Emilee
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 240
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Post by Emilee on Sept 19, 2010 8:25:26 GMT -5
I'll admit it, I'm a wimp. Last night I got Percy some frozen mice and was freaking out. I was fine until the light shown through the package and I could see a little head!!! Then I couldn't make myself open it. So I ripped it open without looking in, and stuck the bag in Percy's face hoping that he'd just take his own, but NOOOO he wanted the entire bag. SOOO I made dad take it out. Anyway, does it get easier to feed mice? And how do you take them out? Do you like, touch them with your bare hand? Omg and then I have this fear that one will be alive, even though they've been frozen. Percy loved it though so I guess it's worth it for him.
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Post by bluemoose on Sept 19, 2010 9:39:45 GMT -5
I've never had a problem with mice because we've had snakes who eat live for years but I used to get faint at the sight of blood other than my own. I nearly passed out watching a C-section in bio and don't get me started on the cadavers we looked at So feeding raw for the dogs was a bit of a challenge at first but it does get easier. I used to be a bit squeamish about handling raw meat but I found just forcing myself to do it helped me overcome that. I assume it's similar for whole animals. The more you do it, the easier it gets. I like to grab the mice by the tail if they're thawed but if they're frozen they honestly don't feel much like an animal. I use my bare hands but you could try using gloves at first until you become more comfortable with the whole experience. I thought about the alive thing too So far it's never been an issue
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Post by Kerit on Sept 19, 2010 9:56:05 GMT -5
Mice come in bags of 50 from RodentPro, and I keep one bag at a time in the freezer. I use bare hands, yeah... just grab them by the tail. Like bluemoose said, they really don't feel like anything when they're frozen, and the ferrets enjoy them frozen as much as thawed, so I just drop them into a bowl and go!
We all have our hang-ups... I don't mind raw meat or mouse guts, but I still can't bring myself to handle superworms for the reptiles.
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Post by mustelidmusk on Sept 19, 2010 12:36:59 GMT -5
Yes, it does get easier.......you'll probably develop a sense of humor about it as a coping mechanism. We used to play with the frozen animals from the "dead freezer" when we had to do necropsies at the wildlife rehab place. For example, we might sit an animal on something with a goofy caption beside it while it was thawing enough so we could work on it. Sometimes you have to develop some dark humor around things to deal with them. It seems like people who have to deal with unpleasant things use dark huor to develop a thicker skin. -jennifer
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Post by Heather on Sept 19, 2010 12:45:21 GMT -5
I think that Jennifer's right, you do develop a morbid sense of humour after awhile. My son's terrible about handling mice and rats....he uses tongs You can imagine his reaction when he went down to raid the frozen Christmas cookies (I told him that he couldn't have any until after the party but he wouldn't listen ) and I had stored 2 days supply of mice in one of the cookie containers because I had run out of plastic bags (I raise my own mice). To say the least....he got caught stealing the cookies, he also had to get tongs and pick up all the mice he had scattered all over the basement I wasn't going to clean up his mess It does get better with time and frozen ones don't feel anything like live. ciao
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Emilee
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 240
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Post by Emilee on Sept 19, 2010 14:33:23 GMT -5
Yeah, I give them to him frozen, as he likes them that way and I'm lazy. I can deal with ALL meats except for wings, and whole animals, even whole birds. Oh man, it's bad and I get sick. With the wings, it's when the joints are in tact and it still moves like a bird's arm would that bothers me. The mice I nearly die, though. The little faces!!!!! Are rodentpro mice tossed in a bag like the Petco ones (like mine are all in different positions) or are they packaged in similar positions? I guess I was expecing them to look more like this Than this: That was the real shocker for me
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Post by sherrylynne on Sept 19, 2010 18:10:59 GMT -5
Yes, Emilee- you do get used to it. I'm a real softie where ANY animal is concerned, and honestly thought I could NEVER feed whole prey. After all- I used to take the mice, birds, chipmunks, etc. away from the cats when I was a kid, heal them up, and let them loose again (yes- I really did do that!) But...Boris has a problem with chicken, so...I thought about it for a very long time, and went and got some frozen pinkies from the pet store. I almost couldn't feed them And when they wouldn't touch them, and I knew I had to chop them up? WELL!!! Anyway, I did it(with them frozen, and me not even looking at them ), and now, it's not a problem at all. And yes, I handle them with my hands. Don't even worry about grabbing the tails, I just pull them out and toss them in the cage now. I have to admit, I had a problem the first couple of times with chicks, and still have a problem with skinning and gutting the rabbits(little beggars won't eat them with the fur on yet!), but I deal with it It never fails to surprise me the lengths we are willing to go to for these little blighters! And by the way? After 21 years in long term care, working with the elderly, can you all imagine how dark MY sense of humour has become???
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Post by Kerit on Sept 19, 2010 18:59:02 GMT -5
RodentPro ships them all loose in a bag, so sometimes you have to work apart a couple that have frozen together. I've read on reptile forums that some people haven't been pleased with how clean they were, but I've personally not had an issue with that. I'd prefer the vacuum-packed-on-a-tray sort like pictured, but price is definitely a factor for me and RodentPro has always come out cheaper.
Honestly, even a thawed mouse isn't that mouselike anymore, I don't think. But a thawed chick looks just like it's only sleeping! I got over that real quick, since my boys loooooove them.
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Post by sherrylynne on Sept 20, 2010 10:59:01 GMT -5
Even my pickiest eaters go bonkers over the chicks I'd seen "food fights" with the ferrets before, but never like the ones over the chicks! Wow!
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Emilee
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 240
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Post by Emilee on Sept 20, 2010 16:03:21 GMT -5
Sooo I fed Percy two mice last night, and they were frozen together and wouldn't fit out of the bag. There was NO WAY I was going to pull them out with my hands ( ) So I cut open the bag and dumped them into the dish, and it freaking squeaked!!!! Not really, but the movement of air as the mice were sliding out made a squeak like noise. Let's just say the mice almost ended up flying across the kitchen. A few nights ago, my neighbor was complaining about how he has to get curdled milk and old potato chips for his pigs and how annoying it is to open every carton and bag, and I looked at him and told him that until he has mice thawing on his counter, he cannot complain to me about feeding his pets.
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Post by goingpostal on Sept 20, 2010 17:04:11 GMT -5
Frozen is easy and honestly I would rather handle whole prey than hunks of meat anyday, chopping up organs and cracking bones isn't the highlight of my day. I breed my own mice so I have to take live ones and offer them up to the ferret gods, it's hardest with babies or retired breeders I've had around for a year. I have a snake as well and it's so much cheaper to breed my own so you get over it.
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Post by bluemoose on Sept 20, 2010 17:20:08 GMT -5
Gotta agree with Postal. Compared to prey model (frankenprey), whole prey is easy street. Much less balancing to deal with. Toss in the prey then clean up later. No chopping and measuring to deal with. And the fuzz sure do love those live mice
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Post by bluecoyote on Sept 20, 2010 19:57:14 GMT -5
A few nights ago, my neighbor was complaining about how he has to get curdled milk and old potato chips for his pigs and how annoying it is to open every carton and bag, and I looked at him and told him that until he has mice thawing on his counter, he cannot complain to me about feeding his pets. OMG LMBO!!! i've never been squeamish about dead critters - unless it happened to be one of my own pets... thats when my husband gets to be the big tough guy.. - but this thread made me smile, especially the part about the pigs ;D but i've always been a little bit of a biologist/forensic scientist (i missed my calling) just today one of the dogs dragged up a mummified...something. all i saw was a leg quarter, a bit of fur and a clawed foot. fearless me, i was examining it until i determined it must have been abnormally LARGE wood rat before i tossed it into the burn barrel. glad no one out here saw me lol they already think i'm off my rocker because i collect animal skulls.
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Post by katt on Sept 21, 2010 22:44:53 GMT -5
Hahaha oh man! I didn;t read the whole thread but I skimmed a bit and speaking of dark humor...I had this rat in the freezer for my snake and couldn't stand to feed it. Why? Not because it was cute - but because it was frozen EXACTLY like a hot dog! I wanted to show my roommate and Shane before I thawed it. I have never seen such a perfectly hot dog shaped rodent. Anyways, it is sad seeing their frozen little bodies all contorted, but you get used to it. I use a plastic bag to handle them. Get a plastic ziplock bag and put it n your hand inside out. Grab the mouse/rat and flip the bag around over it. Seal it, and place in warm water, or just at air temp, to thaw. Or put it in the cage frozen.
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Post by kainslie on Sept 24, 2010 9:43:44 GMT -5
...I like touching mice, they are so soft. Kind of freaky, I know. but it's a nice change from the chicken or pork or whatever I get for the dog. It's nice and warm (even when frozen) =s
It gets way easier. I started feeding raw to my dog when I was a strict vegan.. I would barely touch the meat and would gag when I smelt it, or saw juices, or thought of what it looked like before hand. but now i'm a vegetarian, and am more open about it. and it's way easier.. I only gag when I get kidneys.. (or when I fry them up when my dogs being a brat) other than that. I've butched animals (predead, i'm not there yet =s) i've dressed animals, i'm cut apart whole items, (like a cow trachea (8lb) for a 5lb dog..) yup, it's not that bad anymore!
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