Reptile & Amphibian Forums

You guys see MiceDirect is having a huge recall on their frozen mice? Apparently they were contaminated with Salmonella, just curious if anyone has heard of any other companies with similar issues.

Oh didn't see people had posted on this, but to correct someone who said reptiles couldn't get salmonella from eating contaminated rodents, that I believe is wrong. Check out the nytimes.com article on it. They have a veterinarian from the CDC interviewed. She says snakes can get infected by eating it, but most show no symptoms... however, it gets passed along in the feces, and hence puts you at greater risk every time you handle the snake or clean the enclosure.

https://micedirect.com/2010recall/index.htm This is what they said which is partially where I got my info from. The rest is from an email they sent.

This is what you're talking about.

"Health officials said that owners of reptiles should be mindful that such pets, including snakes and turtles, often carry salmonella and have been the cause of outbreaks in the past. Rodents carry similar risks, whether kept as pets or used as food for other animals. In humans, salmonella typically can cause diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps.

Snakes can become infected after eating tainted mice, although the snakes may show no signs of illness, said Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh, a veterinarian and epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Snake owners can become sick from handling the frozen or thawed mice, handling infected snakes or cleaning feces from an enclosure."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/business/global/30mice.html?_r=3&src=twt&twt=nytimeshealth

The doctor from CDC, from what I can tell, was not talking about this specific incident or this specific strain of salmonella. I believe she was speaking generally about any mice infected with salmonella especially since she said tainted mice and not THE tainted mice. Had the doctor specifically said that the tainted mice sold by Mice Direct could infect the reptiles with no signs of illness and blah blah blah then I would be inclined to think that you might be right.
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All animals, including humans have trace levels of salmonella in their systems, usually of their species specific strain of salmonella...though cross contamination between species can occur. Thus it is very important to wash your hands after touching any animal, and after touching their bedding or feces. This includes dogs, cats, birds, other mammals, and reptiles.

For the most part, a healthy animal is not under any threat even if they eat contaminated prey, unless the prey is literally loaded with it...then that animal may end up showing symptoms, especially if it ends up being stressed or something else weakens its immunity system. If a feeder supplier is having a recall, safest thing is to return the potentially affected animals, to prevent a weakened animal or stressed one from being infected. Also, definitely wash hands well after handling even unopened vacuumed packed contaminated mice...its always possible traces of salmonella can be on the wrapper during the processing.
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PHLdyPayne

There are many different strains of Salmonella. The current strain on the Mice Direct is not one that will effect a snake. Yes they will have it in their feces as it is part of the normal digestion. The strain of Salmonella on the rodents is going to directly infect humans and possibly mammals that are fed a whole prey diet such as dogs and cats.

As a sidenote, the vast majority of whole prey will have something along these lines. It will be digested and shed in the feces, but not become active in the animal eating.
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Cindy Steinle
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