Wild Caught Prey?

[sirtalis]

Has anyone else done this? About 2 weeks ago my neighbors dog killed an opposum, my brothers and I decided to skin it and make a small pelt instead of just throwing the corpse to the coyotes. During the skinning process we cut into its pouch and found about 6 embryoish looking baby opposums, they were about the size of my thumb and most were already dead, I fed the live ones to my peacock monitor, and after 2 weeks hes still going strong. Anyway have any of yall done this? If so how did your animal turn out. There's so many squirrels were I live, im sure I could save a boatload of $ lol

[eminart]

I feed road killed snakes to my indigo. But, I freeze them for a few weeks to help kill parasites. However, most internal parasites are pretty specialized in their hosts. So, I don't know how high the risk would be of transmitting worms to a reptile from an 'possum anyway.

[sam]

I found a rat drowned in our chicken's water, I'm not putting that thing anywhere near my pretties anytime soon, haha.

[macandchz]

i was under the impression that wild prey carried disease and shouldn't be fed to reptiles but you figure that's what they eat in the wild. maybe that's a myth the pet shop people use to keep me buying their mice.

[RAD House]

No I there is definitely a higher chance of spreading parasites with wild caught food than store bought. Most wild snakes are highly parasitized. It about how much risk you want to take with your snake. Some see the benefit of supplementing a snake diet with a wider variety of wild caught food. Others see the benefit in cost savings, which I don't agree with because if you can't afford to feed your snake then you probably should not own one. Personally I would never put my snakes at risk by feeding wild caught prey due to parasites and contaminants. To each their own, but you have to weigh the benefits versus the risks.

[Andy_G]

Freezing reduces parasite load but will not completely kill everything. Many zoonotic nematodes survive freezing just fine. The presence of these parasites after freezing may or may not harm your snakes. Not the best idea IMO...taking an unnecessary risk every time.

[eminart]

There's certainly risk involved. I wouldn't do it with other snakes, but I do it with my indigo to offer him a more natural range of food. It's been proven that indigos grow better on a more natural diet. I also would never feed wild caught rodents. They're too easy and cheap to buy, and you never know when one has been eating poison.

[Aaron_S]

I know of a very small handful of people who have fed a few different snakes species various types of wild caught prey.

African house snake
Burmese python
Reticulated python

Those were the species involved.

Types of food I recall: bat, other snakes, lizards, skunks, raccoons, possums, maybe even an armadillo.

[Minkness]

That is crazy o.o

I wonder why we don't have 'feeder snakes' like we have feeder lizards....

[jpsteele80]

I wouldn't personally do it just because of the associated risk of parasites

[Jim Smith]

Perhaps another source of prey animals might be found from people who raise show rabbits. I used to raise Netherland Dwarf rabbits to show. The ideal breed specs are very strict, so that if a dark colored rabbit has even has one white toenail, it is usually culled. If the body is too long, the ears too short, teeth not aligned, color not right, etc. etc. etc. Anyway, there are usually too many babies to sell off to the pet trade, so they have to be culled. You could check with your local rabbit clubs to see if anyone raising show rabbits would be willing to sell you their dead culls for cheap. As long as you're not feeding live, you should be able to find someone interested in getting some money for the culls just of offset the cost of feed. Just a thought...

[Aaron_S]

That is crazy o.o

I wonder why we don't have 'feeder snakes' like we have feeder lizards....

We do.

Non-feeding baby cornsnakes $3 a piece.

Just need to look in the right circles :P

[Minkness]

I mean as a staple. Which I'm sure you knew.

[Aaron_S]

I mean as a staple. Which I'm sure you knew.

Ohhhh. No I didn't lol.

[pet_snake_78]

Hard to say the risks involved, I don't know the host organism and what it normally carries nor have any idea if those would be transmittable to a reptile, but it's certainly possible that something could be. If using WC prey, I would run fecals every 6 months. try to do random fecals to check for anything that has worked its way into my collection anyway.

[sirtalis]

Cool, thanks yall, I wobder how dangerous these "parasites" actually are, I mean does anyone know of a north american parasite specialized for mammals that could infect an asian or african reptile :p?

[RAD House]

As I understand it, it is widely accepted that wild caught animals do not live nearly as long as captive animals. Most attribute a large part of this to a heavy parasite load, even if they are treated.

[sirtalis]

I've heard similar things, my peacock monitor was wc about 4 years ago, then I bought him as a ltc from a friends friend

[chairman]

Another thing to consider, environmental toxins that wild prey have picked up either via direct exposure or through the food chain. Look at what insecticides did to the eggs of birds of prey. Or consider that most states issue health advisories for the human consumption of wild fish, such as don't eat bottom-feeders from certain rivers or limit consumption of bass from lake x to one per month. I imagine that a fair amount of wild prey contains chemicals and heavy metals that responsibly raised captive prey would not.

[sirtalis]

Another thing to consider, environmental toxins that wild prey have picked up either via direct exposure or through the food chain. Look at what insecticides did to the eggs of birds of prey. Or consider that most states issue health advisories for the human consumption of wild fish, such as don't eat bottom-feeders from certain rivers or limit consumption of bass from lake x to one per month. I imagine that a fair amount of wild prey contains chemicals and heavy metals that responsibly raised captive prey would not.

true, I feel that most animals are safe in my area primarily because there is so much ranch land spanning for acres all around, and I really dont know if any pesticide users in my area