A reminder, there is a list for people interested feeding mice or other
alternatives to kibble.  It's hosted at http://www.onelist.com, it's called
ferretfeed.  This was done awhile back because we were grossing out and
upsetting some folks with our posts here.  Those who were interested wanted
to be able to post freely without people getting judgemental towards them.
It was also done out of respect for those subscribers who *don't* want to
read that stuff on the FML.
 
Reed wrote of an unpleasant private email sent in response to his query:
>This person 'spoke for the whole list' in thier reply.
 
They did not.  No one person may speak for the whole list.  That there
was enough interest on the subject to start a spin off list says a lot.
However, there are some 3,000 subscribers here and certainly there will be
some (even many) who do not care to read posts on the subject.  One the
ferretfeed list people can post without worrying that their comments might
upset a fellow subscriber.
 
Vicky Henderson wrote:
>I would be leery of giving my ferrets mice from an animal research, you
>have no idea what those mice have died of.
 
Animal research facilities routinely sacrifice and sell the mice from
*control groups* and they are sold with the intent that they be used as
food.  Those animals should not have been subjected to anything that would
render then unfit for consumption.  As far as I know, the animals actually
used for any sort of drug/chemical experiment wouldn't be sold, but you can
always check.
 
I wouldn't hesitate to use those mice as a safe source of food.  I'd be
careful about using wild caught mice though-those could have parasites.
(Side note: if you know your ferrets have caught and killed housemice, you
might want to have your ferret do a fecal exam on them to check for
parasites.)
 
If you're still leery about using lab mice, there are places which sell
breed and sell feeder mice in bulk.  A lot of wildlife rehabbers use them
as a direct source.  I think they can be obtained live or frozen, anyone
interested can email me privately for some names and contact info.  If
there is enough interest, I'll post it to the ferretfeed list.
 
-Ilena Ayala
(Who likes mice & thinks they are adorable, but still respects the fact
that they are step in the food chain.)
[Posted in FML issue 2753]