Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all..
I have a female mouse that has cancer(I think) she has lage tumors growing on her side and was wondering if it would be alright to feed her off to a ball python? Going from what I have heard and read, it should be fine but just wanted a 2nd and maybe 3rd opinion before I do it.
The ball is a male that normally eats large rats (pre-killed) and is always willing to eat basically anything I put in for him so that wont be a problem.
Thanks for reading!

i say--why chance it. who knows how cancers could be spread. i personally wouldnt do it-but i may be overcautious

Who knows whether cancers or tunors are species specific? I don't think I'd chance it either.

Quig

k, thanks for replies. I hate seeing the mouse like that as she can barely walk around, she is a self-blue mouse who has produced quite alot of babies for me. I will probably put her in my c02 chamber and put her down and not feed her off.

I agree with the others. I think the co2 chamber is your best bet.
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Alice Cobb

Besides, you don't know if it really is cancer. It could be something more contagious.
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1.1.2 Python regius
0.0.1 Eunectes notaeus
0.0.1 Lampropeltis spp.
5.0.0 Ambystoma mexicanum
1.3.0 Triturus karelinii
1.3.0 Taricha granulosa
0.3.0 Ambystoma jeffersonianum
0.0.3 Salamandra salamandra
0.0.1 Tylototriton verrucosus
1.0.0 Grammastola cala
1.0.0 Homo sapiens 'Hottie'

Is $1.99 REALLY worth jeopardizing your snake's health?
I wouldn't do it. When the mouse dies, dispose of it and feed your snake some healthy prey.
Just my opinion.
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-Man fears the beast in the Wolf because he does not understand the beast within himself.

many of you all do any pre-screening of food prey for diseases just because you don't see it before you feed ? Catch my drift ? Knowing that some cancers are of cells in system for maybe years before.........Yes, I have fed tumorous outward looking rodents to reptiles in realization that reptiles can't be picky in wild. But I catch your point of maybe but I was told by a fairly knowledgeable exotic and reptile vet that any cancerous of origin in meat or food prey wouldn't be a factor of concern. Case in point > ? If you are a carnivore of processed meat and or a hunter of game and eat either, how do you know ( or me ) that the processed meat before it was processed was without cancer and even tumors ? Same on wild game. Ever visit a meat packing company ? If not you should see some of the HUGE tumors cut off of pig and cow before processing. Grant it that we are not eating the tumors but the cancer cell that have created the tumors ?
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I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

You can feed it off. There is 0% chance your snake will get cancer from a mouse.
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John Vandegrift

how often does abungee cord break-not very often. just because no none knows of a specific case of it happening doesnt mean it wont happen...i just think it wouldnt be worth the risk

Cancer cells need a blood supply to survive. When an animal dies there is no loner a blood supply. Cancer cell also can not transfer from one species to another. The tumors mice and rats get are not even cancer they are usually benign tumors. Again there is no risk, but it's your snake so do what you want.
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John Vandegrift

Feeding prey with tumors is a very bad idea. Why? You are no vet, nor biologist, nor doctor. Why does this matter? Well, you dont know that what you are looking at IS cancer or a tumor. Its true, cancer and tumors are NOT contagous (atleast there is no proof they are, but somethings like that take decades to show up). Its a bad idead because what if thats a massive fungi, baterial, viral, etc infection??? Now a snake with a good imune system may not be affected by any of those, especially ones from a mouse, but they may be. Beyond that, how many of you clean your snake cages and handle your snakes??? Well lets throw several senarios out... balls constrict their prey... what if they squeeze some of that infection out in their cage where it can manifest its self untell you stick your hand in there and catch it? What if the snake became a host to this virus/bacteria/fungi... then bit you? Now lastly how about the defication... it could (likely will be) still present there, where you will have to clean it out.

So now WHY would you so null minded as to risk exposure to your snake and YOU because you had to save up to $1????????? BAD IDEA.

BTW, in lab conditions, it HAS been proven tumors can grow on new hosts. I have seen it, and so has my wife (who insists some tumors and cancers are contagous, regardless of what some stupid websites say) who has a BS in biology. But those are setup lab conditions, it could never happen outside of a lab...

That is one of the funniest post I have ever read. It had everything, a little bit of outbreak, a little conspiracy, squirting fungi. Great stuff. Seriously though, how many rats and mice do you think are fed every day that have tumors that are too small to be seen externally? Oh, and how do you know if I am a doctor, biologist or Vet?
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John Vandegrift

Remember... nature designed its predators to cull the prey animals of the sick and weak, thereby improving the survival odds of both the predatory animals and their prey. It is no different than what would happen in the wild. The weak, slow, sickly animals are the first to be predated. While it is not an attractive situation there should be no adverse affects. I am aware of no studies that show cancer cells surviving stomach acids and attacking animals (or people) that have ingested cancerous cells, regardless of species.

-Jason

Cancer is just an abnormal growth of cells, or cells growing unchecked. The damage that causes cancer is a one time event sort of thing, such as radiation mutating certain control regions of the DNA in a cell. This cell grows and divides unchecked because it's controls have been eliminated.

I guess the only real thing to worry about is if the cancer was caused by something that may be concentrated in the animal, such as heavy metals or some nasty chemicals. I asked a toxicologist the very same question, and he didn't think there was any real chance of passing cancer on. You are more than likely safe, but it's your decision.

Justin
AAR

Wow.. didn't think this topic would get so many replies, big thanks to all! I have never fed a rodent with tumors to my pythons but as I said going by what I have read, been told, and seen on other forums it would be 100% safe for the reptiles. I just wanted more opinion at the point of me actually considering it. Very interesting points were made in these replies and I really appreciate them all. I love to learn about this hobby as much as possible. My educated guess would also have been that it's fine to feed a mouse with tumors off. I still haven't decided yet b/c the mouse is one of my faves (I keep pet mice as well as "food" but I hate to see any animal suffering, the problem is this one doesn't seem to be "suffering" she's always the first one in line to eat at feed time, and always running on her exercise wheel. At any rate, thanks one more time for all the replies and reading all this .

She probably isn't suffering, but the tumors will continue to get larger and larger until it starts to affect her. My guess is the tumors aren't even what kills them. Their heart probably gives out eventually from having to supply all the extra body mass with blood.
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John Vandegrift