Do you keep snakes and Pet rats?

I keep both. I had two pet rats before I ever got snakes. I just keep my pets separate from my breeders/feeders, that way I don't get too attached to the snake food. Although my breeders have become my pets and I couldn't kill them off at this point, they will just have to retire until they die of natural causes. Since I don't handle the feeder rats as much they don't really enjoy being held, although I will admit I do scratch or pet them whenever I'm in their cages.

I'm not sure how I do it other than I grew up on a farm in which our "pet" pigs/ducks/rabbits/chickens/sheep etc. were butchered and put on the table for dinner. In fact I have three baby ducks I raised from eggs (in my home) we will be murdering and eating in the next week. Maybe that's how I do it :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MarkS

I raise both snakes and rats, but I don't consider the rats to be pets. More like livestock.

---

exactly, they are to be treated humanely...

and anyone who wants to dissect that word might want to research where their hamburger comes from or their chicken. Striking a rat on the head properly is no more cruel than a bolt gun or a bleed funnel.

Except, wacking on the head is no where near as decisive as an instant bolt through the skull, and does not have such a high margin of error. (bleed funnel, gods) Whacking on the head is recommended for neonatal animals. You're comparing apples to oranges, because bolts are used to kill rats too, comparing whacking to bolt is not the same... :rolleyes:

This thread is about people who keep pet rats, not those who like to whack rats on the head.

When the rats/mice/ASF are bought/born they are classified as food or pets, a pet will never be food although food can become pet if I want it to be. I don't allow myself to get attached to the food, but I love my pet rats, they are just as important to me as my pet snakes. I deal with the euthanasia of cats and dogs for no reason other than lack of homes while volunteering at the animal shelter and have even held animals for the shot so I guess at least the rats serve a purpose and its necessary for my snakes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Except, wacking on the head is no where near as decisive as an instant bolt through the skull, and does not have such a high margin of error. (bleed funnel, gods) Whacking on the head is recommended for neonatal animals. You're comparing apples to oranges, because bolts are used to kill rats too, comparing whacking to bolt is not the same... :rolleyes:

This thread is about people who keep pet rats, not those who like to whack rats on the head.

---

a non penetrating bolt gun as used in kosher food does not go "through the skull". I relies on blunt force trauma as I stated before. Even penetrating bolt guns are not 100% effective...PETA has tons of info on this if you want proof.

And bleed funnels (which you didn't bother to even reply to) are used for mainly turkeys but sometimes chickens, the animals are palced in these upside down and their throats are cut...


but of course...this is okay but let's not strike a rat on the head. :colbert::colbert::colbert::rofl:

Hi,

You might not want to get info from PETA without some independant corroboration.

I also wouldn't rely on Herod for information on how to raise children.

Just sayin.

And the reason we are trying to make the point on how you kill an animal you are legally responsible for has very little to do with how others choose to do it.


dr del

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

You might not want to get info from PETA without some independant corroboration.

I also wouldn't rely on Herod for information on how to raise children.

Just sayin.


dr del

---

hard to dispute their videos

I know how bolt guns work since I have relatives who are pig farmers. I know how effective and how "humane" they are also.

I just find it funny people raise a food source for another animal and treat it so delicately. However they don't seem to care how their own food sources are treated. I know what pigs are fed, hence I don't eat pork.

Hi,

It's probably related to the fact that how their breakfast was killed by other people has no chance of getting them charged with animal abuse and all their animals removed.

Maybe you have a totally different system over there but over here the animal welfare organizations care a great deal more about mammals than they do about reptiles.

They also don't have the training in most cases to be able to truly identify mistreatment of reptiles outside of the most extreme examples - but they know putting a mammal in a sack and swinging it against a wall is illegal and will prosecute happily and get you banned from keeping any animals at all for years as a result.

A problem avoided is far better than one you have to deal with later.


dr del

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

It's probably related to the fact that how their breakfast was killed by other people has no chance of getting them charged with animal abuse and all their animals removed.

Maybe you have a totally different system over there but over here the animal welfare organizations care a great deal more about mammals than they do about reptiles.

They also don't have the training in most cases to be able to truly identify mistreatment of reptiles outside of the most extreme examples - but they know putting a mammal in a sack and swinging it against a wall is illegal and will prosecute happily and get you banned from keeping any animals at all for years as a result.

A problem avoided is far better than one you have to deal with later.


dr del

---

never seen an animal cruelty case in the US resulting from the care or intentional death of a rat.

I mean if we prosecuted someone for killing a rat by striking it on the head...we would have to outlaw snap traps.

Have you ever seen what decon does to a rat?

Hi,

The law makes a plain difference between an animal you own and a wild animal though.


dr del