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Bad Guy Be wary of Boas and Balls (Rodent Factory) rodents. Parasites!

The reason they seem to attach to the extended piece of hair (away from the body) is as the animal cools (upon death) they move to the edge of the hair, to in essence "jump" from the now "Dead host" onto a potentially new, live host. This is obviously to continue their life cycle.

Obviously upon gassing, the rodents were placed into their bags and stuck into the freezer.

Detriment to reptiles by the lice after frozen: Non physically

Recommend: Feeding them? No way, for if this is an issue, what else could their be? Red Dye in the food? Fatty Rats? It's apparent there is an issue with the quality of the colony.

I've researched rat colonies as I Actually maintain my own 32 bin setup for personal use. There are HOSTS of issues that can arise. As Tom P. stated, they can be harbored on new blood, brought in and spreads like wildfire. I've been fortunate to have a self sufficient colony for the past 5 months with no issues, but I am weary of getting any new blood (which is necessary for a healthy colony) and bringing it into my population.

It can be treated via frontline methods (as Tom stated), another major issue are rat MITES. They can come hand in hand... Rats... QUALITY rodents... are not easy to produce!

They could be having an issue "washing off" as they died with a "clamped" position on their legs/claws.

Either way, thanks for the post. Sometimes a fire needs to be lit under someones rear to get their operation back in order.
 
Lucille said:
That is a popular misconception. Lice happen in the best of families (in people) and do not require deplorable conditions.
I'm still on how the OP is claiming that the lice were stuck fast to the hair, and I do not think that can happen, and I don't think it did happen.
There seem to be no other complaints about this vendor and this situation, perhaps people have not come forward yet, right now I'm reserving judgment.
Click to expand...

This has been addressed in the thread already but I want to mention it again to this post. Lice do exactly latch onto the hair of the host. That is what they do. Their entire structure and life cycle is defendant on their hold in the hair. No surprise to me that they don't wash off.

Thanks for all the comments/support. I'm amazed that this hasn't come out before.
 
simpsonke said:
This has been addressed in the thread already but I want to mention it again to this post. Lice do exactly latch onto the hair of the host. That is what they do. Their entire structure and life cycle is defendant on their hold in the hair. No surprise to me that they don't wash off.

Thanks for all the comments/support. I'm amazed that this hasn't come out before.
Click to expand...

Agreed...They even have mean-looking hooks at the end of their legs in order to latch on. They are ventrodorsally flattened so that they can maneuver through the hairs, as well.

Correct me if I'm wrong, though, but I haven't seen the seller of the rats on here making a comment, yet. Anyone know if they have seen this thread yet?
 
Reading the emails back and forth it seems Luke this is no surprise to the seller which is alarming.
 
I have to say the pictures Shadera posted of the rodents look bad, especially the mice. I would not feed them to my snakes. Also, wanting the rodents sent back at the customer's expense is not good business. I once was sent someone else's order (from a different supplier). some of it matched what I ordered so the company sent what I was missing from my order free, including shipping, and told me to just keep the extras that I didn't order. That's good customer service.
 
Shadera said:
I wasn't going to say anything, but since this is here and there is mention of no others coming forward I will speak.

I ordered and received rats/mice in October/November.

The rodents were as the OP described his. Many soaked in urine/blood, overwhelming bad (putrid) smell when bags were opened, and quite a few dead parasites visible. The adult mice were especially gross. If they looked that bad frozen, I'd hate to see how the racks of live animals are kept.

I figured I would give these guys a try because I needed rats, and was disappointed at the quality of the rodents. However, based on previous interactions with Lynn, I decided it wasn't worth complaining about. No way am I feeding that to my animals, though.

That's just my opinion, based on my experience with their rodents. I do admit that I'm picky when it comes to snake food, and perhaps what bothers me is no big deal to others.

A couple pictures attached. Shows the small bugs that were all over all of the rodents, and the condition of the frozen mice with blood, urine and liquid feces smeared on them.
Click to expand...


Those are horrible looking. I would not feed them.
 
It's sad that companies like The Mouse Factory, who will, without being _asked_, replace an order free of charge, AND you get to keep the incorrect order of beautiful mice, (they sent me an old order, not a new order- I needed different sizes than what were sent) go out of business, while companies with disgusting dirty infested rodents manage to hang in there.
 
Those bugs pictures are not live at all. they are Mites that have spiraled out of control


ANYONE that breeds rodents on wood bedding has the same problem, Using a higher quality bedding helps reduce it yet, but if you inspect frozen rats you will see it. Its a matter of if you catch it in time and treat the rodents bedding by freezing it or not.

The pic it hard to tell if its just a wood mite or tropical rat mite. Wood mites are harmless to us and reptiles and ingest them. Tropical rat mites are harmless once dead but live ones are blood sucker.
 
RichsBallPythons said:
Those bugs pictures are not live at all. they are Mites that have spiraled out of control


ANYONE that breeds rodents on wood bedding has the same problem, Using a higher quality bedding helps reduce it yet, but if you inspect frozen rats you will see it. Its a matter of if you catch it in time and treat the rodents bedding by freezing it or not.

The pic it hard to tell if its just a wood mite or tropical rat mite. Wood mites are harmless to us and reptiles and ingest them. Tropical rat mites are harmless once dead but live ones are blood sucker.
Click to expand...

meant to say Lice
 
Also for rats to have blood on them when frozen indicates one thing.

They were never gassed but under went head trama and its means of euthanizing/killing.
Ive never had a rat ever once live, gassed and start Bleeding. Hard wack on back head WILL cause bleeding like this mostly out the eats/nose
 
RichsBallPythons said:
Ive never had a rat ever once live, gassed and start Bleeding. Hard wack on back head WILL cause bleeding like this mostly out the eats/nose
Click to expand...

This isn't just blood on the fur, Rich. They are actually bleeding from other parts of their bodies. It almost looks like a bleeding tumor on that mouse above that I posted, while a few others have what looks like bleeding holes in various parts of their bodies.

What's the excuse for that? There is only one word to describe the feeders I've seen pictures of so far from those people - disgusting.

Someone paying premium feeder prices, ought to get premium feeders. I'd be ashamed to offer something like these for sale.
 
Shadera said:
This isn't just blood on the fur, Rich. They are actually bleeding from other parts of their bodies. It almost looks like a bleeding tumor on that mouse above that I posted, while a few others have what looks like bleeding holes in various parts of their bodies.

What's the excuse for that? There is only one word to describe the feeders I've seen pictures of so far from those people - disgusting.

Someone paying premium feeder prices, ought to get premium feeders. I'd be ashamed to offer something like these for sale.
Click to expand...

Im not defending them at all, just giving insight on the bugs you see. If they are bleeding from other parts, then they are infested with Tropical Rat mites. They are PITA to get rid of and bite like fleas but more intense.

He would have to for month straight, freeze all new bedding, clean the racks and treat the tubs with bedding spray for lice as itll kill the rat mites and wood mites. Or can use PAM that will work best but expensive large scale.
 
RichsBallPythons said:
Im not defending them at all, just giving insight on the bugs you see. If they are bleeding from other parts, then they are infested with Tropical Rat mites. They are PITA to get rid of and bite like fleas but more intense.

He would have to for month straight, freeze all new bedding, clean the racks and treat the tubs with bedding spray for lice as itll kill the rat mites and wood mites. Or can use PAM that will work best but expensive large scale.
Click to expand...

What's the thought on sevindust. I know farmers/livestockers use it and is readily available in bulk at your local home depot.
 
tommyhil4_6 said:
What's the thought on sevindust. I know farmers/livestockers use it and is readily available in bulk at your local home depot.
Click to expand...

You can use a lot of products, but you dont want it on the rats if they are going to be feeders. Best to treat the bedding, mix it around then put rats back.

I always in winter time keep my bedding outside so anything in it is killed. Summer time same thing, Direct heat from sun will dry out the mites exoskeleton and kill them.
 
RichsBallPythons said:
You can use a lot of products, but you dont want it on the rats if they are going to be feeders. Best to treat the bedding, mix it around then put rats back.

I always in winter time keep my bedding outside so anything in it is killed. Summer time same thing, Direct heat from sun will dry out the mites exoskeleton and kill them.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I have been putting all bedding (snake and rodent) in about 10-20* nights for 3 nights or so to alleviate any issues. Sometime, i'll be doing the same in the 95*+ weather.
 
tommyhil4_6 said:
Indeed. I have been putting all bedding (snake and rodent) in about 10-20* nights for 3 nights or so to alleviate any issues. Sometime, i'll be doing the same in the 95*+ weather.
Click to expand...

Heat must exceed 125F for it to be effective on the bedding. So in direct sunlight on driveway few hours should do the trick.
 
The quality of those feeders is just disgusting and repulsive. I would be ashamed of shipping them out like that if I was an employee/running that business. A normal person wouldn't want to feed something infested with bugs to their animals. It's pretty awful that they won't return the shipping costs with your refund. $70 is not an insignificant amount of money. I'd be pissed too.
 
Wow, those feeders look absolutely awful. In my opinion (from owning several rats as pets), that blood looks like it's from a burst cyst or abscess, which is super gross. Before shipping it's a good idea to just run your (gloved) hand over a rat and check for any huge tumors, cysts, that sort of thing because some will burst and no one wants to deal with that. Urine and blood on feeders is really shoddy, it's not that hard to wash em and quality check before sending them out. I hope you get your full refund.
 
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