Can I feed ....

[Galaxy]

Can I feed my cornsnake a gerbil? My daughter breeds them and she brought me one which is about the size of the rats I feed Gary. It died of natural causes and is now frozen in my freezer but thought I would check with you guys first.
:suspicious:

[Snakefood]

natural causes as in "old age", or natural causes as in "it died without being visibly sick"?

[theapexgerman]

I wouldn't trust it and corns arnt really meant for gerbels are they

[alessia55]

Um... I'd play it safe and not feed the snake the gerbil... Regardless of what it might've died from. But that's just me.

[Swany]

I don't know about the nutrition darlin. But if the gerbil had been healthy, it would still be alive ;-)

[Gungirl]

I don't know about the nutrition darlin. But if the gerbil had been healthy, it would still be alive ;-)

My thoughts as well.. If it died, it was sick

[Brently]

I say freeze it for a couple weeks to kill any possible virus or parasite inside it, then if it is an appropriate size why not. If the snake will even eat it. I wouldn't go through a lot of trouble to scent the gerbil unless you are thinking of switching to gerbils as a staple? But I doubt there could be much/any harm in feeding a corn one gerbil if it accepts it and has been frozen long enough to kill any disease.

[KORBIN5895]

I say freeze it for a couple weeks to kill any possible virus or parasite inside it, then if it is an appropriate size why not. If the snake will even eat it. I wouldn't go through a lot of trouble to scent the gerbil unless you are thinking of switching to gerbils as a staple? But I doubt there could be much/any harm in feeding a corn one gerbil if it accepts it and has been frozen long enough to kill any disease.

I mostly agree.

The question is why did it die? When my mice kill each other I feed them to my snakes. I just fed four rat pups to gabby that my rats killed. I have heard stories on here of non-members feeding road kill to their snake with no ill effects. If it is possible that it died by chemical exposure from cleaning products I totally avoid it.

End of the day it is always beat to err on the side of caution. If you are worried about the cost of a mouse ( which I honestly don't believe you are) then think about the cost of replacing Gary.

[Galaxy]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. I am not going to take any chances and will dispose of the gerbil. Don't want to make Gary ill. I learnt a lot though.

:yes: