Shooting for snake food??

[bradhollands999]

Just a quick curiosity question....

Does anyone on here shoot pigeons, rats, rabbits, squirrels etc. and then freeze them, before feeding them to their large monitor lizards or snakes??

I was just wondering if freezeing them would eliminate the chance of any disease going to the reptile it is fed too.

I'm not thinking of doing it and have never done it, but its just something i was thinking about.

Please give any informative feedback!!

[bradhollands999]

BUMP!! Anyone???

[Dazzer]

i use to shoot rabbits,pigeons,crows,magpies etc to feed my ferrets with.
I use to own a harris hawk & he caught loads of fur & feather until May last year when i split with my other half...sold my ferrets,hawk & rifles when i moved into a flat in the city.
You will be ok shooting the pest species all year round just make sure u get permission off the land owner & remove the pellets from the animals before feeding

[carpy]

Originally Posted by bradhollands999

I was just wondering if freezeing them would eliminate the chance of any disease going to the reptile it is fed too.

freezing may not kill all bacterium. it will most probably put them in a dormant state, so it is a risk to feed wild british wildlife to animals

[NBLADE]

freezing will not kill the bacteria, it will just slow them right down, then as its thawed out, they become active again, which is why, you aren't supposed to refreeze food items again, due to every time they are defrosted bacteria breeds causing there to be double the amount of bacteria on there the first time,
saying that people do feed wild animals after being frozen to there reptiles and haven't experianced problems, i would remove any pellets before feeding though

[bradhollands999]

Thanks, but keep the replies coming peeps...

[bradhollands999]

BUMP

[hermanlover]

personally, i think the risks are too high

freezing only makes some bacteria dormant, and just slows down others, also you dont know if they have been into contact with pesticides, or poisons. its up to you, but its not reccomended by most people

[400runner]

i have used wild shot rabbits from honeybrook farm recently as i couldn't find any lab bred a few months ago. haven't had any probs yet but maybe haven't had enough time for anything to develop.
the thing that makes me think it probably isn't a problem is how do we know our lab bred animals are that clean. they must be cooped up in cages with many others with them and the bacteria must be rife, also, are the breeders treating every individual for internal parasites, maybe they do, i don't know, but the bacteria will still be present!

[AZUK]

I have used Riffle shot vermin for many years with no ill effect, however I always ensure there are no pellets or slugs n the prey offered by using a metal detector first. I believe that if stored and defrosted correctly the risks of harmful bacteria is minimal. Snake gut fauna is very efficient and should be use to ealing with most types of bacteria.