for being absolutely livid?

[Stonehenge]

DS has a pet snake which requires mice to eat. The mice are frozen when we buy them.

I bought some today and allowed them to defrost on the kitchen floor. Later DS brought me the bag and said "what are these doing on the floor?" I got annoyed and told him to put them back as I can't stand the things at the best of times and he knew full well why they were there.

Anyway I've just been to make a drink and the bag with the mice in had been left ON THE KITCHEN SIDE. But worst of all, one of my small kitchen knives was stuck in the bag. I pulled it out and its got all mouse blood on it. All of the kids are denying doing it. I'm fuming because its so disgusting to start with, dangerous messing around with knives and the knife is actually part of a set bought for us for Christmas.

DH thinks I'm 'over-reacting slightly'.

I have a disturbing vision of someone warming their bag'o'mice too long and it exploding in the microwave.

Large white ones, are they fuzzies? the snake is a python lol

I'd say that's a good plan to keep all the snake stuff in the kids room - their problem!

Stonehenge-Can DS come and play at your house? He'd love a python! He's only got a cornsnake and a beardie (I prefer the snake, at least it's food is dead!)

hehe anytime! but only if I can come and play at yours, I really want a beardie! I just have no room for another tank lol

Ahh fuzzies!

Yes, and don't worry about the knife. Douse it under a kettle of boiling water if you're worried, or disinfectant. But it will be fine.

Suess, that's exactly why DS is forbidden to use my mircowave for his mice. Exploding mice in his room is one thing, explodiing mice in my kitchen is a whole 'nother ball game.

my partner used to feed live mice to his snake. A friend rescued two and kept them as pets for 2 years till they died.

I wouldn't throw the knife, a dead mouse is reaaly no different to a uncooked steak or piece of chicken surely?

Why can't you have a dedicated bowl/tub for the defrosting the mice, and leave it somewhere other than the floor, which is really probably a slip hazard.

The beardie is cool but a tank full of locusts hopping about, 4ft away from your bedhead would send shivers down my spine. I often wonder if our lovely post lady knows what's in the brown package that comes for DS every two weeks

I hate locusts. I can just about tolerate the hoppers but I cannot bear the adults. They are vile.

My friend has one and she once went to take something back to debenhams and the woman behind the till shrieked and said "what the hell is that??!" a locust was on the clothes in the bag they escape very easily apparantly lol

Luckily he does have a good set up for keeping his locusts, the crickets he used to feed Billy on (until he was educated otherwise) used to escape quite regularly, I oftne found them hopping down the stairs.

I'd be cross about the poking of a knife into the mouse, on a leave it alone basis, and I guess also if the kids were forbidden to touch knives - not sure how old your children are.

But the rest is to do with your phobia IMO. Get a plastic box to defreeze the mice and put them somewhere sensible whilst that's happening (not on the floor), where your children (if they are small) can't touch them.

You don't need to do anything special to clean the knife, just give it a wash in the way you would if you had been cutting up chicken or any other meat.

YUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!
YANBU!

They do.When we first brought our lizards home, we found 3 locusts in the car, adult locusts too. They must have gotten into the tank somehow. Horrid things.

Well nobody is owning up to it but DS has just started this conversation:

ds "what happened again?"
me "someone stabbed a mouse with a dangerous mouse"
ds "and what happened to the mouse?"
me "it bled
ds "what happened to the knife?"
me "it got blood on it, obviously"
ds "can I see it?"

I think he's done it personally but he won't admit it. I'm more annoyed at him messing with a knife, if he'd slipped or something... doesn't bare thinking about.

He's 8 btw.

shit, dangerous knife, not mouse

(images of dangermouse in my head now)

Just be glad its not like my experience of ExP feeding burmese python a rabbit and insisting the bloody thing just be allowed to roam the house..Now i like snakes, but.. have you seen their poop
And they carry salmonella.

Back to your question OP: Don't bother binning the knife, a wash in hot soapy water will do.. the snake probably carries more germs and stuff than the mouse. The mice are usually bred clean.

Mousemeat (from mice bred to be snakefood) is no more poisonous than any other meat and probably less risky than dodgy battery chicken TBH. Wash your knife with your normal washing up procedure, get a plastic bucket from the pound shop to defrost mice in for the future, and get over yourself.

Sheesh, surely children of eight should know how to use knives safely? You should be proud of his scientific curiosity. Maybe he'll be a forensic pathologist when he grows up.

Ah, my children (8 and 9) regularly help with the cooking (well the 8 year old does, ds is a bit of a skiver) including cutting up vegetables etc with sharp knives. I'd be peeved at them messing about, but not worried about them injuring themselves terribly.

My mum used to give us biology lessons with rabbits that she'd run over and then we would eat them (this was before mixamotosis). And my big sister collected skulls, so she would bring home dead animals she'd found, bury them for a few months, and then dig them up and boil the skulls. I assume not in the family saucepans!