Many pet snakescaneat wild mice, but that doesnt mean that any pet snakeshouldeat wild mice, or that you should be handling wild mice to feed them to your snake.
Live Mice Can Injure Your Pet Snake
A reputable pet shop will not sell live mice to your snake. This is cruel for your snake and the mouse.
The mouse suffers the stress of being strangled and eaten, and your snake likely will get bitten in the process.
Even a small mouse can inflict a severe bite on your snake. If the bite is severe enough, even a minor one can inflict serious injury.
The risk of injury and infection is even higher if you feed live mice to two snakes in the same enclosure at the same time.
Living Mice Can Infect You And Your Pets.
Living mice can cause illness. You could get a variety of infections by simply bringing in live mice to your home.
Mice dont exactly meet human standards for hygiene and cleanliness.
A live mouse, particularly an anxious and anxious wild mouse is likely to poop and pee everywhere.
Mice spread the germs that can cause Salmonella, hantavirus infections, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV) through their urine and feces, even if you are careful to put on gloves so you dont touch them.
- Salmonella Any surface where a mouse drags their tail can be a source for Salmonella. Placing any wild mouse, dead or alive, on any surface where you prepare food can expose your entire family to Salmonella. Placing a mouse, dead or alive, in another pets food bowl can infect them with Salmonella.
- Hantavirus This potentially fatal virus is spread through small particles of urine or mouse feces that are dried. You can experience fever, chills, and aches if you inhale small particles of the virus. The condition can progress to difficulty breathing, kidney failure, and death.
- Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV) This condition can cause serious neurological problems. It spreads through droppings, saliva, urine, and nesting materials.
Parasites can also be carried by mice, which can cause diseases.
A tick hitching a ride on the fur of a mouse can transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Lyme Disease.
There is a high chance that they have ticks if you catch them in tall grass.
Mice can also transmit infections through fleas. One of the deadliest diseases in human history, bubonic plague, still occurs in the United States.
It is rare, with only about half a dozen cases per year. However, it is possible in Texas, California and the Rocky Mountain States.
Fleas that live on mice and ducks are often the vectors of this disease.
A live mouse or rat will also try to biteyouin its struggle to get away.
In addition to staph and strep infections, a mouse bite can transmit the organism that causes rat-bite fever.
Tularemia is still a disease that mice can transmit to people and pets.
It is impossible to keep a wild mouse germ-free.
But even if you could, there is another potential problem with feeding them to your snake.
Wild Mice Can Be Toxic To Your Snake
Are you certain that the mice you trap are not poisoned?
Although its not an optimal method of rodent control, many people still put out mouse and rat poisons with the hope that problem rodents will eat them and then die, but not in some really inconvenient place, like inside your wall.
As anyone who has used rodenticides can tell you, mice and rats dont necessarily eat enough to die. They just get sick. Or they die in inconvenient places.
It is easier to capture sick mice and rats than healthy ones. Its the sick mice and rats that will get caught in traps that you can then easily feed to your snake.
But the mouse and rat poison in the mice and rats you catch then goes into your snake.
There Are Still Some Questions About Feeding Live Snakes To Rodents
Even though there are at least these three strong reasons not to feed live mice and rats to snakes, some snake owners feed live rodents anyway.
They believe that feeding their snakes live prey is more natural. And they are right about that.
They may not have any problems feeding their snakes live mice and rats they buy at the pet store.
Store-bought live mice and rats may still bite the snakes feed on them, but they wont be toxic to your snake, and they probably wont carry any diseases that can cause problems for your snake, your other pets, or you and your family.
The drawback to using store-bought live mice and rats to feed snake pets is that snakes get used to them.
They have come to expect to be fed a live rodent once every few weeks.
If feeding live mice and rats become inconvenient for you, your snake may refuse to eat them.
There’s a better way of feeding your snake.
Benefits Of Pre-killed Prey
Feeding your snake pre-killed is safer and easier than feeding your snake live rodents, and its much easier than feeding your snake live rodents you have to catch yourself.
You can stockpile frozen, pre-killed prey in the freezer.
You will always have the right size of a mouse or rat your snake needs for its current stage of growth.
It doesn’t take long to find live mice or rats at the pet shop and keep them alive until it is time to feed your snake.
Or, if you were planning to feed wild-caught rodents, you wont have to monitor your traps.
You wont risk getting a bite yourself as you take the wild-caught rodents out of their traps, or as you feed them to your snake.
It is not possible to always find the right size rodent to feed your snake in the wild.
A pet supply shop will always have mice that are the right size for your snake’s development.
Will My Pet Snake Eat Frozen Mice From Pet Store?
You can feed your snake store-bought mice, which have been frozen and thawed, even if you don’t catch it in the wild.
When you first get any snake, there may be a few days up to a couple of weeks it just doesnt want to eat.
You won’t have to wait as long if you feed your snake pre-killed rodents right from the beginning.
It may be a good idea to purchase pre-caught, frozen food for your snake if you are feeding it live prey.
These are pets that have been fed the same scents as the live prey.
To entice your snake to eat, you can also dangle the thawed prey in front. To do this, always use tongs. Never give your snake a meal from your hand.
Your snake can think that your hand is part of its meal.
Prey animals that have been frozen must be completely thawed before being fed to your snake. It can be placed in the refrigerator in cold water.
You shouldn’t attempt to thaw frozen rodents at ambient temperature just like you wouldn’t put other frozen meats on the counter.
This keeps bacterial growth to a minimum. I
It is also important that frozen prey not be defrosted in the microwave . It will become too hot for your snake to eat.
Frequently Asked Questions About Feeding Snakes
Q. What about feeding my snake live crickets I catch myself?
A. A. They may have been exposed to insecticides.
Your snake will attempt to escape if you offer them a chance to live. If your snake tries to escape its enclosure, it may find a way.
Only a few types of snakes will eat crickets.
They will only eat them if they are not being eaten. They will eat both smooth and rough green snakes, garter snakes and ribbon snakes.
You can train these kinds of snakes to eat freeze-dried crickets, which are much easier to feed.
Q. Q. I am disgusted by the idea of feeding rodents to it. Is there any other way to feed my snake?
A. You can always try feeding your snake Reptilinks.
These sausage-like pieces are made from meats such as chicken, chicken, frog, quail and free-range chicken. They include the entire animal’s inner organs, muscles, bones, skin, and muscle meat bones. Reptilinks can recognize this scent as food.
Reptilinks’ makers suggest that you use a bait-and-switch method to get your snake to accept Reptilinks.
Dangle a thawed rodent in front of the snake (with tongs, from a safe distance) and then give it a Reptilink instead.
Or offer your snake a small thawed mouse and follow with a Reptilink as if it were normal food.
