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my mice are sneezing why and what is wrong how could this happen? And also can i still feed them to my snakes?

>>my mice are sneezing why and what is wrong how could this happen? And also can i still feed them to my snakes?

Hey, congratulations on getting your mouse colony started.... but I'm sorry to hear they're sneezing. What kind of set-up did you decide on? Sometimes mice/rats sneeze from environmental causes (generally dusty bedding, perhaps from being in an area that is drafty.) What diet did you decide on? Inadequate nutrition can of course affect health as well.

How often are they sneezing? Frequently? Do they appear to be wheezing? Shallow or unusually quick/rapid breathing?

Where did you get your breeding stock from? A breeder? A pet store? When picking up stock from a pet store, look carefully at all of the mice.... you should see an entire group looking healthy and active, with no individual mice looking "hunched" over, with concave sides, wheezing/gasping, or with ruffled oily looking fur.

Mice and rats are prone to upper respiratory infections among other diseases. URI's are often indicative of a virus these rodents carry called mycoplasma pulmonis. Generally when you see sneezing in rats or mice it is the result of myco or myco-related illness. Sometimes the symptoms are chronic but not acute.

You've got a few options here, to each his/her own of course.

Probably the most recommended suggestion is to get rid of this colony, disinfect everything (with bleach water solution, rinsed well and dried, throw out anything that cannot be cleaned), and then start again with new stock. If you choose this route, some feel it's no problem to feed off ill rodents (snakes are 'opportunistic hunters' in the wild and tend to feed upon the weak/ill rodents.) Others feel that because our snakes are not wild but instead captive, that they should be given optimal husbandry and be fed only healthy prey items. (I'm not trying to spark a debate here <g> just stating two schools of thought here!)

You might choose to keep your mice and treat the illness, there are several options there, too. I get some of my rodent health information from the "pet rodent" world.... some from online veterinarian resources. I can send you many links with more specifics if you'd like.

There's the option of buying liquid, "children's" echinacea at your local drug store and adding a few drops in with your water supply or a few drops placed on a piece of bread. This is said to reduce or eliminate mild respiratory symptoms. (The recommendation is "two weeks on, one week off".)

Other treatment options include taking your mice to the vet (very expensive of course, and difficult to find a vet experienced in treating small mammals -- and even then, it's often hit or miss.)

You can purchase Tylan relatively inexpensively at feed stores and online (ask for links) which is often used to treat myco symptoms. There are also other sources online for various antibiotics (usually geared toward pigeon owners.) Some will recommend buying antibiotics available for birds or fish at local pet stores but these medications are not regulated or monitored and often are expired, or do not contain consistent amounts of the medication.

The drawback to playing veterinarian with your critters (besides cost of supplies, time invested, etc.) is that you don't know if they actually do have a bacterial infection or if they do, what kind of antibiotic it would respond to. You run the same risk that humans do -- treatment resistant bacteria, etc.

Truly the best bet is to find healthy stock to begin with, and then don't introduce anything new (without doing a vigilant quarantine) ever. =)

Let me know if you want links. Best of luck to you! These rodents can be a pain in the neck but an established healthy colony can definitely be worth the extra trouble.
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Rebecca
TSBabe66@hotmail.com
Honored to moderate at Snakefeeders, a great place to buy/sell/trade feeder animals. Come check us out! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/snakefeeders/