Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to feed a snake a male mouse today. I have fed hundreds of mice through the years and have never seen this. I was holding the male mouse by his tale and all the sudden his rear two legs started running extremely fast while he was suspended by his tail. I went to put him in the tub and he went into these crazy convulsions than appeared to be dead curled up on the paper. I watched him for about a minute than he all the sudden he popped up and started roaming the tub as if nothing happened. Than he actually died in the mouth of my BP. I have read that mice can play dead. Was that what I witnessed or was this something else?

Thanks,
Bill
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2.1 Tripple Het Caramel, Orange Ghost, Genetic Stripe
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
0.1 Het Pied
1,1 Pastel Het for Orange Ghost
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
1.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
1.0 Pied 50 percent White
0.1 Clown
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Chocolate Lab

Sounds like a seizure to me but that's just a guess.
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www.geckobabies.com

Sounds like it could have been a couple of things:
The fake-death you mentioned is certainly a possibility.
A seizure or stroke that resulted in some temporary unconsciousness.
Panic. I have had mice get over excited and exhibit, what appears to me, hyperventilation.
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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

Thanks for the replies....That sounds very likely that he did hyperventilate. When he went into that running mode he must of just freaked out.

Thanks for the help,
Bill
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2.1 Tripple Het Caramel, Orange Ghost, Genetic Stripe
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
0.1 Het Pied
1,1 Pastel Het for Orange Ghost
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
1.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
1.0 Pied 50 percent White
0.1 Clown
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Chocolate Lab

A little off topic, but there is a breeder who is trying to specialize in myotonic mice that stiffen up and sort of faint when they are frightened or over-excited. Similar to the myotonic goats but I think the actual mechanism is slightly different. That might be a handy gene to have in feeder mice

I'm sure everyone has seen these on the news, AMC, or Dirty Jobs, but here is a cute video of the Myotonic Goats.

Myotonic on YouTube
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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