Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female rat with a fairly large tumor. I was wondering, is it OK to feed it to one of my snakes?
If the tumor is cancerous, could the snake get sick from it?

Thank you,
Ken
-----
1.0 Spider Ball Python (Sarki)
0.1 Pastel Ball Python (Panthea)
0.1 100% Het Albino Ball Python (Hazina Adamma)
1.0 Albino Ball Python (Apu)
0.5 Normal Ball Pythons (Norma, Nova, Nala, Nimeesha, Nyoka)

1.0 Desert Tortoise (Tubbs) from Tortoise Rescue
1.0 Boxer (Shadow)


www.ocballs.net
kvandoren@ocballs.net

I don't know more than you

but the question is : "is it worth the risk ?"
-----
love this world, don't hate it.

I agree, I would not risk it.
Foot Hill Reptiles

I have fed off quite a few of my older breeder rats with hemotomas
-----
Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

Hematoma = bruise, not tumor.

Without diagnosing the growth, I wouldn't risk it. Cancer wouldn't be "contagious" per se, but the growth could be full of any number of fluids or pus that may upset the gut.

Tami thanks for letting me know about a hematoma being a bruise I alsways called those big hard tumors the wrong thing. But whatever it is it has yet to do any harm to my snakes. You have to look at it like this snakes eat all kinds of weak and sick prey in the wild. No need to let things go to waste.
-----
Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

When most people are talking about a hematoma, they're not just talking about discoloration from under-the-skin bleeding. Hematomas are often welt-like and hard to the touch -- so you were correct in thinking a tumor can be shaped like a hematoma. This is from when you bleed, but it doesn't escape your skin, and instead collects SubQ.

Sorry, pointless knowledge
-----
Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

That I wasn't trying to sound like a know-it-all, Haha. Theres a whole bunch of different kinds of hematomas. Just wanted to point out the similarities in a hematoma and tumor than could cause one to think they were one in the same.
-----
Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

I have seen too many pus pockets over the yrs on dogs that had to be surgically drained and lrg doses of antibiotic given..after a nip from another dog.. so we get rid of them here.
There were times we thought a pus pocket was a tumor because of the way it felt.
Toni

around here the thought is....feed it....

rat with tumor / cyst will usually be a BUG rat...bigger than any ball should have given to them.......

just wonder

....we feed them....mice , rats, whatever....I usually use a large male that isn't worth as much to eat mine.....

......
-----
......
..........
.............

LOL......

snakes digestive system is pretty strong, being able to digest almost everything from bones to teeth to nsils, however, i wouldn't feed a rat with a big tumor to any of my snakes "just in case"
-----
Neutiquam erro. Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.

sorry i meant NAILS
-----
Neutiquam erro. Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.

most hair , nails and teeth do not digest......

float some defecates in water sometime....you can pull whole skulls out even...lower jaws most often are intact...teeth always....

(I don't float, but I do clean cages in the sink at times....
sink has a strainer built into it, I can access it )...

...in case you wanted to know..........
-----
......
..........
.............

LOL......

lol.Wondered what that was...something gross I imagined..
Toni

Thank you everyone for your input!

I'm gonna play it "better safe than sorry", and not feed it.
Ken
-----
1.0 Spider Ball Python (Sarki)
0.1 Pastel Ball Python (Panthea)
0.1 100% Het Albino Ball Python (Hazina Adamma)
1.0 Albino Ball Python (Apu)
0.5 Normal Ball Pythons (Norma, Nova, Nala, Nimeesha, Nyoka)

1.0 Desert Tortoise (Tubbs) from Tortoise Rescue
1.0 Boxer (Shadow)


www.ocballs.net
kvandoren@ocballs.net

Stomach acid isn't going to discriminate against what tissue it digests. Been doing it for a long while.....
-----
South Central Herpetological

Tumors are not commutable.

A tumor is a abnormal mass of tissue and there are many different types of tumors, both benign and malignant (cancerous).

As it is tissue, stomach acids in the snake will break it down and digest it fine. I don't see any way for a snake to 'catch' a tumor from its food. Unless maybe that rat was injected with some cancer causing agent, but it would be the agent that could cause a problem in the snake, not the tumor itself.

As for abscesses and infections, not sure if that type of bacterial will be killed in the digestive system but most likely nearly all would be anyway. There are tons of bacteria all over and all inside a completely healthy rat, especially a decomposing rat (if feeding frozen thawed) not to mention the rats own fecal matter. So I really don't see any harm in feeding off tumor ridden rats to your snake.
-----
PHLdyPayne