You know you're a snake owner when...

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Originally Posted by Marla

I hear ya, Carl. The only thing I am entirely comfortable killing is ants, though I've been known to do in cockroaches as well. I've never intentionally killed anything larger than a palmetto bug and I'm not sure how able I'd be to do it, despite all the reassurances of how easy it is to do.

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I couldn't even kill a cockroach, but only because I'm terrified of them (one of those irrational fear things)!! :shock:

For me it ain't gonna happen. I am not killing a mouse/rat or etc or being part or party to said killing, just don't have the heart to do it.
Hope Ozzy will always throw down on the f/t or I guess I am in trouble :)

I'm w/you Jotay! I couldn't even perform a mercy killing last night when my dogs got a squirrel (our little Rat Terrier, Nimble, snagged it, then the others followed suit)....I tried to get my man to handle the situation, but I guess he's a wuss too, cuz he couldn't put it out of it's misery either. I really wanted to help the little fella' go 'gently into the night', but just couldn't bring myself to do it..That was a lose/lose situation for sure!! :cry:

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It's those ones that don't go gently into that good night on the first swing that make me cringe..........

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I hear ya. I almost always kill them on the first whack. But sometimes you have to do it twice, and that's what bothers me.
At first, killing rats for my snakes bothered me. But since it has to be done, for the snake's safety, I do it. I have had a rat bite me, and the cut on my hand hurt more than getting a nail in my foot, and literetally bled for hours (and I do not have thin blood, my cuts always clot up quickly.) So I would never put my snakes in a position where a live adult rat was in their cage alive with them!
I really don't like feeding live or fresh killed to begin with, though. My killing of rats is usually limited tto killing the baby ones I breed, and tossing them into the freezer until they are thawed for eating later.

Some advice: when whacking rats, make sure that your drapes are closed! Or you could have some serious explaining to do when your neighbors see you. :)