Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just saw the recall on the KS homepage. The last time I ordered rodents back in May was from Mice Direct so I'm a little concerned. I still have over 300 pinkies in the freezer and have fed about 200 rodents from that order to my snakes. I wonder how concerned I should actually be. I don't know how possible samenella contamination could effect my snakes. Any ideas? It does not state how far back the recall goes either. It looks like they will make good on the remainder of order. Got a call into them already.

Chris

They give some numbers for the affected batches if you still have the original bags you could check.
I read that snakes can be infected with salmonella without ever being affected by it. Of course we humans can still get it. Does anyone have more info on this?
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I always cook them thoroughly at high temperatures before I eat them, so I am fine.

This is completely ridiculous. I have been raising most of my own unirradiated presumed salmonella-positive rodents and feeding them to my presumed salmonella-positive reptiles for 50 years without any problems. If this is what FDA is doing these days, it won't be long before they send crews to reptile shows and start testing everyones herps for salmonella and not allowing anyone to sell anything that tests positive.

The entire situation is rediculous. I literally have my shop 5 minutes away from Mice Direct. And have always used and ordered ALL feeder items from them. They are great guys that work really hard at what they do. The entire thing is a way for the FDA to just make themselves look more important. And with Dept. of Ag trying to pipe their own words in with FDA it just makes the entire situation idiotic. I am hoping the best for Mice Direct and cant wait to personally go pick up my next order.
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- Eric Watts
Pgwdragons

Mice direct has been very great to deal with and have contacted me multiple times about my order. They have offered to send me replacements without me even asking. They said I can dispose of the ones i have it I want. The FDA has some funny policies. Food for human consumption can have slight traces of salmonella but pet food they have zero tolerance. Pretty silly if you ask me.

Chris

I think if those people who had gotten sick from salmonella after handling their reptiles and rodents had simply washed their hands afterwords, there would have been no problem. I raise my own mice and I handle all my snakes and mice every day, to some extent, and have never gotten sick. Soap and water is a great preventative!

From what I understand, just about any animal that poops can have some form of salmonella in their system. Most are not affected by it, unless they're immune system is compromised or are over exposed to salmonella (ie living in filthy conditions).

There are about 1000 or more varieties of salmonella as well, and people are just as likely to catch it from their cat or dog, or unwashed vegetables as they are from handling frozen rodents. Proper hygiene is really all that is needed to prevent getting sick from salmonella.

Besides, salmonella only seems to be a danger to one's health if one is very young or very old or immune compromised. And you don't practice proper hygiene.

I think kids still have alot more chance catching salmonella from their cat or dog than they ever do from any reptile. I also assume parents won't let their kids put their pets into their mouths and have them wash their hands, especially in these days. You can't go anywhere now without seeing hand cleanser dispensers. (which annoys me in small spaces, as the smell makes me nauseous...makes me really glad Zoo Med has their own hand cleanser which doesn't contain alcohol but kills Salmonella).
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PHLdyPayne

Forum Princess

I agree but, they are trying to have high standards in order to ensure we have healthy pets. I also believe they are carrying this way to far but when you bring in media attention it makes the situation 10 times worse. I have used mice direct for nearly 2 years and never had an issue or complaint from any costumers
it just an issue with personal Hygiene snakes and lizards carry Salmonella as well as the feeders, when you handle your animal or its food you should wash your hands and use hand sanitizer, if you cant do this then stop cooking your chicken and just eat it raw its the same thing. please stop punishing responsable people and train the ignorant people on what soap and water and hand sanitizer is.

Its a matter of human safety rather than the well being of our reptiles. The salmonella issue in rodents comes down to a matter of cleanliness. When humans are affected in this way by a "Food" product its the FDAs job to step in and do something about it. All of the major rodent producers are subjected to testing and personally, yes, I want to know when one of these tests come back with something that may make me ill. now most of us have enough common sense not to handle our thawed mice or rats then put our fingers in our mouth, as with chicken, but if there was truly 17 possible cases linked to these rodents then.... thank you FDA you've done your job! We all have the right to know if we are being exposed to something like this, whether it be from tomatoes, broccoli, or frozen rodents.