Feeders Remorse???

This has really matured into a nice thread. It has stayed civil, deep and humorous. Exactly what I needed. Thank you all for the support, words of advice and hope for the future!


I am logging off for the weekend :colbert2:

We'll miss you :tears:


(not like he'll even send a postcard or nuthin....they never do....don't worry about us...we'll be fine...just have yourself a nice weekend...we'll just be over here on the haven't got a life couch...not a problem.....buh bye...see ya...sniffle....)

:P

We have 2 pet rats Mapp & Lucia.:D Will never BE dinner. We purchase rats for snakey dinner and we don't name them. 2 are enough, don't need to get attached to others.

Thus the reason I can only offer F/T rats... Mice, not a problem. I can toss in live mice with nary a twinge. But rats... I had pet rats too long. Thus I feel guilty unless they are are ice cubes

However I was raised in a hunting household and we raised feeder chickens most of my early years. Family raised beef cattle and pigs for pork so I was around quite a bit of that. ...I can't really mention the turkey...we all kinda got attatched to him and he became a very well known Guard Turkey. Jehovah's Witness's for miles around knew about him.

I grew up on a dairy farm raising our own pork, beef, chickens. The rabbits were a 4-H project & while the others ate the lamb, I never did. :bleh:


Peekaboo and Scabbers started out as Baby food, but outgrew her fasting, so they became pets. It got to the point where it was too expensive to keep buying rats, so I started breeding them. Peek's first litter, I kept Peachy as another breeder and fed or gassed the rest. Smudge was another meal that outgrew the snake's fasting time. Snow and Squeeky will be bred to Butterscotch but all of those will be gassed. Robin and Stewie were deliberately kept as pets for color (Robin) and because Stewie is actually Scabbers II for when S the 1st dies.

Yeah, I still feel bad about gassing them, and it hurt when the weanling pups squeeked when fed to Pissy, but I've bred a couple more litters that will be gassed. If I can rearrange the garage, then I'll keep them and raise them up BIG for Hera. None of the suppliers have XLG/JUMBOs and I'm currently feeding lg. f/t rats @ 2 rats/feeding to her. Zeus is taking large and Freddie was eating med.-lg.

Pissy keeps refusing the two live mice, so I figured feeding them to Wrigley and then just keeping everyone else on f/t rats of the different sizes that are in the freezer right now.

It's hard, and I empathize, Chris. It might be easier to switch your snakes to f/t. I think I might have to do that, depending on how I feel after these next one or two litters. It's easier for me to feed them when I'm not raising and handling them. The rats in the freezer aren't individ. animals to me---very anonymous and thus easier for me to feed to the snakes.

Even w/my farming background and knowing where the meat, milk and eggs come from, and since I'm still new to this feeder thing, I'm still having difficulty w/the rats. But maybe like the others, my feelings will change.

;) Hope you had a good weekend....

RuLyn

I think it is just a mental hurdle you need to get over, and after a few hundred more feedings Im sure you will.

You feed frozen, and that is easier than feeding live ones you raised, but when you look at a large producer of frozen rodents compared to yourself, it is pretty obvious that you have a better chance at taking good care of them.

I think the main issue is you dont think its wrong, but it still bothers you, and Im not sure anything we say will help you there. You need to come to terms with it on your own, and until then it will probably remain difficult.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Entropy

I can't really mention the turkey...we all kinda got attatched to him and he became a very well known Guard Turkey. Jehovah's Witness's for miles around knew about him.

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Oh what a visual! LOL Too funny! :rofl: