Do you ever feel bad feeding live?

I have absolutely no problem feeding off an albino rat or mouse. Animals with red eyes give me the creeps almost as bad as clowns, which is why I will never own any animal with red eyes, be it a mouse, rat, rabbit, guinea pig or snake, unless somebody has an albino BP with black eyes. Since I think the little black beady eyes are kinda cute, I will only buy albino feeders...

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Originally Posted by PYMOM

If not feeding in another week I may have to go live....I keep telling myself its "the way of the World" Snakes are just higher up the food chain than a rodent. If you have taken on the responsibility of owning a snake then you must do whats necessary for it survival. Its dependent on you.


:please:

P.S. I personally dread going live. Please eat this week Diamond.

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This is not always the case. You can find a lot of pictures of snakes who were on the losing end of the deal. If you end up feeding your little guy live make sure you supervise it. Don't leave live prey with your snake unattended. You also may want to consider having a set of tongs or leather glove nearby to remove the rodent if they go psycho and on the attack. To them, your fingers or hand will be just as much fair game. But don't worry. The majority of the time the snake dispatches the rodent with efficiency, gets a fat belly, and sleeps for the next 36 hours or so, and after 3 or 4 feedings, they will leave a nice big chocolate brownie in their tank for you...

I'm fairly meh about the feeding live thing. I'd like to switch to f/t for the safety of my snake, but it doesn't bother me to put a live mouse in. On rare occasions, I actually am delighted. (I had a male mouse that liked to viciously rape and attack other mice. I wasn't sad to see him go.)

I've had all sorts of rodents as pets, and any that I raise as feeders are very well taken care of before they are feeders. I figure they had a good life, time for them to give my snake a good life.

>.< I've prekilled a couple times, and oh god... It's awful.

I didn't think it would bother me. When I worked at the pet store we fed our snakes mice and it didn't bother me so I didn't think a rat would be any different. We fed our girl this past weekend. She's ten and has always eaten live, so even though I know the safety benefits of feeding f/t I wasn't going to make the switch on our first feeding. After feeding her live-I don't want to do it again. It made me so sad. Yes I know all about the food chain and what snakes do in the wild. Thing is-this snake isn't in the wild. The rat screamed 3 times and was obviously afraid. That's what bothered me. I'd rather she sneak up on it and it be done and over with before the rat knew what hit him.

So I started looking into how to transition snakes that feed live to f/t. First I'll have to start with rats that have just been killed. Lucky for me I won't have to do it, there's a pet store pretty close to my house that will do it for me. Then after a few weeks of that I can transition to actual f/t. (If that's even an option for us since we're fostering and she might already be gone)

I know she has to eat, and I will make sure she does. AND, I am not a vegetarian and I know where my meat comes from...but I really don't like the idea of the animal being in fear before it dies. It really hurt my heart to hear that.

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Originally Posted by Jamielvsaustin

I didn't think it would bother me. When I worked at the pet store we fed our snakes mice and it didn't bother me so I didn't think a rat would be any different. We fed our girl this past weekend. She's ten and has always eaten live, so even though I know the safety benefits of feeding f/t I wasn't going to make the switch on our first feeding. After feeding her live-I don't want to do it again. It made me so sad. Yes I know all about the food chain and what snakes do in the wild. Thing is-this snake isn't in the wild. The rat screamed 3 times and was obviously afraid. That's what bothered me. I'd rather she sneak up on it and it be done and over with before the rat knew what hit him.

So I started looking into how to transition snakes that feed live to f/t. First I'll have to start with rats that have just been killed. Lucky for me I won't have to do it, there's a pet store pretty close to my house that will do it for me. Then after a few weeks of that I can transition to actual f/t. (If that's even an option for us since we're fostering and she might already be gone)

I know she has to eat, and I will make sure she does. AND, I am not a vegetarian and I know where my meat comes from...but I really don't like the idea of the animal being in fear before it dies. It really hurt my heart to hear that.

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Same here. I only feed mine mice for that reason (I feed her a couple, not just one) and she always eats all of them, so I don't see any harm (I actually adopted one of the rats that I was going to feed her). I dont know....it's just different with rats I guess...call me crazy.

I feed F/t but wouldn't feel bad feeding live or F/k. Living situation permits i cannot breed feeders and OH would leave me if i started putting the cute little meeces to death :colbert:

Ive fed live before, i dont -like- it, but i don't hate it. If my animals needed to eat live, they'd eat live. As of right now, and with every animal i've had i've been able to switch them to F/T because it is easier for ME.

I do think the rats and mice are cute (i used to have pet rats) but they are dinner first, and cute second.

I bet the Rat and Mice forums would have a field day with this thread

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Originally Posted by PYMOM

I bet the Rat and Mice forums would have a field day with this thread

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Ive gotten into some pretty heated conversations with rodent owners. They think live feeding is THE WORLDS CRUELEST THING. I understand their point of view, but i dont agree with it :P

No, I really don't at all. And I've owned many pet rats in the past.

One time I surprised myself by feeling a bit bad. I was feeding my little guy who eats weanling rats. This was was particularly cute and fuzzy, and I was feeling particularly maternal (I had just delivered my surrogate daughter). It surprised me that a baby rat struck a maternal instinct in me. It was in a very very minor way, but still.

Here is my situation, my wife wants me to part with my ball pythons because she "does not want their blood on her hands" even though they are mine. I have to move them all (38 of them) over to a friends house and maintain them there. Im torn and upset. I hate the fact I pay for everything and cannot keep them at my own home. My daughter can keep her 4 ball pythons according to her mother, but I am cruel for keeping my own.