Do you keep snakes and Pet rats?

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

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


dr del

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yes but no....

they made coolant producers make their products animal friendly for all animals...not just neglected pets

Many states even went to making trappers use soft jaws on their traps.

So I disagree that government only takes into consideration the "feelings" of pets. As Dennis Leary says,"they just want to save the cute animals."

I apologize for bringing up an old topic, but I loved reading everyone's responses and this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately.

Long before I kept snakes, I kept rats. I think they're one of the best pets because they're so affectionate. I even bred fancy rats for pets only for a little while in high school, and made sure that all of the babies went to pet only homes. I didn't have anything against snakes or feeding rats to snakes, but wanted my babies that were bred to be pets to go as pets.

My last pet rat, Milli, passed away over a year ago. It was rough, she'd grown a tumor and the vet was unable to remove it due to its location, so we made her comfortable as long as possible. I told myself that I didn't want anymore pet rats, because the short lifespans were just too unfair.

I got my first snake around the one year anniversary of Milli's passing. I still haven't been able to switch Harvey over to f/t, but would like to. Harvey's hit and miss eating habits led me to keep Benjamin, a rat that I "made the mistake of" getting attached to. Benjamin is a pet, and lives happily in another room of the house. He spends a lot of time hanging out with me, riding on my shoulder as I go around the house, snuggling in my lap when I'm relaxing on the couch.

I now have ten snakes, and feed some live and some f/t. I'd like all the snakes to be eating f/t eventually, not just for the rodent's sake, but for the snakes' safety.

How can I feed rodents when I love them as pets too? I have to separate it in my mind. The rodents I feed to my snakes are bred as food. They should still be treated humanely, but they are not pets. They don't get socialized, they don't have names. Right now, they get picked up at the pet store on feeding day and usually aren't around within the hour.

Since I have so many snakes now, I'm tossing around the idea of setting up small mouse and rat breeding colonies. I plan to breed albinos so that they all look the same and it'll be harder to single one out as cute.

Old post, but oh well.

I keep both rats, and snakes, but my rats much over-weigh the reptiles. I only feed f/t, and I have absolutly no problem with it. If I had to feed live though, I would without a thought, sell my reptiles. I love all animals, but the rats are the ones that love me, the ones I can come home to and they're happy to see me. Snakes are like really cool plants in my opinion, somthing to collect. If they ever made me feed live, which I would be VERY uncomfortable doing, then I wouldn't have them.

I keep 15 snakes and 4 rats. The rats are pets but when they breed I feed off the pinkies and fuzzie to my snakes. If a rats grows large enough to were it eyes are open I can kill it or feed it because i feel bad so then I just by frozen rats. Doesn't bother me if they are already dead.

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Originally Posted by gothkenny

Old post, but oh well.

I keep both rats, and snakes, but my rats much over-weigh the reptiles. I only feed f/t, and I have absolutly no problem with it. If I had to feed live though, I would without a thought, sell my reptiles. I love all animals, but the rats are the ones that love me, the ones I can come home to and they're happy to see me. Snakes are like really cool plants in my opinion, somthing to collect. If they ever made me feed live, which I would be VERY uncomfortable doing, then I wouldn't have them.

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I have had my BP for 3 years, she was originally on frozen so I figured cool...this will always be the case! LOL. I even moved to a remote small town secure in the knowledge I could order the finest frozen rats from TX anytime I wanted (closest store that sells live is 15 miles away, and they sometimes don't have any). Yes I have two pet rats (kept as pets but sort of a rescue situation) and my lovely BP decided she would rather starve than eat frozen.

Anyway I finally broke down and purchased 4 feeders the other night (vs just one at a time). I feel bad about it too and googled "bonding with feeder rats" which brought me to this thread. I never thought I could feed live, but it is that or rehome my BP (which I did consider).Last night I picked up the 4 feeders and to my horror one was an adorable hoodie (just like my elderly pet) and I felt like quite hte evil best when I chose to feed him first, I knew if I didn't I could end up with another pet rat for 2+ years and while they are cute I would prefer not too.