Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i posted a few days ago about my snake refusing to eat and i though the snake might be fixing to shed, well i have noticed something else, the place where i have been picking up my pinkies they let them thaw then refreeze them, before when i bought the pinkies i got them the day they got them in.... the mice when i got home i noticed they had a "sour" smell, could this be part of the reason the snake is all of a sudden refusing to eat?

why would you let a rodent thaw then refreeze it? This is a very dangerous practice, because as it warms up the prey starts to decompose. this will cause the mouse to rot prematurely. never thaw a rodent until you feed it, and if the snake doesnt eat it... dont refreeze it. its worth even a $2 large rat to keep your snake from $200 vet bills. Just my opinion.
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0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat
1.0 Black Rat
0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.0 Green Tree Python
0.1 Texas Bairds Rat

The educated are the few. The uneducated are the masses.

North American Rat / Corn Snake Care Sheet

i didnt thaw them and refreeze them, the pet shop "let" them thaw. after i got home and thawed one out for my snake to see if the snake would eat i notice it had a bad smell, so i called the shop and asked and they told me the mice had thawed the last shipment..............

I would say there is a pretty good chance that has something to do with it. I would throw that whole batch of mice out, or better let, go back to the pet store, explain how dangerous it is for them to be selling mice this way and ask for a full refund of your money or an exchange of mice you are guarenteed were not thawed.
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Sorry if I was unclear, but I was saying it's potentially unsafe to feed thawed/refrozen mice at all. i was making my poin at the pet shop, but just adding in general it's not a good idea to let your mice thaw and if they dont eat them refreeze.
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0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat
1.0 Black Rat
0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.0 Green Tree Python
0.1 Texas Bairds Rat

The educated are the few. The uneducated are the masses.

North American Rat / Corn Snake Care Sheet

i knew what you meant, i figured i might should explain it a bit more than i did.
i figured that was unsafe, being in the wild snakes kill all their prey they never go out searching for already killed prey.
when i spoke to the pet shop they suggested i raise my own mice and freeze them.
ill be glad when my mice from the mouse factory get here

I would deffinitely return the thawed/refrozen mice to the petstore. Even if they won't give you a cash refund a store credit certainly is better than nothing. It's not even safe to refreeze meat for us, for the exact same reasons. It's a health risk.

Breeding your own mice is a good ideal, if you have the space to put them, a separate room or outside in a heated/airconditioned enclosure (depending on where you live m ay need one, both or the other). As male mice have a very strong odor to their pee...you deffinitely don't want it in your bedroom or out in the living room.Even if you clean the cage every day, the busy boys will stink it up again within an hour. Or, you could just breed rats. Sure they need a bit more room, eat more but you can turn out babies faster, simply due to the fact you don't have to wait as long for them to reach adult mouse size. Though pinky rats are bigger than pinky mice so won't do for hatchling and very y oung cornsnakes. If the corn can eat a fuzzy mouse, they can take a newborn pinky rat.
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PHLdyPayne

Even if you get two rats (one male one female) to breed, you will probably wind up with a LOT of extra rats with one snake. I would order from big cheese rodents. never let me down. Go back to the pet store, demand your money back. Tell them these are unfit for use, and if they refuse you'll simply turn them into the better business bureau.

What most people don't realize is that everything purchased MUST come with a "fit for use" type warranty. Federal law. This means that if you buy mice, they must be fit for use upon purchase - they can't be rancid (as yours are.) If you go to a lumber yard and purchase 100 2x4 studs and get them delivered and they're all warped... they legally have to take them back because when framing a house you cant use them. they are not fit for use.

It shouldn't take long to get those mice from the mouse factory... just a couple days shouldnt it? (i never have ordered from them, i order from big cheese. i order monday get my mice on wednesday or thursday. depends on what time i place the order.)
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-Chris

0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat
1.0 Black Rat
0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.0 Green Tree Python
0.1 Texas Bairds Rat

The educated are the few. The uneducated are the masses.

North American Rat / Corn Snake Care Sheet

I have heard (don't know if it is true) that snakes in the wild WILL eat dead prey that they find.
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phflame

logically they would. If they will eat a dead mouse/rat in captivity, they probably would eat something dead in the wild, if it wasn't spoiled. This would be really hard to come by, as the snake would have to approach the animal within minutes of death.

So theroetically could it happen? yes. is it plausable? odds are strongly against it.
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-Chris

0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat
1.0 Black Rat
0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.0 Green Tree Python
0.1 Texas Bairds Rat

The educated are the few. The uneducated are the masses.

North American Rat / Corn Snake Care Sheet

Some of the guys in our Herp society have witnessed garters and water snakes eating roadkilled toads/frogs! Maybe only a few hours old, but still shows that wild snakes are also opportunists! So I bet it happens alot more than we would be led to think!
Brian
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RATS
1.0 Corn snake "Warpath" (KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Reaper and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Yellow rat snake "Wolverine" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Grey rat snake "Punisher" (White oak phase)(Dwight Good stock)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

A few years ago my kids unplugged my freezer and I thought that the mice didn't thaw but from that point on, all my snakes refused to eat them. I bought some new frozen mice and they went for them with gusto. Refreezing mice is a BAD idea.

Rich