• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Bad Guy RodentPro- Zoonotic disease warning

Suppliers can't help having issues now and again, that is understandable.

My concerns are a bit bigger than ordering from Rodent Pro again. Can the virus be shed in the feces of reptiles fed contaminated animals? What about cross contamination to our pair of pet rats? sigh....research time. I'm not sure if my local health dept will be much help, but I'll try there, too.

Thanks for all and any updates.
 
I'm sure the OP is trying to do his due diligence as a good citizen (it sounds like he's got reasonable beef with RodentPro too), but I think the "outbreak" announcement is premature. LCMV is very common in rodent populations, and seroprevalence studies have demonstrated low levels of exposure in human populations as well in cohorts of people who never even showed symptoms. That RodentPro and every other mouse breeder in the country has seen LCMV come through their facilities - and that many of us are regularly exposed - should not be surprising at all. A symptomatic case in humans WOULD be very unusual and is probably the only reason the CDC was investigating (an investigation of this nature would be very standard protocol). I would be reluctant to get too excited about this pending a more official announcement. Especially since it only gives the media more senseless anti-herpetoculture fodder.

Brad


Bradley J. Waffa, MSPH
DVM Candidate
Merial, Ltd. Student Representative
NAVC OnCampus Representative
NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine
Raleigh, NC 27606
 
It seems everybody should just take a deep breath and a step back, and let the op give us pure 100% credibility and substantiated proof as to this information. Also, dont get me wrong, I think this is a great thread and should be brought public, but it should have been done as an info thread for now, then when proof is available, then start a bad guy thread.
 
reticguy76 said:
Until there is pure 100% undeniable and credible proof, there is no reason for anybody to freak out. For now, this is all hearsay, and unsubstantiated claims.
Click to expand...

It is in fact not hearsay that there has been an infection process, Erik's article was good info thank you Erik.
http://www.farmworldonline.com/news/NewsArticle.asp?newsid=14991

No one asks for 100%. Even in criminal cases, the standard is 'beyond a reasonable doubt' and in civil cases it is only 'more likely than not'.
 
Maybe thats why I wouldnt make a good lawyer. Its all or nothing with me. Until I see proof enough for my eyes and brain, Rodentpro is still good for me. Will I change as more stuff and info develops, very well could. As for now, im not 100% convinced
 
I think it is perfectly reasonable for people to wonder about this. I can not tell you why the CDC needed our records to figure out if we got a diseased shipment or not- I wonder this myself. In fact it makes me more concerned because I wonder why they needed my records- was rp being uncooperative? I can not tell you that. I can only tell you that two people from the health department showed up today. They had name badges and business cards- I have no reason to think they are not who they said they were. I am not going to post someone else's name on here without their permission- they are local government employees and did not ask for a bunch of herpers to be calling them. However, while it is true rp is a long term well established business- so are we. You will notice I do not have many posts on here- I do not make a habit of calling people out or fighting on the Internet. There is not a reason for panic- this is NOT a deadly disease. But it is serious and I felt a moral responsibility to notify the community. Do with that what you will.
 
bwaffa said:
I would be reluctant to get too excited about this pending a more official announcement.
Click to expand...

After reading the article Erik brought to us, I personally do not feel that I have to wait until I've been given permission to think by any official.
 
cr250guy said:
Well I made an order last week, just found out about this about 20 minutes ago...my shipment was supposed to arrive tomorrow. I have spent the last 20 minutes on the phone with fedex getting the shipment stopped and returned to rodent pro. I refuse to put myself, I work in a large veterinary hospital with a lot of immune suppressed animals...this could have had a terrible outcome.

I remember thinking to myself, wow they really got that order out a lot faster than the last time....I wonder why!

Jason Wright
Click to expand...

Just thought you should know rp ships the Monday after you order. So ordering last week and receiving your rodents tomorrow ( Wednesday) is normal.
 
You know how many people went to jail 30 years ago for "beyond a reasonable" doubt then were later released and found innocent because of 100% dna over the last 10 years or a little more ?? Right there, is why I demand 100% or as close to, as determined by my thoughts and gut, when accusations and some "proof" is brought forth
 
reticguy76 said:
You know how many people went to jail 30 years ago for "beyond a reasonable" doubt then were later released and found innocent because of 100% dna over the last 10 years or a little more ?? Right there, is why I demand 100% or as close to, as determined by my thoughts and gut, when accusations and some "proof" is brought forth
Click to expand...

Ryan, no one is stopping you from having your own opinion. Mine differs. I respect that you say what you feel, please do the same for me. There are times when I definitely get the feeling that people want to put the hush on, and I'm getting that feeling loud and clear.
 
Reticguy, I don't have a problem with you wanting proof. I have none but whT I have said. Also, I fully understand that with large colonies here is always annincreased risk of disease. My outage is that rp did not give menthe opportunity to make the proper decisions for my facility- which might be different choices than what you as a private individual would make. My issue is with them withholding the information from their customers. That is why it is a bad guy thread.
 
I respect everybodys opinions and views on these threads. I was simply stating more in depth of why my opinion is what it is, based on your beyond a reasonable doubt scenario.

Beyond a reasonable doubt just doesnt cut it for me these days in most situations such as this one.

I respect you very much Lucille and you make your thoughts and opinions, well presented all the time I read your posts
 
Well I'm not surprised rodent pro has problems I dont like any of there stuff and will not feed it anymore I have 8 ball pythons who all picked up some bacterial infection took them to the vet got a culture blood work and it was a pseudomona type that is not natural fauna and with what it was ( cant remember medical name) my vet was surprised the rest of my animals weren't sick well it turns out the only animals that were sick we're the ones feeding on rodent pro small rats I know after freezing thawing and all that bacteria shouldn't survive but oh we'll havent had a problem since so I'm gonna point the finger
 
I would have liked to have been told something like this:
we regret to have to tell you that this virus was found in some of our animals. We do/ do not think (whichever was true) that you received these animals as part of your order. Here is information about this disease- then a link to the CDC site, etc.- a note about pregnant women/ immunosupressed people. If we did get those rodents in may, I could have decided to cull then. Now I don't know if what I've been breeding here- a substantial increase due to rp stopping their shipments of live- has been exposed. I have some responsibility to our employees- I was uninformed and their actions make us look bad to our employees. I haveone who may need to be tested for exposure. I do not enjoy giving him stress- he is a great guy who is incredibly patient feeding baby snakes. If I had all the info at least I could have made decisions. I do not appreciate that they were made for me.
 
Brad, according to the article.

"[out of 52 workers] 13 of the facility’s employees were positive for LCM, nine reported that there were ill and six sought medical care."

One could take this to mean 17% of those exposed at the facility were infected. I don't think that is something that anyone needs to take lightly. Having had a child with a severely compromised immune system due to chemotherapy, I find it unconscionable that Rodent Pro would not proactively let their customer's know.

While one cannot fault them for having the outbreak, they have opened themselves up to a massive lawsuit by failing to warn their client base of health risks.



bwaffa said:
I'm sure the OP is trying to do his due diligence as a good citizen (it sounds like he's got reasonable beef with RodentPro too), but I think the "outbreak" announcement is premature. LCMV is very common in rodent populations, and seroprevalence studies have demonstrated low levels of exposure in human populations as well in cohorts of people who never even showed symptoms. That RodentPro and every other mouse breeder in the country has seen LCMV come through their facilities - and that many of us are regularly exposed - should not be surprising at all. A symptomatic case in humans WOULD be very unusual and is probably the only reason the CDC was investigating (an investigation of this nature would be very standard protocol). I would be reluctant to get too excited about this pending a more official announcement. Especially since it only gives the media more senseless anti-herpetoculture fodder.

Brad


Bradley J. Waffa, MSPH
DVM Candidate
Merial, Ltd. Student Representative
NAVC OnCampus Representative
NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine
Raleigh, NC 27606
Click to expand...
 
jumpsnake said:
I would have liked to have been told something like this:
we regret to have to tell you that this virus was found in some of our animals. We do/ do not think (whichever was true) that you received these animals as part of your order. Here is information about this disease- then a link to the CDC site, etc.- a note about pregnant women/ immunosupressed people. If we did get those rodents in may, I could have decided to cull then. Now I don't know if what I've been breeding here- a substantial increase due to rp stopping their shipments of live- has been exposed. I have some responsibility to our employees- I was uninformed and their actions make us look bad to our employees. I haveone who may need to be tested for exposure. I do not enjoy giving him stress- he is a great guy who is incredibly patient feeding baby snakes. If I had all the info at least I could have made decisions. I do not appreciate that they were made for me.
Click to expand...

I believe that is reasonable, especially as there are more people involved at you facility than most hobbyists.

I regularly order from RP, would I have like to have had a heads up? Yes. I am not going to freak out just yet though. I will reserve my right to freak out later. :D

If this affects reptiles, I will have issues.

I will be on the look out for a different supplier, in case I decide not to order from RP again.
 
Back
Top