Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was talking to my girlfriend about getting live traps for the mice in our (non attached) garage. She asked about the ball pythons, and i said NO WAY!!, but then she said, "what about using them for frozen thawed." I said that it was probably still not a good idea, but that I would ask "kingsnake". So.....what are the potential problems with using wild frozen thawed mice?

Freezing doesnt kill any parasites or the potential for them, parasites just hibernate when they get too cold and then re-emerge when thawed. Even if your freezer is a deep freeze.
Not to mention the possible toxins on the preys fur that you won't be able to detect or get off with any amount of certainty.

I would stay far away from feeding wild prey (even frozen) to your snake...Like the plague.

RDM

Actually freezing does kill SOME parasites-but no, it is not a good idea to feed wild mice in any form.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
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Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
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For as many as you would catch, what would it save you, 5-10 bucks? Not worth it if you ask me!

wild Peromyscus mice can carry Hanta virus....
did they create a cure yet???...I wonder....really....

...other than worms and diseases ....

the wild mouse may have been in spun glass insulation...now it is in your snakes gut....

(I have alot of mice running my basement at times ...there are thousands IN cages so yes ,they get out...and NO I don't even use them for snakes...I used to give them to a person for gator food....and my brother grinds them up for trapping lure base at times....)...

....cheaper to buy ......

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......JY

do you mean lure bass?

cause every year i go to canada, at least one week, often twice - spring and fall - bass yes, but mostly pike and muskie, which i prefer. and i always kick myself for not bringing some frozen rodents along... has anyone fished with a thawed mouse or rat on a hook?

if so, does it ever work and what's yr technique?

I did in LA a few years back and caught some cats and bass... cats were caught deep with weight and the bass were on top/middle, just hook it through the skull with no weight and fish it sort of like a zara spook.. I caught 2 cats 3 bass and 1 gar I think it was? I bet the muskie would pound them!
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Brian Hettinger
480 Pythons
Contact us

There are reports of salmonids being found with rodent remains in their stomachs also.
Can't imagine fly fishing with a mouse though
Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

Not sure bringing wild mice/rat parts frozen or otherwise to use as fish bait across the border would be allowed. It would most likely need to be declared at the border and they will determine if its permitted or not. It would be better to just leave the frozen rodents at home and pick up some in Canada.

Myself, I have good luck with lures, jigs, etc for bass, pike and walleye. Regular earth worms and shinners (type of minnow) work good to. For small mouth bass, live crayfish I catch in the same lake I fish for bass in, work great too.
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PHLdyPayne

Some years back, I fished around the Presidential Range of New Hampshire for a week or so. The brook trout in those crystal (think Bahamas) clear streams are small, but ferocious. A panther-martin would bring dozens of them running from ever corner of the larger pools, and the fastest and most aggressive would get there first. One of those brookies, a massive seven inches long, had the tail of a mouse or shrew protruding from its esophagus - it hadn't even digested breakfast, and was already lookin' for lunch!

~Bruce

>>There are reports of salmonids being found with rodent remains in their stomachs also.
>>Can't imagine fly fishing with a mouse though
>>Warren
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>>Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
>>North Carolina State University
>>Department of Entomology
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I spoken to a man fishing with live mice for bass here in NE. He actually ties a harness with the hook on it around their shoulders and sets them floating on a piece of bark. When it gets out in the water he tugs it off the bark and sets it swimming. The motion attracts plenty of fish. Not exactly the kindest death to the little mouse (about hopper-sized) but very effective.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.0 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

read mine below.....straw,stick.....and don't yank it off ....well...you can....poor mouse?.....either way.....

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......JY

I think he was referring to the scent lure that some people use when setting traps for furbearers.
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Snakes:
1.1 gray banded kingsnake
1.1 california kingsnake
1.1 kenyan sand boa
1.1 western hognose snake
0.1 albino checkered garter
1.0 florida blue garter
1.1 het anery red sided garter
1.1 reverse oketee corn snake
1.1 blood red corn snake
0.1 amel striped corn
1.0 amel 66% het striped corn
1.1 het albino ball python
1.1 het ghost ball python
0.1 spider ball python
1.0 pastel ball python
1.1 mojave ball python
1.0 butter ball python
0.1 ringer ball python
1.0 African dinker ball python
0.3 normal ball python
1.0 piebald ball python
0.1 het piebald ball python
0.1 Genetic Stripe Ball Python
1.0 Het Genetic Stripe Ball Python
0.1 Mystic Ball Python

Turtles
1-eastern box turtle
2-spotted turtle
2-eastern/midland painted turtle intergrade
1.0-common musk turtle
1-Pink bellied sideneck
6-Northern red belly

Invertebrates
0.1 southern black widow
1-Tanzanian Giant Tailless whipscorpion

Amphibians
0.1 Ornate Horned Frog

Birds:
1.1 red avadavit
2-blue breasted cordon blue
1.1-black cheeked waxbill
0.1-star finch
1.0-Java rice sparrow
2.0-owl finch
1.0-hybrid munia
0.1-White bellied caique

Fish
2-corydoras cats
1-African upside down cat

normal stuff
0.1 black lab

no.lure.trapping lure, bait....as in grind up in a meat grinder and let to taint and smell real purdy.....or not...then add other tinctures and ingredients to make trapping lure....then add glycerin or sweet oil or whatever to stop the reactions thereafter....Lure...

Lure as in fishing lure as you wish to try....dead frozen...?...catfish bait maybe...maybe pike....

to use MICE as fish bait...live mice...I will now tell you a secret from a local muskie fisherman....if you hook a mouse ...it will bleed and die....if you use rubber band to attatch it you will get bit, mouse will still get it off or at least drown from hook weight....the way to fish live mice...take a small light weight stick...that floats real well yet is really flexible and or thin...mouse is attatched to a hook....rubber band?....then left to hold stick floating on water...then let out line and let mouse float away along shoreline etc etc....(yes you usually need a boat...you really cannot cast it)....this is all he told me....mouse holds stick...fish slams stick mouse and all....bam....

>???....LOL......good luck.........!!!!!

(easier...flies that are made of hair...and a good 8x fly rod....?......make them $$$$$ not buy.......(dried gerbil skins over cork?.....)...
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......JY

zippy, my apologies - i think i hijacked yr thread! was not my intention...

jy - yes, i meant thaw out a mouse, put it on a hook, weigh it down, see what happens. i know a cat would take it, but was curious about pike.

again, just curious. i am 100% certain if you put a live mouse swimming accross the surface of a healthy habitat, it's not going to last long before something hits it. but thats of no interest to me. i'll probably never try the thawed mouse either - but you know how it is with fishing - we all want to find a magic bullet.

It works pretty well, and I've thought about using a real white mouse before, but haven't tried it yet. The pre-made lure seems a little more convenient. But, it DOES work.

Thank you to everyone who replied to MY question...lol I figured it still would not be good, just curious about the whole freezing part, and after reading your posts, I didn't think about the fiberglass, and other parasites that don't die off after freezing. Looks like I will be buying the traditional SNAP!!! Kill traps..lol

On another note....I really hope that you are not eating the fish that you catch with the mice......ewwwww!!!

LOL......ancient man ate the mice....tail teeth head and all....

....mmmmm........

taste like muskrat probably.........

they are mighty tasty......

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IF you hooked a mouse frozen thawed and pulled it around a lake...something would eat it sooner or later....yep....

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......JY