This is a recent experience I had which I hope can help anyone out there (newbie or otherwise) who has ever contemplated freezing and feeding prey items which have died naturally.
About a month ago, I got a great deal on a group of bunnies. I planned on allowing them to become acclimated, during which time I would select which ones I would keep as breeders and which I would dispatch and freeze to be fed to some of my larger species. I picked them up from a friend of mine, Fred, who purchased them from a man he regularly saw at local auctions. Because this person kept and bred them on his wooded property for both food and sales, I was confident about their health.
It was the first morning I had these bunnies that I discovered the first dead one. This was originally attributed to the heat, as I had been told that one in the group had already died due to stress. My wife suggested I just freeze it to feed at a later date, but I decided to dispose of it, as I will not feed a prey item that has died of natural causes.
Within the next week, 3 bunnies were gaining weight, eating well, and looking quite healthy, while the remaining dozen weren't faring as well. They were 1/2 the size of the healthy ones, emaciated looking, and slowly dying...one by one. I let Fred know what was going on and he told me he'd see what he could find out.
Later that week, at the auction, the seller approached him, running and calling his name. He said he had to talk to him about the bunnies. All the bunnies he was keeping in that particular pen were dead! He refunded the money and told Fred that the state was going to be testing the dead bunnies. I dropped the remaining ones at Fred's house, as I no longer trusted their source.
Fred called me recently to let me know that the bunnies had been poisoned. The state tests had shown that rat poison had been used. It seems the breeder had been having some issues with his neighbors whom he suspected were the culprits.
If I hadn't trusted my gut, or had been looking to save a few bucks on feeding expenses, I may very well have kissed my big female Timor Python, my Bredl's, and my larger Coastal Carpet Pythons goodbye, as they were the intended recipients of the bunnies. I would have been utterly heartbroken had the poison made it to them.
Sorry for the length of this post, but I hope this helps some people out there. Please be careful where you get your feeders from, and NEVER use an animal that has died of "natural" causes as prey - frozen or not.
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"He who would stifle debate rather than engage in it, does so at the expense of his integrity and credibility"
Mike Curtin
