Feeding Pre-Killed Wild Rats

[mrmertz]

Does anybody see any problems with it? I have thought of mites or parasites coming into the cage with the rat. That's about the only problem I could potentially see.

Here in the southwest we have pack rats and at work we catch maybe a dozen or so every month, depending on how lazy I am at setting the traps.

Thanks!

[kc261]

Not a good idea. There have been posts on this before. Some of the reasons I remember being mentioned included the parasites that you mentioned, but also more generally that you have NO idea where that animal has been or what it has been doing. Eating poison? Or just coming into contact with it externally?

Even if not something that could immediately harm your snake, you don't know how healthy the wild animals are, and you therefore don't know how high quality the diet you would be feeding your snakes is.

[blackcrystal22]

Nope, bad plan.
Let me tell you why.

1) Most wild rodents have a sworm of possible diseases and parasites which could spread to your snake and kill it.

2) Rat poison is so common in areas with lots of rats, its more than likely at least 1/3 of all the rats you see have some trace of rat poison on them!

3) If your doing this to save money, likely one way or another it's going to cost you hundreds of dollars trying to help your snake when it gets sick. It is NOT worth the cost.

When you buy a snake, these type of things need to be taken into consideration as well. If you have trouble paying for rats, try setting up a few (petstore bought) to breed and it could save you more money any day.
If your snake eats pre-killed, I assume it eats frozen too! You can buy frozen online in bulk for very cheap prices compared to what you would have to pay at a petstore or even to breed.

:]

[mrmertz]

Yeah, that's what I was debating too. Is it really worth it just to save a few bucks...naaah. Plus internal parasites could be a problem too. I'll just let the critters go so the bull snakes can deal with them.

We can afford to feed the critters, it's just one of those things where I was staring at the guy in the trap with his black bulging eyes and thinking, "...hmmm...".

Thanks for both your inputs! Appreciate it.

[Ginevive]

Personally I would not even go near wild rats or mice. They could be carrying something that you yourself could contract. Parasites.. bacteria..

[Stewart_Reptiles]

That's about the only problem I could potentially see.

The other problem since it is wild you do not know where it has been, the rat could have gone into rat poison (which can take 5 days to kill the rat), which mean you could kill your snake by feeding him this rat.

In other word, not a good idea!

[Dave763]

Yep...what they said.