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Post by molson901 on Sept 11, 2008 17:21:22 GMT -5
so i went to the pet shop today and finally decided to try and get a frozen mouse for molson...after getting a lecture from the owner saying that if i give molson raw meat or prey he'll get vicious and eventually get violent and try to kill me or someone else....he sold me one and told me to put it in boiling water to unfreeze it.im just wondering if this is all ok?its a lil baby mouse like...1inlong.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Sept 11, 2008 17:33:39 GMT -5
Heck no, don't boil it, it will cook the mouse (they are trying to get you to cook it. Sneaky petstore people. Unbelievable).
Just let the mouse thaw in the fridge. Then if you want to warm it to "body temperature" put it in a plastic baggie and run it under WARM water from the tap.
Hope this helps.
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Post by molson901 on Sept 11, 2008 17:59:40 GMT -5
ok well what i did exactly is i left it in a plastic bag (cause i dont wanna touch it lol) and put it in boiling water,but teh water isnt CONSTENTLY boiling, i just boiled it and poured it into a bowl and put the bag in there
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Post by molson901 on Sept 11, 2008 22:05:24 GMT -5
oh and one more question...how long can i leave it in his cage and how do i get him to eat it? lol
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Post by Heather on Sept 11, 2008 22:52:09 GMT -5
You could have left it in his cage for about 24 hrs (at least I do, not that my guys let them stay around that long )I don't know how long you can leave it out after it's been cooked though Please don't cook the mice to thaw them out.....the bones will be brittle...nasty pet store people . I sometimes feed mice and rats frozen, the guys have a lot of fun stealing them from each other, stashing them all over the place . Mouscicles and ratcicles, are a special treat when it's really warm outside. I had an argument with a petstore clerk when I phoned to find out if they had any mice. She told me that ferrets were supposed to eat kibbles and that she wouldn't sell mice to me and then hung up. You just have to remember that there are a lot of ignorant people out there ciao
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Post by nwheather on Sept 12, 2008 17:22:53 GMT -5
ok well what i did exactly is i left it in a plastic bag (cause i dont wanna touch it lol) and put it in boiling water,but teh water isnt CONSTENTLY boiling, i just boiled it and poured it into a bowl and put the bag in there You don't want to do that for a couple reasons. One, as mentioned, you'll cook or partially cook the mouse-defeats the purpose of feeding raw. Two, if you put the plastic bag in the boiling or even almost boiling water, you can release those same plastic toxins that we get warned about drinking from plastic botted after they sat in a hot car, or heating foods in a microwave in plastic. It's bad for them too. I get a cup & run the tapwater hot, then thaw them in that for about 10-12min. I usually just put the mouse directly in the water, then dry them off with a paper towel, (& wash my hands of course). That helps get off any poop or anything they might have on them. the person at the store does not know what they are talking about. Feeding whole prey or raw does NOT make any animal vicious. I laugh at anyone who tells me that.
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Post by molson901 on Sept 13, 2008 2:03:34 GMT -5
lol ok well molson is just not touching the stupid mouse so i guess ill have to throw it out cause i dont have the stomach to cut open the mouse lo..trust me ive already made a lot of sicrifices for molson i really did, but this one i just cant do ( i had already said i wouldnt feed molson live prye...well technecly the mouse wasnt alive..but still its a huuuuuuuuuge step lol) and liek i felt really bad for the baby mouse,even though again it was already dead lol.i dont mind like..the money part cause it was a dollar for the stupid mouse but its wasting a good...frozen mouse since molson just isnt intrested...hes not even intrested in eating my moms annnnoooying bird (even though we all wish he would...lol)
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Post by Heather on Sept 13, 2008 7:52:54 GMT -5
Poor mousie Don't kick yourself if you can't cut them open, you tried I think you did awesome for your furbaby if you never planned to feed prey. Molson hasn't been eating raw for very long, he may yet wrap himself around the thought of fur and meat in the same mouthful I have had a couple of fuzzies who never were into the whole mouse thing. Little Zena would have sooner starved to death than eat anything that wasn't ground up (she did eventually eat whole quail quarters) but mice, rats never!!! I've got a cat who would sooner jump in a vat of water than go near a mouse (live or dead ) I've got one boy who I found chowing down on a rat the other day.... he's my cocoa puff boy (that's what his owners fed him : , he's been eating ground raw (I've never seen him with even a quail piece in his mouth) for about 2 yrs now. I was so pleased for him, he actually had stolen the rat from Lady B...so he must have wanted it really badly So the possibility is always there. Try again if you want a few weeks or months down the road...this time just give it to him fresh out of the bag and see Good luck ciao
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Post by molson901 on Sept 16, 2008 16:58:11 GMT -5
so i give it to i frozen?....would i ave ore luck giving him a live mouse? i mean im 100% sure id cry so obviously i couldnt watch..but i dont know if that would get it in his head taht its meant for eating?the only thing is im worried he'll catch on and try to eat my cat and my bird...lol
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Post by Heather on Sept 16, 2008 22:24:21 GMT -5
Thaw the little mouse, it won't take more than a few minutes. You can try live, almost all the guys will kill mice, some don't really have any idea what to do with them once they've done the kill though , then you have to resort to doing the same type of things that you would have to do if the prey was frozen. How comfortable are you with feeding prey? I know it's the ultimate feeding but you can still feed Molson quite healthy without feeding mice. You can feed whole meats and such or you can keep feeding frozen mice, many do.. Killing mice won't get him eating your cat (you said cat and not a kitten under 4 months right?), your bird....well....I would keep a close eye on the pair of them, especially once you get him hunting. Most of my guys don't seem to give the birds the time of day, but Mad Max, Mr Squiggly, Ghenghis and Lady B are exceptions. If the door is open to the deck (with the screen door shut) they will stalk the birds that are on the deck eating the bird seed that has fallen on the deck. Just my experiences ciao
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Post by Forum Administrator on Sept 16, 2008 22:29:31 GMT -5
I know you mentioned you don't have the stomach to cut open the mouse. I can certainly understand that, but I think it would really help molson to try it. A really simply (non messy) way to cut open the mouse without wanting to puke your brains out lol is to take the FROZEN mouse and use a knife to cut it in half. All you have to do is put the knife on the mouse and push DOWN (no slicing or sawing needed) much like you would cut a frozen pizza Because the mouse is frozen, there will be NO blood (once it thaws there might be a *little* blood, but it won't be as bad as you think If you have the stomach to do that I'd give it a shot. If not I totally understand, but I thought I"d offer the suggestion for a puke-free ( ) way to cut a mouse. I want to be a vet so the idea of suturing and slicing open animals doesnt gross me out. Hacking and slashing and stabbing? Yeah that makes me wanna barf I couldn't stomach the sawing motion I had to use to cut thawed mice, when I discovered this cut-the-frozen-mouse method it made life SO much easier lol Hope this helps, and again I can totally understand if you can't stomach it.
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Post by Heather on Sept 16, 2008 22:55:24 GMT -5
You're right, that is the best way...just cut the little sod in half. I found myself in the same position with a rabbit. I just couldn't bring myself to chop him up...I mean it was a whole rabbit (baby bunny ) and my puppy didn't seem to want to eat it whole. I phoned the breeder and asked her what I should do as I was sure that all her puppies had eaten these rabbits before. I guess my guy must have let his siblings have first crack because he didn't have a clue. Anyway, the long and the short, I just cut the rabbit in half...it wasn't bad at all as there was no blood at the time and very little bleeding once the bunny thawed out. Ciao
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