Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,... I wanted to ask you a question and pick your brains for any info you may have on this subject....

As you both probably know, I run a fairly large rat breeding operation to sustain my smaller or younger boids. Each day we (my wife and or I) will find one or two dead adult female rats. We keep our stock young (under 8 months) so it's not likely from age-related causes. These are usually in the last couple days of their pregnancies, so I have always assumed that they had complications with their pregnancies that killed them. Anyway,.. to reach my point,... if the rats seem freshly dead, (no odor, no discolored skin, no bloating) I will allow some of my lower-end species of snakes eat them. I would never allow my high ends to have them due to the sheer value of the snakes and I take NO risks with that. But I feel that this is safe for the others and so I feed them to them. (I call the rats "boa food" lol) I have never had any problems, but I have to ask,.. is there any risk of any sort when doing this? If so,. what?

Thanks for your time.
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It isn't "Ideas" that fail or succeed,... it is the "Systems" which are instilled to launch and sustain the idea that either fail or succeed.>[Me.]

When I raised rats I would ocassionally find lactating females a couple of days after birthing. I would feed them if they were freshly dead. Never found females before birthing but it might be something that runs in your colonies. Rats can be genetically predisposed to all sorts of problems especially if you have Sprague Dawley strains. My first colonies were susceptible to tuumors and I would feed them as well. I raised my own rats for four years, feeding freshly dead rats as I found them and haven't noticed any problems from that. Of course I knew when those rats died and how they lived. I'd never feed freshly dead from someone else (just my nature) nor would I accept (or sell for that matter) rats with tumors, etc. It was a judgement call I made given they were my rats- I've never seen evidence to make me sorry I did. Speaking of that I had rats that were very stoic. One pet rat bit his tail off when he got it caught once. Another rat chewed out his own tmor and lived for another year at least. I miss my rats a lot. It was hard letting them all go.
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Marcia Pimentel
Tango River Reptiles
GiantFeeders

I cant say for rats. Cause i havent had that problum yet. The only female rat i'v ever had die while prego. was a breach , all of them were backwards for some reason, but i havent had that problum since. Tango might be right in saying it's your colonies. But i asked our herp. vet about feeding the snakes with the rabbits that had coccideia. And he told me that things of that sort , though would kill the rabbit , shows no sign of indangering the health of the snakes. I'v been going to him for 8 years and i trust him verry much. I have also asked around with as many vet's in the area that deal with reptiles on a daily basis , and they all seem to agree.
Kind of a diffrent problum.
But i thought i'd add something if i could.
Seth Mason
Ps: Brian, I'll Be callin you in about 7 months. - hint - hint.

>>When I raised rats I would ocassionally find lactating females a couple of days after birthing. I would feed them if they were freshly dead. Never found females before birthing but it might be something that runs in your colonies. Rats can be genetically predisposed to all sorts of problems especially if you have Sprague Dawley strains. My first colonies were susceptible to tuumors and I would feed them as well. I raised my own rats for four years, feeding freshly dead rats as I found them and haven't noticed any problems from that. Of course I knew when those rats died and how they lived. I'd never feed freshly dead from someone else (just my nature) nor would I accept (or sell for that matter) rats with tumors, etc. It was a judgement call I made given they were my rats- I've never seen evidence to make me sorry I did. Speaking of that I had rats that were very stoic. One pet rat bit his tail off when he got it caught once. Another rat chewed out his own tmor and lived for another year at least. I miss my rats a lot. It was hard letting them all go.
>>-----
>>Marcia Pimentel
>>Tango River Reptiles
>>GiantFeeders
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Seth Mason.
Do lesbian frogs think they taste like chicken too ?

It isn't Always prior to birthing. It is often much after too. Sometimes during the 3 week "pre-weanling" period. But I don't know if you guys realize just how many rats I am talking about. Easily over 800 females, sometimes probably well over a thousand. So one or two every other day really is not a high percentage.

And you'd better call me in 7 months Seth, or else I'll send my guys. (jk)

>>I cant say for rats. Cause i havent had that problum yet. The only female rat i'v ever had die while prego. was a breach , all of them were backwards for some reason, but i havent had that problum since. Tango might be right in saying it's your colonies. But i asked our herp. vet about feeding the snakes with the rabbits that had coccideia. And he told me that things of that sort , though would kill the rabbit , shows no sign of indangering the health of the snakes. I'v been going to him for 8 years and i trust him verry much. I have also asked around with as many vet's in the area that deal with reptiles on a daily basis , and they all seem to agree.
>>Kind of a diffrent problum.
>>But i thought i'd add something if i could.
>>Seth Mason
>>Ps: Brian, I'll Be callin you in about 7 months. - hint - hint.
>>
>>
>>>>When I raised rats I would ocassionally find lactating females a couple of days after birthing. I would feed them if they were freshly dead. Never found females before birthing but it might be something that runs in your colonies. Rats can be genetically predisposed to all sorts of problems especially if you have Sprague Dawley strains. My first colonies were susceptible to tuumors and I would feed them as well. I raised my own rats for four years, feeding freshly dead rats as I found them and haven't noticed any problems from that. Of course I knew when those rats died and how they lived. I'd never feed freshly dead from someone else (just my nature) nor would I accept (or sell for that matter) rats with tumors, etc. It was a judgement call I made given they were my rats- I've never seen evidence to make me sorry I did. Speaking of that I had rats that were very stoic. One pet rat bit his tail off when he got it caught once. Another rat chewed out his own tmor and lived for another year at least. I miss my rats a lot. It was hard letting them all go.
>>>>-----
>>>>Marcia Pimentel
>>>>Tango River Reptiles
>>>>GiantFeeders
>>-----
>>Seth Mason.
>>Do lesbian frogs think they taste like chicken too ?
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It isn't "Ideas" that fail or succeed,... it is the "Systems" which are instilled to launch and sustain the idea that either fail or succeed.>[Me.]

Given that large a number it seems insignificant. I never had over 50 females. At one time I introduced a cream-colored male into my colony from a friend's colony and he was a carrier for the "spinner" disease. In order to get rid of it I killed all of his progeny.
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Marcia Pimentel
Tango River Reptiles
GiantFeeders

This is a type of Question in the form of a response I was told by the Fort Dodge Pharmaceuticals vet during a phone conversation that coccidia is species specific. We were talking about chickens. In Understanding Reptile Parasites the coccidian Cryptosporidiosis is said maybe transmitted to snakes from infected mice. I haven't read any literature negating this. There are different coccidians, and seems at least one may be able to make the jump and wreak havoc in another species. I know we aren't talking about coccidia in Brian's colonies but wanted to add the information since we touched on coccidia.
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Marcia Pimentel
Tango River Reptiles
GiantFeeders

I'll have to do some more research on Coccidia, But from what i understood , is that one type introdused to an animal might set off the Coccidia already in that animal, Not actually "make a jump from one to another".
I'm not totaly positive but , i didnt think one could "infect" another from a diffrent species , As in to say the dog couldnt give the cat Coccidia , but it could set off the Coccidia already in the cat. That is if the cat somehow ate the dog. Heh , that'd be funny to watch.
But thanks for that info , i'll have to read up on it some more. Did they say what kind of Mice ? or just mice in general ? Is there a anyway to find out what kind certan mice have, and keep away from them ?
If anyone finds out , let me know.
And if brian would get his butt in gear , I'd have some "Higher end" herps, So i can worry about it.
7 Months ,, Damn that's like Febuary ,, Hurry up already. J/k )

>>This is a type of Question in the form of a response I was told by the Fort Dodge Pharmaceuticals vet during a phone conversation that coccidia is species specific. We were talking about chickens. In Understanding Reptile Parasites the coccidian Cryptosporidiosis is said maybe transmitted to snakes from infected mice. I haven't read any literature negating this. There are different coccidians, and seems at least one may be able to make the jump and wreak havoc in another species. I know we aren't talking about coccidia in Brian's colonies but wanted to add the information since we touched on coccidia.
>>-----
>>Marcia Pimentel
>>Tango River Reptiles
>>GiantFeeders
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Seth Mason.
Do lesbian frogs think they taste like chicken too ?

I don't see a problem with it, especially regarding females who die in birthing and are found fresh. I've seen video footage of wild snakes taking dead prey which was presented to them, which would indicate a streak of scavenger in there somewhere. If the snake is healthy, there should be no danger.

That said, I've tried this several times, but none of my snakes will EVER take the dead animals, so now, I don't even try. Each to their own, I guess.