Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My neigbor found a nest of mouse pinkys in his barn and wants to know if I can use them to feed my snakes. Is this safe? Will they have worms or parasites they can pass on to the snakes. In case it matters the pinkys would be going to a cali king and a desert king.
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Tiffany

I KNOW this from personal experience.

I've fed wild rodents to my wild caught animals to get them to eat, and have not had any problems arise from this.

This is going to sound wild, but it's absolutely true. When I was young I kept snakes within a shed in my back yard. I had noticed a litter of wild rats had been deposited within the cinder blocks at the foot of the entrance to the shed. Just a day or two after noticing this, I had an escape occur... a small honduran milk snake had escaped his enclosure. I could not find him within the shed and presumed that he had escaped the shed (the door did not close quite tightly enough). I then considered the possibility that he had found the baby rats. I removed the cinder block that had previously contained the rats and found the snake coiled within. The rat litter was gone, and the snake was decidedly much fatter. During the months following this experience the snake continued to eat voraciously, but would not put on weight. The stools were watery and exceptionally foul. I eventually saw worms within the stool. The snake dies shortly thereafter. I attribute his death to parasites acquired from the rats consumed.

A mistake made by a very young novice.

I can't say that the parasites were transferred to the snake through the rats, but the experience convinced me that the practice of offering wild rodents to captive snakes is unwise.

i'm under the impression mammal parasites and reptile parasites are different critters. can anyone confirm or refute that?
terry

Done it a lot in the past 30 years. Never had a problem! Fed them to All kinds of Kingsnakes. Not a single one was lost! For example: Fed a nest of wild Deer mice to my female Eastern King about two months ago, and she is currently gravid and doing very well . . .

My 2 cents. . . .

Zee

I agree

Mike B

Yeah I've fed wild mice to my herps on numerous occasions with no problems. I've even fed 'fresh-killed-by-cat' and 'fresh-killed-by-car' rodents and squirrels to them a few times, no need to waste them
~Roo
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

In general, mice carry few germs that are zoonotic in nature... that can be transferred to reptiles. HOWEVER... a wild mouse CAN be poisoned... and if you choose that poisoned mouse and feed it to your snake, you could end up poisoning your snake.
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~Sasheena

Sounds like this is a case wherein you will not encounter problems the vast majority of times. But, I believe, based upon both simple reason and personal experience, that there is some risk involved.

I also posted this on the feeder forum. One of the responses was to freeze them for a few weeks or months first, to kill off any parasites. I thought this was worthwhile advice.
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Tiffany

freezing won't kill any poisons though, or not all at least. Again, caution is advised.
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~Sasheena