Am I the only one...

...that feels a little sad when you feed a live mouse? :tears:

I don't seem to mind the mice but I hate it when I feed rats. I had one as a pet when I was a kid. Made a great pet but that is the circle of life. Snakes got to eat. Although I try not to feed live unless they are being stubborn.


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The more you feed, the easier it gets. And we do have pet as well as feeder rats.

I really only feel bad when I hear the mouse/rat make noises then I kinda feel bad. During this time of the year my Rufous like to slow down feeding, so I find that the live pinkies entice them more then f/t. I'll switch them back around the summer time.

I don't feel bad for mice. I don't much like them. I know my first feedings of ratty babies are going to be tough though. My boyfriend keeps telling me I'm going to end up a rat hoarder because I won't feed them off. I will I'll just feel bad because of their cuteness.

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Originally Posted by Wizard

...that feels a little sad when you feed a live mouse? :tears:

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I'm not really a fan of feeding the dead ones. Seems like a waste of food.


Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I know what you mean, though. I won't ever feed a rat that's got a caramel hood. One of my little ones was a caramel, and it just feels wrong. Anything else is fair game.

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I really like all of our ASFs, honestly I've been having more fun with them then I have the snakes in the past couple months because I am setting up my colony and selecting holdbacks. However, no I do not feel sad for them, I feed appropriately sized meals which are killed in 5-20 seconds. My ASFs are fat and happy until then and are raised under perfect care. Predation is a fact of nature. I'd argue that CO2ing your rodents is no more humane then appropriately sized live feeding. I also always watch the feeder die to make sure that something freakish doesn't happen during the feeding. It's all about making the interaction as humane as possible for a win-lose situation (snake eats - rodent dies, rodent lives - snake dies).

I dont feel bad when the snake kills the mouse or rat. But if someone doesnt eat and I have leftovers, I feel bad killing them myself.

Nope, I usually grab lunch and eat while watching my guys eat.

I do kinda feel bad for my ASFs when I take the fuzzies away, but that feeling passes quickly when I see Cupcake take them down. :D

I never feel bad, But i'm also not a fan of mice/rats.

Mice not so much, rats just seem to have sooo much more personality which makes it a lil harder.

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Not a bit. That said, our supplier gives us the rats that "don't play well with others" and are not worth keeping or breeding for pets.

I can't stand the smell of mice, they are such filthy creatures. But when I see them all huddled up and I have to natch one up I can't help but feel a little sad. On the positive side, they are all appropriately sized and once struck they are dead within 30 seconds.

I never feel bad. Like, mice can be cute and stuff, but I chose to have a pet snake and that what they mainly eat. Sure, the little fluff ball I have in my hand prior to feeding my snake is cute and shivering but it's necessary for my hungry pet! Plus, it's the cycle of life: animals eating other animals to survive.

Im an animal lover and that includes mice and rats. If snakes suddenly started eating carrots or something I would feed them that instead but as long as we are living in real life thats not going to happen. But i dont feel bad because of WHY the rat is dying. Its food and like somebody said before I chose to have a pet snake and that means feeding them other animals.

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Originally Posted by Wizard

I can't stand the smell of mice, they are such filthy creatures.

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They are actually just as clean as dogs and cats. Also, they don't smell unless you don't take proper care of them.

I don't feed live. I would never do that out of respect to my mice. I also give each mouse a kiss, snuggle, and thank them for their life before I put them to sleep.

I must disagree, out of all my animals the mice stink. I have to clean them every 3-4 days or I can't stand it and trust me I take proper care of them

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Mice smell horrid.
I had a 1.1 pair in the past and boy, they reeked a few hours after a fresh cage clean compared to an entire rack of rats who haven't been cleaned in 6 days.
Rats>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Mice

Anyway. In regards to mice specifically, I have no remorse or sad emotion for them when they pass. I don't feed mice to my snakes, because I prefer that they eat rats. But I occasionally feed mice to my ferrets and dogs.
And just to note that a snake coil is no worse than a co2 chamber. A snake coil stimulates endorphins, which do dull the pain receptors. And in both methods, the feeder is dead in about the same amount of time if you are feeding the appropriate sized prey.

And I suppose it doesn't help that once you've euthanized hundreds of rodents yourself or watched your predatory pets kill their prey, you unfortunately become rather desensitized.

Don't get me wrong, I love my rats and enjoy keeping them. I do respect & appreciate their lives. But I no longer get sad from feeding them off like I did when I first started keeping carnivorous animals.

Its all a matter of opinion. I never smell any of my mice and I clean them every one to two weeks. I, however, cannot stand the rat smell. It makes me sick...