Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a fuzzy left that my cal king didn't want to eat. I want to keep him around until Damion is hungry again...what do these things eat? and how do I keep from getting attached...they're so darn cute.
thanks!

Hi...You feed the mouse hamster, mouse, or gerbil food...You can get it at any pet shop...However, in order to avoid getting attach to the mouse put it in a plastic bag and smack it against the wall. Then, freeze it...Now you won't have to worry about feeding it or getting attach...Take it easy....-ELvy

Yeah, that would be hoppers or bigger....fuzzies are still suckling.

They eat milk. Fuzzies are not yet weaned. I suppose you could try to find a lactating mouse and build a tiny milking machine and keep it alive with mouse milk and an eyedropper, but that seems like a lot of trouble for one fuzzy. He (she? it?) will probably not live for a week and will be so emaciated as to be of little nutritional value for your snake by next feeding time. Your best bet is to freeze it, then thaw it out and feed it to your snake when the snake gets hungry again. You are much better off feeding frozen/thawed mice anyway, and so is your snake. Freezing for at least 3 weeks will kill most of the bacteria and parsites your snake could pick up from live mice. This is not so much of a problem with pinkies and fuzzies, but it is with adult mice. The earlier you try to switch your snake to frozen/thawed the easier it will be.

The other danger of feeding live mice and rats to snakes is that sometimes if the snake doesn't eat the animal right away, the rat or mouse will try to eat the snake. Well, he doesn't actually try to eat it, but they do bite and chew on the snakes sometimes causing grievous injury to the snake.

Add to that the benefit of being able to buy a bunch of mice frozen and use them as you need them. No worries about trying to feed them, clean cages for them, etc. Plus they are much cheaper when you buy them that way.

thanks guys, I think I'll shove him in the freezer. I don't think I could smack him against the wall, although that statement was good for a laugh

Actually, I'm a firm believer in the "smack up against a wall" method. I believe that rapid deceleration from a high speed will kill anything instantly and cleanly if done right. Therefore it is the most humane. Breaking the neck always results in immediate parylization but usually not instant death. I find freezing a live mouse to be the cruelest way to do it. If you ever put a few in there together you will find them cuddled together for warmth in a very cute position...except that they're dead and frozen in that position. Freezing to death is a very slow and painful way to die. Also, rodents have a survival mechanism that is kind of like an insta-hibernation. When presented with a lack of food or extremely low temperatures, they can slow down their body systems and overall metabolism and survive in a trance-like state before they die. Breeding populations of mice have been found living in walk-in refridgerators. A live mouse that was put into a friend of mine's freezer chewed his way out of his plasitc bag. Chewed through another plastic bag containing pinky mice, ate all of the pinky mice and was found dead on a frozen pizza. Frozen in the act of chowing down on the pizza's frozen cheese.
So anyway, freezing something to death (IMO) is extremely cruel. Whack it, give it to the snake live, or give it the (CO2) gas chamber.
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