IF there was a vegan diet option for BPs...

Sometimes I wish we had either been meat eaters or plant eaters. We would not have these silly discussions about what Man thinks he can feed nature based on what we have accomplished by being omnivores.

One word : Hormones.

Not available in veggie alternatives and have enormous influence on physiological chemistry.

My .01


~Kat

I am vegan myself but WILL NEVER consider a vegetarian or vegan diet for any of my carnivorous furkids. I believe in natural diets and so that is what my animals get. Ferrets are obligate carnivores and so they eat a raw/whole prey diet. My cats and dog will also be switched to a raw/whole prey diet because that is what is natural for them and it is good for them too. And of course the snakes get whole prey.

Do I like having to cut up raw meat and bone by hand every morning and night? No. Do I like the idea of having to feed dead animal parts to my furkids? No. Do I like feeding whole prey? No. But it is what my kids need and want and that is what they get.

First rule of caring for animals is that you must provide for their every need, and this includes diet. As a vegan, I do not personally consume animal products, but my body is designed to that it can thrive on that diet. My cats, ferrets, snakes, and dog cannot, and so I feed them what they need. If I want a vegetarian/vegan pet, I'll go get me a rabbit. Then breed it to make rabbit babies, which will then go to my fur kids. :)

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Originally Posted by Indigo

This was spawned from a random thought I had about people owning snakes only because they liked watching them eat. I didn't mean to stir up so much!

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I don't own snakes because I like watching them eat, but I have to say, it is one of the coolest parts. Watching them strike, coil, and swallow their prey whole is fascinating whether feeding live or frozen thawed. How often when you show someone your snake/snakes do they say "Can we see them eat?" That's why so many people make videos of it. People love watching predators hunt. I was watching Jeff Corwin on TV once where he almost had the big O when he saw a tiger stalking it's prey.

Unlike some people, I don't feel bad for the rodents I feed. It is the fate of some animals to be eaten. I'm sorry, it's the food chain, the circle of life, the way things are.

To the OP, I don't think anyone was attacking you and I hope you don't feel that way. You posted on a topic that obviously a lot of people had something to say about so :gj:

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Originally Posted by Indigo

...Would you feed it to your snakes? We'll say the nutrition is equivalent, and they are somewhat rat-shaped.

I'm sure there would be some people who'd go for it.

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You're kidding right?

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

You're kidding right?

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What's so silly about this question?

The OP is simply asking would you feed plants to a BP if we lived in a magical world where plants had the same nutrional value as rats.

And just when I thought this thread had taken up residence at the bottom of the sea.....Oh the horrors!!!

WHY was this brought back. :colbert:

Ask the Canadian

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Originally Posted by Slim

Actually, the Vegan types have been arguing this point on forums all over the internet since Al Gore invented the thing.

The best explanation I've seen was from a PhD in molecular chemistry from the University of Florida. She said that even if you take the same numbers of proteins, lipids, and glucose (carbs, both simple and complex) that you still couldn't replicate one diet or another because of the way the components act on each other at the molecular level. Bottom line is that meat proteins act like meat proteins, and plant proteins act like plant proteins, even if they are both made up of amino acids, and never the twain shall meet. Made since to me when I read it.

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It makes no sense to me......maybe you have a citation explaining it?

Proteins don't have some sort of magical meat essence or plant essence as far as I know.....