Sick Mice?

[katt]

I put this here hoping it will get answered quicker.

What do you guys who feed live/breed do about feeding off sick mice? I have a mouse who is looking haggard. She is the albino of my original breeding group, and neither her nor the 2 other females with her are producing any more - and they have had ample time. All 4 mice I though were just very vocal, but now I think that perhaps they are coughing or something? The white mouse her face looks all hagggard and grungy, and her ears are super red inside. I thought they were bleeding until I looked closer. I'll post pics later...

But a) can I feed them to Koda? I don't know if that is a good idea...
b) how do I go about getting rid of them?

[mustelidmusk]

I honestly have NO idea about this. I will say that in the wild, the animals with issues are the first to go. But there's nothing natural about domestic ferrets (no survival of the fittest.) Koda does have IBD, which suggests an immune system imbalance. Unless somebody can speak from experience, I would play it safe. The most humane way to dispatch an animal (without special items (co2 chamber) would be a sharp blow to the head. That can be difficult if the mouse is still mobile. It's also a brutal thing to have to do.

Snap traps are cheap , and they do the job for you. but they're not fool proof in terms of a clean kill. Since I had pet mice as a kid, I have trouble with these types of issues

-jennifer

[katt]

Hmm...snap traps...I could do that. What about the mice that are in the cage with the sick mouse? They seem healthy enough, but I mean...

[3kaw]

We had pet mice for a while, and did find that sick ones died easily, and quickly on their own. Hope that happens and you dont have to worry about it.

I have no idea about feeding them to Koda but without knowing what exactly is wrong I wouldn't use them.

[sherrylynne]

If I remember correctly, Koda makes pretty quick, clean kills. Does he try to eat them immediately, or does he set them to the side? Maybe have him do the kill for the sick ones, and give him a healthy one to eat?

[bluemoose]

I use cervical dislocation with any mice the ferrets don't get to kill. Place a ball point pen lengthwise behind the back of the head with moderate pressure and then just pull the tail until you feel the spine disconnect. The mice die instantly. There is usually some leg twitching but that's just a reflex, they are completely dead. This is the cheapest humane method. My brother has a PhD in medical research and he showed it to me

[xeopse]

I would feed it to him. You said this mouse was from your original breeding stock - it's probably just old. Mice don't live that long under normal circumstances, and as they age they begin to deteriorate just like any other animal. It's scruffy because it's not grooming itself, a sign of sickness but also a sign of age. Unless your other mice that it's being housed with are also showing signs of sickness, I would say it's just getting old. We have C57Bl (black mice) and BALB (white mice) strains at work and school, and after about 3-4 semesters (almost 2 years) they will start looking like this. There's nothing wrong with them. One time we had one that started getting scruffy/haggard looking so we were inspecting him, turned out the little bugger had a massive facial tumor that was restricting his jaw so we euth'd by CO2 and necropsied him, the mass was about half the size of his face going through his ear and almost down his neck.

Cervical dislocation is something I would not recommend unless you've done it before or have another means of euthanasia nearby (CO2 tank) in case it does not work. Have a stethoscope nearby to make sure it's gone before bagging and disposing, I would hate to think of them living through that paralyzed and in your garbage to suffocate or starve. Snap traps are not 100% and when visiting my parents who use this as their means of pest control I have seen many still writhing around after.

Anyways, the likelihood of your mouse having something contagious or that would irritate your ferrets GI is slim to none. Not to mention, you're already feeding mice from the same line and have all been exposed to the same contagions, so no matter what he's exposed one way or another. I'd just do the most humane thing and let him sort it out himself and nom it all up like he should - in the wild that's how it would happen anyways. The young, sick, and elderly are always the first to go.

[katt]

Xeopse-Koda has IBD so it doesn't take much to irritate his belly. Also the mouse is not even a year old, so it is not old age. The mice from the strain he ate were fed well before this female became sick. The last batch of babies was a few months ago almost and they were all eaten. The babies before that that Koda ate were the first litter from that group. Also her ears look very infected. :S

The other mice don't Look sick, but they all make weird noises and the other 2 females are not getting pregnant...

[goingpostal]

I wouldn't have an issue feeding that mouse, if you want to kill and freeze it first, you can set up a cheap co2 chamber with a plastic tote, some hose and co2 canister (talk to local bottling company and buy a tank or get the ones for toy cars).

[lnsybean44]

I work with mice in research and even the standard BALB and CD1 white mice start to get scruffy between 9 months and 1 year old. I was told when I first started working that mice are considered geriatric around a year, even though they can live past that.

Are they moving normally? Eating/drinking normally?

Personally if I was worried I would separate them out from their "healthy" cage mates and keep an eye on them. If you decide they need to go I would let Koda kill, but not eat, them (unless you are certain it is just old age) rather than cervical dislocation. If you dont know what you are doing it can go badly.

[bluemoose]

I've never had a problem with cervical dislocation but I guess I did have an expert small animal killer show me the ropes I don't think it causes paralysis if done correctly and you'd be able to tell if the mouse was still alive. Letting Koda kill but not eat it would probably be fine. I agree the chances of him getting anything are low but personally I wouldn't risk it especially with his IBD.

[josiesmom]

Need to get a snake. The snake will easily dispatch the "funky" mice, eat it and not be bothered. Personally I don't feed my ferrets any mice that look "off" or have tumors - they go to the snake. No, Slinky doesn't ONLY eat these funky mice - she gets healthy ones too. I just feel her reptilian system is more able to handle anything the mice might have that could be mammalian in nature.

In Lieu of a snake - those large PacMAn frogs will eat Mice,as will Tarantulas - but I'm no fan of arachnids.

Cheers.
Kim