Is live feeding really that bad?

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

In the UK the norm is feeding d/f frozen though , of course .

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I understand this and respect everyone's right to choose based on their situation. I think both f/t and live have their merits. Please don't think I'm trying to pick on you either because we might disagree. There are just plenty of pros you can use for encouraging others to choose f/t over live. Why rely on secondhand stories from irresponsible keepers and out of context pictures? Draw on your own experiences to convince folks with your personal positives and drop the fear mongering bit. I feel you'll have a much better chance at picking up some f/t converts this way.

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Originally Posted by John1982

I understand this and respect everyone's right to choose based on their situation. I think both f/t and live have their merits. Please don't think I'm trying to pick on you either because we might disagree. There are just plenty of pros you can use for encouraging others to choose f/t over live. Why rely on secondhand stories from irresponsible keepers and out of context pictures? Draw on your own experiences to convince folks with your personal positives and drop the fear mongering bit. I feel you'll have a much better chance at picking up some f/t converts this way.

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Fair comments bud .. .. I have said many times in this and similar threads that I simply LOVE all living things and that's the main thing stopping me from dropping 'cute as hell' little mice in with my snakes ...... I've mentioned many times how I pick worms / slugs up off pavements / sidewalks when I'm out walking the dog and how my heart sinks when I accidentally stand on a snail in the dark . The crunching noise turns my stomach.

I simply mention the very real threat of damage to the snakes ( as it does undeniably occur ) as a way of hopefully discouraging others.

You're not alone in that. I do the same thing. I even take spiders out of the house and give mice a fighting chance at escape when my cats bring them in.
However, to quote Finding Nemo, "Fish gotta swim...Bird's gotta eat". Or in this case, snake's gotta eat. All it took was one bite from a excrement-covered feeder mouse for me to get over feeling bad for them. They were bred and born to be food, so they are no different than lunch meat.

Then again, my family owns a sausage company. So maybe I've just learned how to be callused when I need to be.

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Originally Posted by sleepymeryl

You're not alone in that. I do the same thing. I even take spiders out of the house and give mice a fighting chance at escape when my cats bring them in.
However, to quote Finding Nemo, "Fish gotta swim...Bird's gotta eat". Or in this case, snake's gotta eat. All it took was one bite from a excrement-covered feeder mouse for me to get over feeling bad for them. They were bred and born to be food, so they are no different than lunch meat.

Then again, my family owns a sausage company. So maybe I've just learned how to be callused when I need to be.

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LOL this reminds me of when I told my fiancee I wanted to breed rats for our collection. She asked how I could do it. My 2 females were accidental pets that were bred as food. I won't form a bond with the babies because my snakes need to eat them and I know that lol

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Originally Posted by SCWood

LOL this reminds me of when I told my fiancee I wanted to breed rats for our collection. She asked how I could do it. My 2 females were accidental pets that were bred as food. I won't form a bond with the babies because my snakes need to eat them and I know that lol

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I sometimes feel bad for the pinkies because they're so helpless and sad looking. Luckily, I haven't needed them very often. When I do though, I just put them in and walk away. They just crawl around hopelessly searching for mom...
I can't watch it.

However, that doesn't change the fact that my snake will starve without its sacrifice and starving to death is a WAY worse way to go imo. So, like all my live feeders, I thank them first. At least their life was comfortable up until that point.

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Originally Posted by sleepymeryl

I sometimes feel bad for the pinkies because they're so helpless and sad looking. Luckily, I haven't needed them very often. When I do though, I just put them in and walk away. They just crawl around hopelessly searching for mom...
I can't watch it.

However, that doesn't change the fact that my snake will starve without its sacrifice and starving to death is a WAY worse way to go imo. So, like all my live feeders, I thank them first. At least their life was comfortable up until that point.

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That's how I think of it. I know they were treated well and will go quickly. I almost had to go buy a live Pinky for my KSB and I was dreading it and then all of a sudden he took f/t so lucky me

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Fair comments bud .. .. I have said many times in this and similar threads that I simply LOVE all living things and that's the main thing stopping me from dropping 'cute as hell' little mice in with my snakes ...... I've mentioned many times how I pick worms / slugs up off pavements / sidewalks when I'm out walking the dog and how my heart sinks when I accidentally stand on a snail in the dark . The crunching noise turns my stomach.

I simply mention the very real threat of damage to the snakes ( as it does undeniably occur ) as a way of hopefully discouraging others.

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You imply that people who feed live do not care about their feeders - or all living things for that matter. I have found the opposite to be true in most cases. We care enough to raise them, clean them, feed them and make sure they have happy lives until the very end. That takes a lot more commitment and care than detaching oneself and getting them already dead and frozen in the mail.

My snake just won't eat frozen, at least not any of the times i tried. I felt squeamish about feeding live until I saw how efficient Lucy is. She takes care of them really quick, and I make sure they are as comfortable as possible before that (bedding, a tube to hide in, some food). The snake isn't going to toy with it or try to draw anything out, and that made me feel pretty at peace with it all.

Yeah it kind of rubs me wrong to hear someone say they LOVE all animals too much to feed live mice to their snake, but it's okay as long as someone else kills it. I mean, I love all animals(except possibly scorpions) and I even like and recommend rats as pets to people. I've had a pet rat that died in my lap after a long life and I cried like a baby over her. I've had breeder males that I brought out to be a pet when they got elderly and Old Man rat lived to be over 7. But I also raise and feed live to my snakes.

The way you keep stating your opinions just sometimes comes off like you're way better than live feeders and you love animals more and it just sounds oh-so-superior and although maybe you don't intend it that way, that's how it sounds to me.

The same thing happens when you start posting dire exaggerated warnings of instant and absolute doom for any snake that gets fed live prey. Maybe you intend to just try to convince people to feed frozen-thawed but it comes off as a completely egotistical rant of a PETA enthusiast sometimes. There's just way better ways to get your points across.

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Originally Posted by John1982

You imply that people who feed live do not care about their feeders - or all living things for that matter. I have found the opposite to be true in most cases. We care enough to raise them, clean them, feed them and make sure they have happy lives until the very end. That takes a lot more commitment and care than detaching oneself and getting them already dead and frozen in the mail.

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Well I'm certainly not 'implying' anything and I do all those things you listed and more - I could say that you are implying that I don't do those things ...

To be honest , I don't know how else to explain why I could never feed LIVE .