Feeding off sick stock

[Skittles46]

I figure somewhere along the way with tons of rats and later mice we'll run into a rat with illness or disease. Are most of those still safe to sell/feed off? For those that don't know, we don't actually have snakes ourselves, just breeding for others, in case that factors in.

[frankykeno]

We just go on a case by case sort of thing. If the rat isn't well but hasn't yet lost a lot of condition/body weight, then we'll feed it off. If it's sickly, gone skinny, basically looks like crap we just euth and toss it. We go through about 100 live feed prey a month around here which really isn't that many and raise all our own feeders. I figure why go through all that work to end up feeding off junk animals when I've got perfectly good, chunky healthy feeder rats just sitting right there waiting to be ate.

[Skittles46]

That makes sense. I guess my main thought was obvious issues though, such as tumors, or megacolon, things that would be obvious to the buyer.

[frankykeno]

For me, making a decision to feed an iffy rat from my colony to my own snake is one thing. It's another when it comes to buying feeders from a company. Like anything, I'd expect a proper, good quality product for my cash. Inconsistencies in size, condition of feeders, packaging or shipping would quickly have me looking for another supplier.

It's sort of like walking into my favorite grocery store. If every time I went there the meat department had nice, well presented, fresh stuff, I'd be buying from them all the time. If, however, every other week the pork chops are moldy, the steaks are huge one week then small and thin but they are charging me the same, the meat's nice one week, smells nasty the next - well I'd be finding a new store to spend my grocery dollar in.

[Sunny1]

Much like Jo said, since I am spending the money on feeders (in my case live mice) I strive to buy the best feeders possible. Over the course of having my BPs, I have ruled out a number of places that sell feeder mice due to having sickly, unhealthy looking mice, or even feeders that live in overcrowded conditions. Luckily I have a couple of mom and pop type reptile stores near me that breed their own feeders and really do a good job of having healthy, well kept feeder mice, and healthy, well kept breeder mice that produce them. And those are the only places that I will buy my feeders from!!

[lord jackel]

For me, making a decision to feed an iffy rat from my colony to my own snake is one thing. It's another when it comes to buying feeders from a company. Like anything, I'd expect a proper, good quality product for my cash. Inconsistencies in size, condition of feeders, packaging or shipping would quickly have me looking for another supplier.

It's sort of like walking into my favorite grocery store. If every time I went there the meat department had nice, well presented, fresh stuff, I'd be buying from them all the time. If, however, every other week the pork chops are moldy, the steaks are huge one week then small and thin but they are charging me the same, the meat's nice one week, smells nasty the next - well I'd be finding a new store to spend my grocery dollar in.

I agree completely...I would add (using the grocery store analogy) is that you will find customers who are looking to pinch pennies and will buy the day off stuff at a reduced cost. Once you have a customer base you can feel them out for who might be willing to take the occasional less than stellar meal at a discount.

[Beardedragon]

When I have sick mice I just toss them, I find it to risky to feed them off. If I had to buy mice from someone I definitely would not be happy with sick rodents

[Argentra]

If the rodent is just a bit small or off color - little things, then you might be able to offer them to the 'less picky' customers with a small disclaimer. However, if you're talking about obvious illnesses I would just euth and toss. It's never safe to feed off (or sell for food) something that is visibly ill, but you should put them out of their misery before disposing of them of course.