Do You Ever Have Issues Euthanizing Rodents for Food?

When I go to a restaurant I want my food to look good,
I want my snakes food to look good too :P

I think its normal for anyone that has half a heart to feel that way, in fact I believe it shows that you demonstrate great care for ALL of the animals in your care :gj:. I do however have a huge dislike for people that continuously post live feeding vids with intent on glorifying it especially considering those videos are open for anyone to see including those that oppose and want to see this industry disappear, I feel it just adds fuel to the fire.

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

I do however have a huge dislike for people that continuously post live feeding vids with intent on glorifying it especially considering those videos are open for anyone to see including those that oppose and want to see this industry disappear, I feel it just adds fuel to the fire.

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agreed

I have no problems euthanizing feeders, but I guess I've been killing and cleaning animals for food ever since I could hold a fishing pole.

I absolutely adore just about all rodent species, particularly rabbits, but I certainly am not losing any sleep over or feeling guilty about killing them for my snakes or my dinner plate.

I probably have fewer issues with killing animals than the average person, and more issues with killing plants than the average person.

It does affect me. They are incredibly cute, social, and friendly little things. However, my snakes are more important and I'm breeding the rats as food for my snakes.
Maybe this is weird of me to do, but it makes me feel better about myself and feeding off the cute little rats....every time I gather up all the rats into a container to go feed them to the snakes, while I'm walking to the snake racks, I thank the rats for being food for my snakes and keeping them healthy and alive.

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Originally Posted by Bellabob

I went to check on the rats and their babies...and my god..they were so damn adorable!!!! So small, furry, and nice. With their little eyes looking at you! I felt sorry for it..and I had to put it back in the tub before I kept it as a pet.

I know my snakes need to eat..so I'll suck it up.

Do youhave any issues with this?

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I don't enjoy the killing part of feeding snakes. When I raised my own feeders I ended up with some several breeder mice and rats that no longer produced living until they died of old age as permanant retirees because I had grown attached to them. Yeah, they can be charming in their own ratty way. Now I buy humanely killed rodents for my snakes and if one will not accept f/t I provide them with live so that they do not suffer hunger but continue to work to switch them over to f/t.

My own personal experience is this: I lived on a farm. If we were going to eat fried chicken, pork chops, hamburger, or roast duck then something had to die. My father and I dispatched many animals over the years so that we could have meat on the table, including Bambi and Thumper. We ploughed up field mouse and rabbit nests to grow our crops.

His feelings on slaugher rubbed off on me. If you kill something, kill it for a good reason. Don't go out and blast rabbits with the shotgun for the fun of it; if you take an animal's life do it because you are going to eat it or because it is destructive and harms you or your animals, or to end it's suffering. And if you kill something, you are morally obligated as a human being to kill it as painlessly as possible. Unlike me, my snakes must live by eating other animals. If I choose to keep a snake and deny him the ability to obtain his own food, then I am responsible to feed him. I am also ethically responsible to see that those feeder animals are killed as humanely as possible.

If I'm killing stuff because I get some sort of perverse jolly out of harming it or I'm killing something that needs to be killed but causing it unnecessary suffering then I am a sicko and I need to stay away from all animals, and humanity too while I'm at it. Someone who enjoys causing needless torment isn't fit to share the planet with anything that breathes.

While I'm thinking about it, I do not enjoy having an animal that is suffering euthanized either, but that is the responsibility which I take on when I make the choice to keep an animal--to spend my resources, time, and energy to get it the profesional help it requires to live in comfort, and to relieve it's distress by having it's life ended with as little hurt as possible if it cannot be kept free of pain by other means.

I had a female about 2 weeks ago that just looked awesome and her litter had about 5 of them that looked just like her and so far im still growing them out but in the end i think that my snakes are more important and need to feed so i doubt that no matter how cool and cute they look theyre still food for my snakes. After all, my snakes are worth more than the rats are but yes theres times i dont want to feed them off and sometimes i just make them breeders