I don't know of anything that the dead mite itself could carry to he a risk to the snake.

However... I would never again buy from a store that sold me something with mites on it. Be it a snake or a feeder. Anyone who keeps rats in conditions that allow for mites and fail to treat the colony in any way to eradicate mites if the happen is not someone I would ever buy from again. Who knows in what other ways their rodents may be poorly taken care of? Feeding rodents that were in poor health is simply less nutritious for the snake.

Some mite treatments used on feeders render them deadly to reptiles for a period of time, so if they are treating with one of those chemical methods, they should not be selling their own rodents anyway.

Before feeding, I'd ask what, if anything, the rats are being treated with and make sure that won't cause issues for your snake. If untreated, I'd shop for somewhere else to buy that cares enough about quality to keep their feeders mite-free.

I'm in the US, so no idea where to recommend for you in the UK.

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You have made some good points here, thank you. I assumed they were the same mites as the snake mites would be. I never considered that it could be a different type of mite. All I know is that it was very small, and black, floating in the water. I had to strain my eyes to see if it was dead, which I believe it was.. I will most certainly change my arrangements then! I ought to have let the shop know. They've been great in every other respect. I had my snakes from them too.