Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any problem feeding frozen pige to retics? Just wondering if there are any parasite problems, I do not think freezing kills trichinosis,.Thanx!

some owners of large pythons feed them small domestic pigs. The great thing about Trichinella, the causative parasite of trichinosis, is that it can only infect mammals. Trichinella are incapable of infecting reptiles, so it is never an issue when feeding pigs to snakes. And on the freezing question, the species of Trichinella that infects domestic pigs can be killed by freezing it below 0 degrees F. for at least 3 or 4 weeks. This is a good idea anyway, as this will kill other species of parasites that could be present as well.

Kelly

trichina probably wont die from freezing because their eggs can sometimes survive being left in formeldihide

According to the CDC (see http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/trichinosis/factsht_trichinosis.htm and scroll down to prevention) if the meat is less than 6 inches thick freezing for 20 days at 5 C will kill the worms.

Some studies indicate that most species of trichonosis do not infect reptiles (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9925275&dopt=Abstract)

Ed

N/P