Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can a mouse that was killed and not eaten by one species of venomous snake, be frozen then fed to another species of venomous snake? Not that I care to take any risks but I have a few mice in my freezer that were killed by my WDB and was just wondering. It would seem that there would be no ill effect of ingesting another snakes venom since it isn't being directly deposited into the bloodstream, although different venoms have different digestive properties. Just wondering....

Not positive on this, but I think that a mouse going from thawed
to frozen to thawed again would be loaded with bacteria. I've always heard this regarding meat for human consumption.
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Venomous snakes---best hobby on earth!
Bill Huseth

He didn't say it was thawed then wanting to refreeze it. He said the first snake "killed" the rat. He was asking if it could be frozen for the first time then fed to another snake at a later time. I mayself am not sure. I doubt it would cause any problems. If I was going to do it I'd attempt feeding it to the same snake at a later time. If you know that snake won't take a f/t maybe attempt feeding to a snake with similar venom (another pit viper). Good luck. I'm anxious to see what other replies you get on this question.

I think that being that I have seen people drink venom with no ill effects, I don't see why not.

I have done it but that is me I can not advise it.I will say for me no problem has happend.
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Archie Bottoms

Yes, the mouse was previously alive, then killed, then frozen for the first time, then thawed. I have done this many times feeding the mouse to the same species. But what if say a mouse was killed by a cobra, then fed to a viper. I wonder if the venom would affect the viper at all? How would freezing the mouse affect the protiens in the venom? hmmm....

Freezing does not have much of an affect on the potency of snake venom. If I remember well enough, I remember reading where 50 years of freezing and the venom was still potent.

You should have no problem here. The enzymes that break down proteins start in the stomach. The venom has to get directly into the bloodstream to cause harm so as long as there are no cuts in the snake's mouth you should be fine. And even then, the venom is inside the rodents body not on its fur. Yes, I have given venom prekilled before to other snakes with no problem.

Whenever I have an envenomated mouse that has not been eaten in a timely fashion, I just give it to my Brooks Kingsnake. Not only will he eat the mouse, he'd love to have one of my Klauberi for desert. Everytime he sees them, he just salavates.

Sorry to weigh in so late on this thread. I'm with everyone else in saying that the venom from one snake would likely have no deleterious effect on another, but what I would personally be concerned with would be pathogen transmission. I'm just going to assume you wouldn't be feeding an uneaten prey item from a snake in quarantine to one in the general population, but even in the general population diseases do pop up from time to time. It would be rather unfortunate if that transferred prey item was the reason that you lost not only one individual to a nasty bacterium or virus, but possibly a second needlessly. I guess if your collection was monitored pretty well though the risk of this would be minimal.
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Chance Duncan
Science Teacher, Herp Enthusiast, and Reptilian Conservation Proponent
www.rvexotics.com

wouldnt freezing the mouse kill the pathogens though, if any were present?

I may kill some bacteria, though some are pretty resilient to freezing temps. It may not deactivate viruses though - can't "kill" viruses since they aren't technically alive.
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Chance Duncan
Science Teacher, Herp Enthusiast, and Reptilian Conservation Proponent
www.rvexotics.com