<< Chuck is crazy! Must be that Indy water! ;) >>
Hey! You been talking to my Mom?? :>
<< If you are getting domestically-pet store-bred mice there shouldn't be a
problem. They have been bred from mice that should be disease/parasite/worm
free. (They might have mites or lice at the worst.) Of course there are
non-reputable breeders & pet stores & that judgement is up to you. I would
not feed wild mice live or dead to any of my animals.
There is a danger the mouse/rat (if consumed live) could bite internally
whatever has swallowed it. I used to breed mice to feed my boas.
Occasionally the mouse would bite the snakes externally & the snake would
get infections that weren't so hard to heal. But I did lose two snakes to
bites received internally that antibiotic injections given by a vet could
not heal. The injury caused swelling & infection & eventually blocked the
airway & throat & the snake starved to death. Not a pretty sight! And the
smell! I won't feed my bass mice- minnows, crickets, tadpoles etc are still
abundant & cheap! (Mice can be $1/each+) The mice even bit me several
times! >>
Bass in the wild don't eat pet store mice. I am figuring they have basic
defense mechanisms against physical and biological damage like any other
predator, though they are not 100% effective.
Also figured I was achieving multiple goals: eliminating and recycling a
common pest, feeding my fish a natural food and saving a few bucks.
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