Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my ball python is also fasting, im just wondering if he might eat if i leave it in his cage overnight, but im not sure if the mouse will start to...decay or something.

...if it's there in the a.m., unless you can feed it to some other snake/lizard, that's it, do not refreeze...decay (putrifaction) actually starts upon death of an animal...sitting overnight in a warm cage leads to progression of the decay process...

Scott J. Michaels DVM
Serpent City

Hey Scott,

Your advice is always appreciated and much respected, but I read your reply and was wondering if you actually recommend feeding a mouse left in a cage overnight to another animal. Wouldn't this be a potential transfer of parasites from one cage to another?

Thanks,
Glenn

....particularly with mites, because mites WILL BE attracted to the dead food item....but we're kind of assuming here that the animal is healthy otherwise and the keeper has placed the food item in a "clean area" (again, a real asumption)...bottom-line, you're right, there is some risk here....sjm