Frozen Wild Rats?

[PhilK]

G'day all,

The nurse at the clinic I'm working in has lots of rats around her hay shed and she traps them. She has been freezing them for me and I don't know what to tell her. Obviously I'd love some free rats seeing as they cost an arm and a leg to buy but I'm a bit worried about parasites etc.

How long would you say it is safe to freeze wild rats before feeding them to my diamonds?

 

[Sdaji]

I'm not quite sure what you pay for rats up in Brisbane, but I sell them for a lot less than an arm and a leg down here!

Personally I'd rather go for something I know for sure is safe rather than worry about parasites, poisons etc. Poisons won't be destroyed by freezing, and some parasites will survive freezing indefinitely. If freezing is going to kill parasites it usually happens pretty quickly. People usually say two weeks, but realistically most (not all, but most) parasites which will be killed by freezing will be dead as soon as the rat is fully frozen. Most of what isn't dead as soon as it's frozen will survive for months or years. Most of your worms, mites etc. are immediately killed by freezing, most of your bacteria and a lot of other microbes will just sit dormant for a very long time.

 

[Bel03]

The old man that lives behind me started doing the same thing, he set a heap of traps & all rats he caught, he was giving to me in a bag........i didnt have the heart to tell him i wouldnt use them, so they all went in my bin! I have since mentioned that although he isnt using any bait it doesnt mean they hadnt eaten some elsewhere, so its safer if i dont use them.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

I know of some cash strapped wildlife carers that would have loved free food for their charges, the tawny frogmouths, raptors, corvids..
herons and of course, monitors, get on to your local carers Phil
At the expo, a guy was selling frozen wild mice that were caught in a grain silo.
He just scooped them up in buckets and gassed them. had a freezer full of them to.

 

[Skelhorn]

one thing you could try....if you do catch them alive just chuck them in a big plastic tub and offer them a cleansing diet then freeze them after a certain period of time...mind you I wouldn't know how long it would take, But I do know (different animal but similar case) people out west that catch wild bores....feed them for a month then actually kill and eat them-Fit for human consumption, and it happens heaps!

 

[cuddle_python]

one thing you could try....if you do catch them alive just chuck them in a big plastic tub and offer them a cleansing diet then freeze them after a certain period of time...mind you I wouldn't know how long it would take, But I do know (different animal but similar case) people out west that catch wild bores....feed them for a month then actually kill and eat them-Fit for human consumption, and it happens heaps!

My parents use to live on a wheat farm when times were tough they would catch the wild pigs n eat them tastes better than the pork you get in the butchers it just melts in your mouth. Grain fed pigs are tender, piggery force fed pigs are tough and chewy lacking flavour.

 

[wokka]

My parents use to live on a wheat farm when times were tough they would catch the wild pigs n eat them tastes better than the pork you get in the butchers it just melts in your mouth. Grain fed pigs are tender, piggery force fed pigs are tough and chewy lacking flavour.

I am told 1080 is pretty well tasteless. Lol

 

[Skelhorn]

Hahaha Wokka you cage trap em, Not to sure I would tender the meat with 1080 lol