Morals and ethics of snake as feeders (what do you do with your normal spin-off)

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

That's why I feed frozen thawed. If they are alive I can't do it. I cry like a baby. I dont know how you cAn see those cute little snoots pop out of the egg, alive, and then send them to their death. I just can't. With booples rats I never see them alive. I had rats as pets in high school. But these are not those rats and they are already gone and frozen when o get them. There is no attachment. There is a difference.

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I used to do cervical dislocation to mice and rats but i quit doing it as large rats have really tough spines and kind of thick necks so if you do it wrong, you either gimp them and dont kill them or you rip the tail skin off them. I felt bad doing either of those which is when i switched to FT. Plus i dont want to have to kill rabbits and guinea pigs. For me, i dont think of them as 'pets'. They are simply food. It's kind of how i can look at a cow and think 'mmmm that would make good steak' lol. i guess it's also how you were raised. I was raised around hunting and guns and stuff so i guess its a little different. I just dont like to see food go to waste. Like people who kill for the pleasure of it. You kill to eat or you kill to put something out of its misery, not for fun.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I've gassed snakes before, you can keep them in CO2 for a really long time and after you take them out they can revive themselves , it's amazing. CO2 isn't perfect but if you read state laws about euthanization its the most legal and accepted method for all animals. I used to breed canaries and when I started I froze all my deformed chicks, apparently that's not legal and supposedly a very painful way to go. Another approved method is an explosive device like a gun or bomb LOL. That's probably the quickest and most humane but may be the most dangerous for the user, I wouldn't recommend it!

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Never seen that but I'll take your word for it. Like i said above, i used to just do cervical dislocation. If done right, it is almost instant but if not done right, oh man....it hurts my feelings seeing the animal :(

And yeah, i imagine a bomb would do it except you would have to scrape pieces of rat off the inside of a garbage can and feed your snake rat pate LOL.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I've gassed snakes before, you can keep them in CO2 for a really long time and after you take them out they can revive themselves , it's amazing. CO2 isn't perfect but if you read state laws about euthanization its the most legal and accepted method for all animals. I used to breed canaries and when I started I froze all my deformed chicks, apparently that's not legal and supposedly a very painful way to go. Another approved method is an explosive device like a gun or bomb LOL. That's probably the quickest and most humane but may be the most dangerous for the user, I wouldn't recommend it!

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"No officer, these pipe bombs and grenades are for euthenizing rats, the shrapnel helps add much needed fiber" :rofl:

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

"No officer, these pipe bombs and grenades are for euthenizing rats, the shrapnel helps add much needed fiber" :rofl:

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Imagine the cops expression if he saw a bag full of pipe bombs and a tank full of rats in the back seat lol.

I think the most pain-free and humane way to kill a snake is to destroy the brain. It has to be quick and complete destruction.

CO2 actually is a very unreliable way, however, cutting off the head is not a total quick and pain free death either. The way a snakes body functions it can live for quite a long time without oxygen intake and the brain takes quite a while to die after the head is cut off. The movement of the jaw and eyes is not involuntary after decapitation. The eyes actually follow movement.

When I had to "mercy" kill a wild snake, I found a really big rock and made sure that one hit caused sudden and sure death by crushing the head/brain.

Its gruesome for the person to do this, but one has to get over that, in order to be merciful.

I only had 3 planned clutches so far and there weren't (could not be) any normals. If I breed my other snakes there will also not be normals. They ARE hard to place.
Its not that people don't like normals, I find many of them very beautiful. There simply isn't a market for them anymore, it would cost more to produce them then one would get back. And in the real world, you can't just breed for fun, or not everyone can.

I would not judge anyone selling them as feeders. The snakes that eat nothing then other snakes also need to eat to live. I would never deny an animal food, just because of my own feelings on it. The same goes for feeding live rodents. I prefer NOT to do it. Absolutely. But if I have an animal that needs it (like most hatchlings did to begin with) then that is what they will get.

That said, I personally couldn't do it. But I wouldn't judge people that do. Someone has to be able to, in order for those snake eating snakes to not get starved.

If I had some normal babies, I would try very hard to find them homes with enthusiastic new keepers. I would offer a complete setup, caresheet and everything needed at cost (or below). But it is unrealistic to assume breeders can do this. And without the breeders that bred larger scale, we wouldn't have the availability of quality and healthy snakes we do have.

Too bad i didnt have large constrictors back when people used to give away boxes of free kittens in front of grocery stores!!! Free food every couple weeks!! J/K J/K. Dont think i could do that :)

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

Sell them as food? Wtf! That is just not right! That makes me so angry on so many levels. We breed snakes because we love them and to sell them off so king cobras can eat them? I can't...I just cant! I am appalled!

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...They are food. Just like rats are to them. It is very normal, and not appalling, please. Meat is food

I lived in South Korea for a year back in the late 80's and it was normal for people to eat Kegogi (dog meat). Back then things were very different, that part of the world was very poor, people would urinate out in the streets, and kids would chase you down and beg for food. But eating dogs was a very accepted part of the culture. And you would never see big dogs out on the street, the only ones that were left were the little ones LOL.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I've gassed snakes before, you can keep them in CO2 for a really long time and after you take them out they can revive themselves , it's amazing. CO2 isn't perfect but if you read state laws about euthanization its the most legal and accepted method for all animals. I used to breed canaries and when I started I froze all my deformed chicks, apparently that's not legal and supposedly a very painful way to go. Another approved method is an explosive device like a gun or bomb LOL. That's probably the quickest and most humane but may be the most dangerous for the user, I wouldn't recommend it!

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Must order some tannerite. Just kidding. I think would rehome any undesired snake over killing it. If was not healthy and had to kill it, not sure how I would at this point but would research more before possibly finding myself in that position.

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

Sell them as food? Wtf! That is just not right! That makes me so angry on so many levels. We breed snakes because we love them and to sell them off so king cobras can eat them? I can't...I just cant! I am appalled!

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I'd rather them be sold as feeders than have them frozen and thrown out, at least they go to something more worthy than a trash can that way. King Cobras need to eat too.

Personally I'd never kill a snake just because it's a Normal. The only one time I did kill a snake was because it was really sick, it lost both eyes and was totally blind and wouldn't eat, I'm guessing it was just too old and dying of old age. I actually have another really old snake, it's hard to get it to eat and it looks like it has really bad arthritis. I won't put her down until she starts falling apart though, poor snake.