Do You Ever Have Issues Euthanizing Rodents for Food?

I went to check on the rats and their babies...and my god..they were so damn adorable!!!! So small, furry, and nice. With their little eyes looking at you! I felt sorry for it..and I had to put it back in the tub before I kept it as a pet.

I know my snakes need to eat..so I'll suck it up.

Do youhave any issues with this?

Oh yeah all the time that's why I now have 2 as pets

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Originally Posted by ed4281

Oh yeah all the time that's why I now have 2 as pets

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They are just so cute. This is one of the downsides of breeding your own rodents.

A friend breeds rats originally for his snakes but now he just breeds fancy rats for pets and uses the return to buy frozen feeders elsewhere. I don't myself but I know I would always want to keep them. I found it quite funny that my friend did what he did, on the other had he makes better money breeding rats than the snakes. Go figure.

I don't euthanize my own rats, but I know for a fact that I would for sure have a lot of trouble not just keeping them all as pets. I know it's the whole circle of life thing, and I don't have a problem feeding my snakes rats, I just don't know if I have it in me to kill things myself if I don't have to (I feel bad when I step on ants for goodness sakes :P) but if it's something I have to do one day then I'll just have to suck it up and do it...

It's the worst part of keeping snakes for me. When I was younger I kept them as pets, and actually gave up my two boas 30 years ago because I had to prekill the rats.

Now we have 19 snakes and started breeding rats a few months ago to have the correct size available as well as cut costs. Plus a couple of the balls only eat live so it's much easier than going to the store once a week. Breeding our own costs about 50 - 60% of what frozen cost, but they are also extra work. So it's probably about the same in the end.

I finally was to the point of having to euthanize some of the surplus a couple of weeks ago. I used a tub with a lid and dry ice in water. They all just went to sleep - no drama. It wasn't easy but it was nowhere near as bad as I had thought it would be. Even so, my wife is a vet tech and she said she would do it next time so I think I'm going to take her up on that.

I have a HORRIBLE time feeding my snakes my rats that I raise. I have 6 females and everytime they have a litter I find one or two that are "lucky" ones and keep them behind as breeders, but if i keep doing that im going to be over run with rats. Plus Im allergic to rats lol its ridiculous really.
And its even harder too cuz i kill them off myself before feeding them to my snakes, so I feel worse but i refuse to feed live. Being bitten by BP fangs then constricted to death for about a minute sounds horrible to me, Id rather have a quick death if you ask me.
Trick is to not sit and look at the little guy before you euthanize them, that was my problem. Looking at that cute face always makes it worse.

But as a wise person on BP.net once told me...
"Think of them as cattle for your snakes." That little quote has helped me get over the killing part.

I've had pet rats for a while, they're pretty good. kind of like little dogs in behaviour.

I started breeding them for feeders a while back... Kinda feels bad when you turn on the gas, but I know they're having a nice uh.. "free range" (err, big fun cage as opposed to tiny rack bin) life, and being put down humanely, so it doesn't bother me too too much.

Besides - If i didn't do it, I'd never get to see the pups at all. They're pretty bloody cute though. :snake:

Can't do it. We have pet Mice and Rats and I refuse to feed anything live to our snakes. Luckily we have been able to get all of our snakes on F/T... I even feel guilty feeding mealies to my geckos!

Thanks for all the responses! I'm glad I'm not the only one.

When I go to a restaurant I want my food to look good,
I want my snakes food to look good too :P

I think its normal for anyone that has half a heart to feel that way, in fact I believe it shows that you demonstrate great care for ALL of the animals in your care :gj:. I do however have a huge dislike for people that continuously post live feeding vids with intent on glorifying it especially considering those videos are open for anyone to see including those that oppose and want to see this industry disappear, I feel it just adds fuel to the fire.

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

I do however have a huge dislike for people that continuously post live feeding vids with intent on glorifying it especially considering those videos are open for anyone to see including those that oppose and want to see this industry disappear, I feel it just adds fuel to the fire.

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agreed

I have no problems euthanizing feeders, but I guess I've been killing and cleaning animals for food ever since I could hold a fishing pole.

I absolutely adore just about all rodent species, particularly rabbits, but I certainly am not losing any sleep over or feeling guilty about killing them for my snakes or my dinner plate.

I probably have fewer issues with killing animals than the average person, and more issues with killing plants than the average person.

It does affect me. They are incredibly cute, social, and friendly little things. However, my snakes are more important and I'm breeding the rats as food for my snakes.
Maybe this is weird of me to do, but it makes me feel better about myself and feeding off the cute little rats....every time I gather up all the rats into a container to go feed them to the snakes, while I'm walking to the snake racks, I thank the rats for being food for my snakes and keeping them healthy and alive.

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Originally Posted by Bellabob

I went to check on the rats and their babies...and my god..they were so damn adorable!!!! So small, furry, and nice. With their little eyes looking at you! I felt sorry for it..and I had to put it back in the tub before I kept it as a pet.

I know my snakes need to eat..so I'll suck it up.

Do youhave any issues with this?

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I don't enjoy the killing part of feeding snakes. When I raised my own feeders I ended up with some several breeder mice and rats that no longer produced living until they died of old age as permanant retirees because I had grown attached to them. Yeah, they can be charming in their own ratty way. Now I buy humanely killed rodents for my snakes and if one will not accept f/t I provide them with live so that they do not suffer hunger but continue to work to switch them over to f/t.

My own personal experience is this: I lived on a farm. If we were going to eat fried chicken, pork chops, hamburger, or roast duck then something had to die. My father and I dispatched many animals over the years so that we could have meat on the table, including Bambi and Thumper. We ploughed up field mouse and rabbit nests to grow our crops.

His feelings on slaugher rubbed off on me. If you kill something, kill it for a good reason. Don't go out and blast rabbits with the shotgun for the fun of it; if you take an animal's life do it because you are going to eat it or because it is destructive and harms you or your animals, or to end it's suffering. And if you kill something, you are morally obligated as a human being to kill it as painlessly as possible. Unlike me, my snakes must live by eating other animals. If I choose to keep a snake and deny him the ability to obtain his own food, then I am responsible to feed him. I am also ethically responsible to see that those feeder animals are killed as humanely as possible.

If I'm killing stuff because I get some sort of perverse jolly out of harming it or I'm killing something that needs to be killed but causing it unnecessary suffering then I am a sicko and I need to stay away from all animals, and humanity too while I'm at it. Someone who enjoys causing needless torment isn't fit to share the planet with anything that breathes.

While I'm thinking about it, I do not enjoy having an animal that is suffering euthanized either, but that is the responsibility which I take on when I make the choice to keep an animal--to spend my resources, time, and energy to get it the profesional help it requires to live in comfort, and to relieve it's distress by having it's life ended with as little hurt as possible if it cannot be kept free of pain by other means.

I had a female about 2 weeks ago that just looked awesome and her litter had about 5 of them that looked just like her and so far im still growing them out but in the end i think that my snakes are more important and need to feed so i doubt that no matter how cool and cute they look theyre still food for my snakes. After all, my snakes are worth more than the rats are but yes theres times i dont want to feed them off and sometimes i just make them breeders