Why do people have to get on your case?

Why are you letting it bother you? They probably don't even keep snakes and are just trying to make you look like the evil rat killer. I feed all of my snakes frozen/thawed except for the balls, most of which I feed live. You feed your snake what it's willing to eat. I've been keeping snakes for well over 20 years, and anyone who says that ANY SNAKE CAN BE TAUGHT TO FEED ON FROZEN/THAWED hasn't kept snakes for very long if at all. YES, some of my balls will eat frozen thawed just fine. And I've been able to feed all of them frozen thawed at least once, but I want my snakes to eat every time I feed them and not just once in a while. So, for the ball pythons that means feeding live. Just tell them that they're full of crap and be done with it, it's not worth your time to argue with them.

Mark

u tell those vegan sons a b**ches jk :rofl: that if there were no snakes in the world. there would be entirly to many rats and mice eating all of our produce at our farms, over running our houses, and making a general mess out of every thing. its God's law, eat or be eaten. its the circle of life. thats how us humans got to were we are. i personally dont like feeding live for a number of reasons (biting, mites, diseases, etc) but whats really great about live is that the mice may have proper neutriants within them that are great for your snake! and with every mouse eaten, its a step up in the evolutionary chart for them. and its one thing to kill a mouse just for the sake of killing it. but is another if it doesnt die in vane( to be eaten) and honestly to tell you the truth, if i had to die, i would prefer to be eaten by an animal of some sort as apposed to being shot or murdured. of corse i wold rather die of old age but if i had a choice of death for a reasonabe purpose (being eaten by an animal of some sort) or being muruderd of coarse i would choose to be eaten. but painless and short. ahhh. does any one agree with me? or am i just the wierdest person you have ever me?:rofl:

[QUOTE=pythontricker;669778]someone's post about rescuing a feeder rat pup at an expo[QUOTE]

What irks me about that mentality is that first of all... rats at expos are bought as feeders, breeders, and as pets.

So to say they *rescued* a feeder... when all they did was adopt a rat. Is just annoying.

You can cloak anything in value-laden language and make it a noble gesture.

I have a very narrow view of what a rescue consists of.

I once met a person that ran a reptile shelter, and was so pleased the day the new beardie took a piece of cooked chicken.

WTF?

Cooked... chicken?

And I agree with the poster that not all snakes will take f/t... I have 6 that would not eat vs. take a F/T. I feed live because I love animals. The option is to watch my snakes waste away.

The privilege of the *enlightened* will never cease to annoy me.

Probably didn't answer your question, but eh... gave me a chance to vent. :)

Bruce

Bruce, I totally agree with what you said. I had a friend that was beaming proud that they were telling everyone how they "rescued" a feeder rat from the pet store. In my mind, purchasing a rat from a pet store, breeder or what-have-you is NOT "rescuing" the rat! A rescue, to me, is going to the shelter, going to a rat RESCUE and adopting one of them, that are there specifically for rescuing. A rescue in my mind is much more than a simple pet store rat, or breeder rat. A rescue is an act of caring, an act of trying to help the shelter or rescue by taking a homeless animal off of their hands.

These people that are bashing us that feed live, are not worth the space that they take up in this world. I am a very peaceful person. I know what I do and do not like, do and do not agree with, but I don't shove those things in people's faces. I state opinions, and anyone is allowed to read or not read, listen or not listen, agree or don't. I don't care.

Oh, but, like Bruce stated...I do have reasons for feeding certain snakes live, too. My kingsnake would rather starve to death than try anything else, as would one of my boas. I'd rather have my snakes healthy, not dying of starvation just because they refuse f/t, pre-killed, stunned, brained, etc (i've tried it all).

I'm sorry if this response doesn't help, but I personally wouldn't let it get to me. Maybe I'm different. I'm just a friendly person with the mindset of, "Don't agree with me? Don't speak to me." ~ There are others out there, like us for instance, that will agree with you just fine. Don't worry about those that don't. :) Some people won't accept you, others WILL.

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Originally Posted by pythontricker

u tell those vegan sons a b**ches jk :rofl: that if there were no snakes in the world. there would be entirly to many rats and mice eating all of our produce at our farms, over running our houses, and making a general mess out of every thing. its God's law, eat or be eaten. its the circle of life. thats how us humans got to were we are. i personally dont like feeding live for a number of reasons (biting, mites, diseases, etc) but whats really great about live is that the mice may have proper neutriants within them that are great for your snake! and with every mouse eaten, its a step up in the evolutionary chart for them. and its one thing to kill a mouse just for the sake of killing it. but is another if it doesnt die in vane( to be eaten) and honestly to tell you the truth, if i had to die, i would prefer to be eaten by an animal of some sort as apposed to being shot or murdured. of corse i wold rather die of old age but if i had a choice of death for a reasonabe purpose (being eaten by an animal of some sort) or being muruderd of coarse i would choose to be eaten. but painless and short. ahhh. does any one agree with me? or am i just the wierdest person you have ever me?:rofl:

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I agree 100% ! I would rather die from an animal (some thing I love) than murdered in cold blood by some sicko! About the f/t and live, I've feed my snakes both my corn ate f/t fine (until I got a rotten batch from Pet Smart) and my bp ate f/t for about 2 months and started refusing it so I went back to live. Because of the rotten mice I only felt comfortable feeding f/t that I killed (the only reason I started f/t was a bite she received after tyring to eat a mouse alive). I'd much much rather have her kill the rat than me. I hate killing any animal, if we get a mouse I use a live trap and let it go out side, but I love my non human babies and I will do what ever it takes to keep them healthy and happy. This thread is reminds me of an article I read about a PETA nut job that fed his savannah monitor only lettuce to turn it in to a vegetarian!

Okay, I'm one of those that is against live feeding, yet ... I don't diss those that do so for reasons other than "That's just sooo cool" or "I feed live, cause that's what they'ld do in the wild" (uhm, anyone dropping live mice into their cats food bowl?).

The info that you should forward to comments made against live feeding should include an explanation as to the ignorance and hypocracy used by minority groups that should really zip it and stay way away from the subject.

I've been a vegan myself and supplemented (under family' doctor's supervision) what I couldn't get naturally due to my diet. Gave up after I got feeling sick and realized that there's a reason for humans being omnivorous.

All those supplements that I had been taking were tested using live rats and mice. In addition to that ... look around you ... all those nice finish coatings on your furniture, yupp, tested on live rodents. Household cleaners, fibers used to manufacture clothing, carpet, etc. ... list goes on and on about animal testing in order to support the health and convenience of vegans that throw a fit over feeding live rodents.

Unless those people that bashed you are living on bare ground with nothing but a reet roof to cover their heads, wearing nothing but their birthday suits under a grass skirt and get to whereever they need to go by walking (laquer used on bikes and fuel for vehicles is constantly being tested on live rodents) they are speaking with a forked tongue.

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Originally Posted by SoundUnsleep

(uhm, anyone dropping live mice into their cats food bowl?).

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OT, but at a CE lecture I went to once on several feline health topics, the speaker said that feeding live mice was probably the best diet out there for your cats....he then went on to say that nobody actually does this, and here are the commercial diets he recommends, etc, etc.

So....I've actually fed off a few extra mice to the cats, and they seem to really really like it. One of my bottle-children, who has never seen a live mouse in his life, has become fiercely predatory
fought quite savagely to defend his kill from the curious onlookers.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I don't let them play and torment the mouse...if they don't kill it immediately, it goes to a snake. I have one cat who chases them, but doesn't seem to know how to kill them and he doesn't get to play anymore.

Well, when I say that she rescued it, she really did. Someone had put the rat pup in with a centipede/millipede (she can't remember which) and she said that the insect was acting very violently towards the rat pup, trampling it and such but not actually killing it. I guess I can understand her reasons behind that.

Jay look to the Bible for the answer,

"do not cast your pearls among swine"

So, tell them to go out into the wild and yell at every snake that is out there eating live prey. :)