# Feeding live mice?



## maydai (Jan 7, 2009)

I know you can feed a scorpion a mouse about once a month or two, but say i caught a mouse from my house and fed it to him, would that be ok?

*Description for more details about setting:*

I live in a medium sized town(Duncan, British Columbia), about a mile out of town it's nice and green and low-verymedium traffic, There's a creek beside my house, and lots of trees.


----------



## pnshmntMMA (Jan 7, 2009)

id be very careful about it. mice, like insects you catch in the yard can be exposed to pesticides and other envirnmentocides. i would only feed captive bred store bought mice just to be safe. and it is definately ok to feed mice. people argue on behalf of the mice and that is their only argument. scorps are opportunity feeders. they dont go out looking for seals like killer whales, they eat what they can subdue or incapacitate. if a managable sized mouse or other vert comes along like an injured bird, it will sieze the opportunity no doubt. it wont go, 'wait that mouse has feelings and i dont want it to feel pain" i say mix it up when it comes to scorps but dont only feed mice. i know its addicting to watch, but ive heard of pet scorps going on a year long fast after eating enough of a mouse. my female however, likes to just kill the mouse anyway and not eat it sometimes. sorry about the tangent :}


----------



## maydai (Jan 7, 2009)

*hey*

that helps out a lot thanks. I haven't yet seen my emperor eat a mouse, or anything for that matter. I only bought her a couple days ago.


----------



## RoachGirlRen (Jan 7, 2009)

> people argue on behalf of the mice and that is their only argument.


Actually, the more valid argument is that you need to be careful about the animal inflicting harm on your invertebrate; an unstunned live adult rodent may lose to a scorpion ultimately, but could inflict serious or even fatal injuries in the process. Considering that I've seen large constrictors come in to vet offices with life threatening injuries from mice, I'd say an animal the same size as a mouse could certainly be injured if one does not use discretion.

That being said, if the mouse is a pinky/fuzzy, pre-killed, or stunned/incapacitated prior to feeding, there is certainly no reason why one's scorp can't occasionally have a rodent. Just keep in mind that the diet in the wild is _primarily_ invertebrates so it probably isn't too healthy to feed strictly mice. And I agree 100% with pnshmntMMA; it is risky to feed WC prey, especially something like mice which are routinely the target of deliberate poisoning and which dwell in environments where there is a high chance of exposure to chemicals that could harm an invertebrate. I'm also not sure what kind of zoonoses are prevelant in your area but many wild mice carry diseases and parasites harmful to humans - something to consider for yourself! Definitely stick to CB rodents and of course, if feeding adults, stun or pre-kill.


----------



## tryme (Jan 7, 2009)

would it be possible to feed a scorp a thawed out mouse?


----------



## calum (Jan 7, 2009)

I think that can be done Tryme, people do it with tarantulas. 


I also think livefeeding scorpions is wrong, it is completely unecassary, and puts the mouse through a hell of a lot of pain. plus, there is always the posibilty the scorpion will be killed be the mouse, or injured at least. 

but anyway, you can feed them mice, it's up to you.


----------



## tryme (Jan 7, 2009)

Ok thanks for that


----------



## pandinus (Jan 7, 2009)

the biggest problem is that rodents or any vertebrate have large amounts of calcium in their skellitons, which is bad for the scorpion as it errodes away at the magnesium that hardens its chelicera so that they become brittle and essentially over time will crumble leaving the scorpion toothless. this is the reason why any vertebrate live or dead should be offered to a T or scorpion only very rarely, especially since it would be very small part of their natural diet anyway. i'd say maybe once or twice a year at most. do NOT feed a mouse you caught in the house as this could be carrying all sorts of nasty diseases or parasites.


John


----------



## Boanerges (Jan 7, 2009)

I also wouldn't feed any of my pets anything that was caught outside. Too much risk for your pets IMO.


----------



## Aztek (Jan 7, 2009)

Repostx34531234

Just use the search function.

These threads always turn into a debate.

"Oh but in nature they eat whatever they can get"

That's the dumbest excuse imo


----------



## RoachGirlRen (Jan 7, 2009)

> the biggest problem is that rodents or any vertebrate have large amounts of calcium in their skellitons, which is bad for the scorpion as it errodes away at the magnesium that hardens its chelicera so that they become brittle and essentially over time will crumble leaving the scorpion toothless.


Woah! Very interesting bit of info. I knew that there were concerns from the calcium content but didn't realize it could become that severe - thank you for sharing! Do you have any more info (links) on the subject? I've fascinated.


----------



## pandinus (Jan 7, 2009)

RoachGirlRen said:


> Woah! Very interesting bit of info. I knew that there were concerns from the calcium content but didn't realize it could become that severe - thank you for sharing! Do you have any more info (links) on the subject? I've fascinated.



I first learned about this during a lecture at the 2006 arachnocon regarding fang loss in T blondii as a result of a heavy portion of diet consisting of vertebrates. maybe try digging in the T forum and you can scratch something up.


John


----------



## RoachGirlRen (Jan 7, 2009)

> I first learned about this during a lecture at the 2006 arachnocon regarding fang loss in T blondii as a result of a heavy portion of diet consisting of vertebrates. maybe try digging in the T forum and you can scratch something up.


Awesome, thanks for the tip!


----------



## pandinus (Jan 7, 2009)

RoachGirlRen said:


> Awesome, thanks for the tip!


welcome


----------



## maydai (Jan 7, 2009)

*yeah...*

I don't mean to sound rude, but I was asking for people opinions on FEEDING mice to scorpions, not who cares whether a mouse dies or not. I'm new to scorpions(kind of) and I honestly don't give a <EDIT -MrI> about mice, they re-poplate so often no ones ever going to kill them off. It's a mouse, yes I know it has feelings and it's alive, but pets need to survive too. not just mice.


----------



## pandinus (Jan 7, 2009)

maydai said:


> I don't mean to sound rude, but I was asking for people opinions on FEEDING mice to scorpions, not who cares whether a mouse dies or not. I'm new to scorpions(kind of) and I honestly don't give a shit about mice, they re-poplate so often no ones ever going to kill them off. It's a mouse, yes I know it has feelings and it's alive, but pets need to survive too. not just mice.


simply put, it's not very healthy for the scorpion, and can be dangerous. if you do decide to, it is best to use juveniles, preferably prekilled, and do so VERY rarely.


John


----------



## pnshmntMMA (Jan 8, 2009)

last bit of advice here for the OP..whatever you choose to feed your animal, make sure its store bought from the beginning. not worth bringing in any pesticides or chemicals and killing your scorp or reptiles or whatever. i look at it as, its better to buy cheap crickets often than rebuy an expensive animal.


----------



## maydai (Jan 12, 2009)

*Pictures of Apnea *


----------



## cjm1991 (Jan 12, 2009)

Is it to hard to feed them a cricket or roach? Not to mention the cost and smell. Your not feeding mice just because "It could happen in the wild", <removed>


----------



## cjm1991 (Jan 12, 2009)

Nice lookin scorp though, looks plump and happy


----------



## clam1991 (Jan 12, 2009)

but to the op

dont go wild caught theres just too much risk
and a live mouse could kill your scorpion or injure it 
both things i would like to avoid
id stick to crickets
or roaches easier to handle and no mess afterwards
plus the stuff about the scorp actually getting more brittle
im never letting a mouse near my inverts


----------



## Voodoo (Jan 12, 2009)

*<removed>


Lets get one thing straight, feeding a scorpion or tarantula a mouse (or any other animal for that matter) in a confined box with no fair chance of escape is NOT 100% natural. In the wild, there is a whole lot of space in which the predator has to come across the prey item, and where the prey has chance for escape. We cannot possibily re create these conditions in glass boxes.

<removed>

I have my opinion about feeding live animals to my pets. For anyone who is interested. I will do it, if neccasary for my animal to survive, in as safe and pain free way as possible. I feed my larger T f/t small rats, because he would take them. If he wouldn't I would pre kill the mouse/rat via a quick thump to the head, or gassing. It is a much quicker death for the mouse, and will NOT harm my spider that way. Same goes for crickets. They are small enough to be overtaken by predators such as spiders and scorpions quickly, and would have a much quicker death than a mouse being fed to the same predator.

At the end of the day, our duties is to provide the care our PETS need, not the animals being fed to them. We must do what we have to do for our pets, as they never asked to become pets in the first place. But I also strongly believe, WE are sopposed to be the intelligent animals, with feeling and emotion. 

<removed>


Back totally on topic, please remember:

- Mice can kill your scorpion. Many mice predate on scorpions naturally in the wild. The best way to prevent that is use F/T or PRE KILLED. 

- Feeding mice to your scorpion once a month is definately too much.
- Your scorpion will definately not devour an adult mouse. I own some VERY large WC emporers, and even then they will not devour more than a pinky mouse in one sitting.
- I have heard of cases of large scorpions trying to eat pinky mouse alive, without stinging. Mice feel pain, and if this happens, it is best for both animals to just kill the pniky and feed it to you scorpion on tongs.

Good Luck whatever you choose to do. 
 J x*


----------



## pnshmntMMA (Jan 12, 2009)

thought this thread was over? <removed> truth is mice arent expensive, and if you get the carcass out before it rots..no smell! whoduh thunkit? worry about yourself, not me, or the many others on here who feed LIVE verts occassionally. have a nice day. <removed>


----------



## calum (Jan 12, 2009)

yeah, people eat cows, pigs, etc. because they have to! scorpions *do not* need to eat mice. that's my point of view, feed a live mouse to a snake, that I'm fine with, but it's completely unecassary to feed a mouse to a scorpion.


----------



## winter_in_tears (Jan 12, 2009)

calum said:


> yeah, people eat cows, pigs, etc. because they have to! scorpions *do not* need to eat mice. that's my point of view, feed a live mouse to a snake, that I'm fine with, but it's completely unecassary to feed a mouse to a scorpion.


^ This is the best answer. Although it's messed up that we eat those animals.

Now please close this thread.


----------



## Billdolfski (Jan 13, 2009)

Voodoo said:


> *<see post above>
> 
> J x*


Best post in the thread


----------



## pandinus (Jan 13, 2009)

if you want a thread closed dont just post a statement in the thread, report the thread to the moderator personally if you want some form of action. they are too busy to read every post, and the best way is to contact them directly.



John


----------



## Nerri1029 (Jan 13, 2009)

*Mod Warning*

I just used an entire jug of bleach on this thread.

I removed anything that wasn't on topic to the OP.
that is:

* the safety to the scorpion of feeding it mice*

Behave or I will close this thread.

Discussions can and have happened in their own threads.
I know it's emotional to many of you, on either side, but don't hyjack a thread for your own agenda.

thanks


----------

