Not prepared for the noise!!!

My new BP "Lucy" has been home for about a month now. I got her to take FT with the second attempt but I think it was a fluke. She had no interest in FT the next feeding and I tried everything. I began to worry about her feeding, having heard all the horror stories, so I decided to get her a live baby rat. And swith back to FT after she was on a good feeding schedule.

Well that rat never even hit the substrate!!! I was a bit surprised at how fast and violent the strike was. But I was really not prepared for the horrible noise that poor rat made as Lucy squeezed the life out of it. I must admit that it was both tragic and magnificant all at once. Does anyone else have compassion for the food or is it just me?

And that's why I feed mice(well, one of the many reasons). They might make a tiny squeak when grabbed, but there's no screaming. They usually never hit the floor of the tub either.

I find it hard to have compassion for them only because either he (my snake) is gonna kill them or I'm gonna do it... Almost always it's me doing the dirty deed.
So I never ever get attached to my feeders.
I only get attached to my breeders...
I might sound like a cold hearted person, but I just dont wanna be upset everytime I have to kill a rat for my snakes...

and yes, I've had rats scream soooo loud. I didnt think it would ever stop... but it did eventually! :(

Yes and no.

Yes, because I wouldn't want to be that rat.

No, because that rat is only here on this earth for one reason and one reason only.

Kinda like cows. I feel bad that they die, but on the other hand, I LOVE steak!

I have compassion for all living creatures (except ticks shudders).

However I have to understand that snakes eat mice and rats. So if I am going to keep snakes then I have to set aside my compassion and admire the circle of life.

Im not cold hearted by any means, but i breed rats and feed live. I love my breeder rats though to death.... But i feel bad sometimes when the rats scream.

Usually it's only one breath's worth of screaming...

I feed mice, and they do squeak for a second. After that it's silent. I'll have no qualms about feeding off my breeders, either...

Compassion, yes


But when it comes to food, it is food.

Just like if you were to be sad for your steak or your chicken.

Yes, it is sad. But it is a part of life.

Well, once I saw a baby cow that was so cute I couldn't eat steak for the rest of the day!

But that was only the day, right?


What about next week?

I have no problem dropping a live mouse into my snake's feeding take. Not even my breeders, in fact I have a female breeder that is pure evil, she killed a second feeder breeder female I got, so I separated her until she has babies, then I'm CO2-in' her. If she wasn't pure evil, and since she'd probably hurt my snake, I'll just end up putting her in the "Dry Ice Cooler" i saw on here somewhere. But, then again, I am an avid hunter too, so seeing animals die doesn't bother me. Now on the other hand, if my BP, leopard gecko, or chinchilla were to die, I'd be heart broken!

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Originally Posted by Jenn

Does anyone else have compassion for the food or is it just me?

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I do :oops:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...t=30990&page=1

Actually, now that I think about it I may have stopped for a cheeseburger on the way home!!!

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

I have compassion for all living creatures (except ticks shudders).

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Ticks and gnats. *sage nod*

And yeah, I do the compassion thing too which is actually part of why I feed f/t, that and convenience for me. But if any of my snakes refused f/t and I couldn't switch them over, I'd do what I need to do and offer live mice. I eat chicken and turkey, but I prefer getting it out of the freezer then going out back and taking care of it myself. It's just my preference. But if I had to... well, you do what you have to do.

I plug my ears until the little legs stop kicking...honestly.

Honestly I rarely hear a thing from the rats. Feeding is usually...open tub....put rat in the corner away from the snake...close tub...THWAPPPP...perhaps one very small squeek but seriously I don't hear any screaming or that sort of thing, even a small squeek is unusual around here. Perhaps it is because we feed a smaller than girth prey item or two to our snakes so they are very easily able to subdue and put down the rodent so quickly. If I heard any loud noise from the rodents I'd be really worried actually.

When I do feed live, I rarely hear a scream for very long.

It actually bothered me more when I had a snake eat a couple of mice fuzzy/hoppers (eyes closed) live. She didn't coil them, she just started swallowing them. :eek:

I'm with you hon! I'd rather deal with 18 ball pythons and 2 boas eating than watch that 1 darn milksnake of ours eat her dinner. It's just nasty that she doesn't properly kill them first....I seriously cannot watch. Such a pretty snake but her table manners leave something to be desired!

Yeah, my little Pueblan's on f/t now, but that first pinky screamed like crazy...because she was beating it over and over with her head before she ate it. lol

I have found larger rats scream the most. I only ever feed weanlings now, and the only time they make more than a squeak is when the snake has gotten lazy and hasn't constricted very well. But it does stop eventually. I've only had it happen a total of 2 times and it was VERY hard for me to handle, but I do not handle the feeder rats at all unless I am holding them back.

I have found that some rats squeak, some don't. I just ignore it/drown it out with background noise.. not hard since I am a music addict and always have music playing.
Predation is not pretty per se, but it is nature's way.

I'm like all of you... Love all animals but nature needs to take its course... I dont kill animals if it can be avoided... Ive been known to turn off the shower to save a daddy long legs and hoist him to safety... Just how I do... Now if a mosquito wont stop biting me or a fly wont leave me alone when im eating Ight they might get it... As far as rats and snakes... eat em up fellas! If they were in the wild thats what would go on so its not like were doing anything inhumane... Constrictors are meant to crush and suffocate... millions of years of evolution at its best!

I live on a cul-de-sac and the area is VERY quiet.


I HAVE TO put music on, as you can hear the animals squeeking from outside my house in the street. (My snake room faces the street)

It's something that we as Herpers have to deal with.

I have to say its not my favorite time, but it happens.

And yes, the larger rats seem to scream more and longer...

Humane? Some wild animals eat their prey in chunks while it's still alive, how is that humane? Nature doesn't worry about what's humane. It's entirely up to us whether or not WE do.
I think there's a line between feeling bad about having to kill something to feed a pet (which seems a pointless thing to feel bad about, to me), and absolving oneself of all responsibility for a death because the pet did the killing. But, your mileage may vary.
If the screaming bothers you, don't feed live.

Sometimes it makes me sad. The worst was when a couple of rats were playing right before I fed them off. Food shouldn't play.

I'm no vegan, and I understand that life feeds on life, so generally I'm fine with it.

I am unfortunately breeding for cuteness because it's easier to feed off a plain rat. Soon they'll all be too cute to feed off and I'll have a problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jenn

My new BP "Lucy" has been home for about a month now. I got her to take FT with the second attempt but I think it was a fluke. She had no interest in FT the next feeding and I tried everything. I began to worry about her feeding, having heard all the horror stories, so I decided to get her a live baby rat. And swith back to FT after she was on a good feeding schedule.

Well that rat never even hit the substrate!!! I was a bit surprised at how fast and violent the strike was. But I was really not prepared for the horrible noise that poor rat made as Lucy squeezed the life out of it. I must admit that it was both tragic and magnificant all at once. Does anyone else have compassion for the food or is it just me?

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I always hated rodents, Until I fed my first snake... I really like them now! The sound they make is awesome!

i feed fresh kill whenever possible. rabbits are the worse for attachment. you have to feed them quickly, they are too cute after a while.

I hate rodents I love to watch my snake strike and kill them even if they scream then shallow them.

I try to stay detached from my feeders. I get the mice about a week or so early, set them up in their tank, and basically only check to make sure that they have food and water. This has been working for me so far with the mice. I did get attached to a couple of baby rats (that are still living with us) and couldn't feed them off, but that time I broke the rule of no handling the feeders (but they were too cute!!! We couldn't help it:P). So if we make the move to rats eventually, No Handling for me. The mice so far haven't been bad as far as squeaking. Maybe a little squeak, but doesn't last but a second or two...

I am just glad (like in Habu's post) that I probably won't ever have a snake big enough to eat rabbits. That would be something I couldn't personally do.:( I would get too attached just by having them in the house. Oh and talking about hearing something squeal, you should hear a completely spooked rabbit!!

Ill find out Friday when I switch my 07 girls from mice to rat pups. I tried f/t rat pups with no success so Ill do live a couple weeks then try again with the f/t.

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Originally Posted by andy6432668

I hate rodents I love to watch my snake strike and kill them even if they scream then shallow them.

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:colbert: No wonder why people have a bad image of snake owners

I had a really bad experience several weeks ago.

My male has not been eating, which was somewhat expected because of the time of year, but I always offer him food anyway. At first, he seemed interested in the rat, stalking it. After about 10 minutes, I realized this was going nowhere, and I had an indifferent snake and a very scared rat on my hands. I moved him into my girl's tub. She was in shed, but had never seemed to mind eating while in shed. She struck the rat on the head and coiled, but when the rat started clawing at her and struggling, she freaked out and let it go. So here is this rat, bleeding from the head and eye, in total shock. I have already fed the rest of the snakes. I cannot possibly keep this thing for a week till the next feeding in the condition it's in. I honestly just want it to die and put it out of its misery. It's been scared to death, struck, and half-suffocated. I'm sobbing because I feel so bad for it. I put the rat in my boa's tub because I know he won't turn down food. When I heard him take hold I was so relieved.

Until this had happened, I thought I had gotten over my feelings of remorse towards feeding. I guess I'm never going to lose all of that, completely.

darkangel: Yes, I had this very same thing happen to me. My JCP was in shed and wasn't interested in eating at all. But, he laid into it really good three times. I removed the rat and put him in a container and over the next few days he developed several big absesses. I nursed him back to health over the next two weeks - and then fed him to my JCP. :confused: I have to say it was a tough situation and there were many soul searching sessions over those two weeks. There was really no solution that didn't have a down side to it.

In answer to the O.P.: Yes I do feel sorry for the prey, and the louder and longer it goes on, the sorrier I feel. But, its just something that I deal with. I don't believe in hiding away from these things. I eat meat and I see it as a point of pride that I'm perfectly capable of witnessing and/or performing all of the tasks involved in going from the live animal to the prepared meal. (and I have done so).

My experience is that larger prey items make more noise. Also, mice are the quietest, rats are next, and fowl is the worst. It takes some serious resolve to feed live chicks.

I have compassion for all animals, feeder or not. I actually became vegan about a month ago.

While I do feel compassion for the feeders, I do understand that nature must take its course. Some animals require the flesh of other animals to survive and if I want my babies to grow up big and strong, then they get nice plump mice for dinner. I do feed live to the bps and I do hate hearing them squeak but once again, it is natures way.

I will probably end up becoming attached to the breeders but that is all. I do not put the feeders into the mental category of pets. To me they are food for my snakes and thats it. I end up finishing the feeding with no bad feelings because of it.

I always feel kinda bad for the live rodents that I feed ( I used to feed mice, now I'm up to rats). There was one week that the only feeder I could find was just a tad bigger than I would have liked to have fed. He definately squealed louder than the others do, and I felt so bad.

But I don't feel bad enough to not feed my snake. The rodents really are cute, but they were intended to be food, and they will be. I'm assuming I would get attached to breeders, but the one breeder that we have had for long enough to get attached to is meaner than snot! I wouldn't mind feeding her off if she wasn't too big...but it doesn't mean I want her to suffer.

On the issue of f/t....I can't do it. Kasi picked up a f/t rat this week for her big girl b/c there wasn't any live rats that were the right size. Her girl wouldn't eat it, and since my Lilly is generally a pig, I tried to feed it to her. She wouldn't eat it, and doing the "zombie mouse dance" with the poor limp rat really grossed me out....I can deal with blood and gore so much better than I could deal with messing with that thawed rat. I don't really know why, but I would really rather not ever deal with that again! :P Me grossing out while my snake pretended to stalk the rat gave Kasi a good laugh though!

Got my three girls yesterday to start on rat pups from mice. Definately is a difference in noise, mice never made a noise and the pups were screeching for a few seconds. I plan on doing f/t but I was not successful in my first two attempts at f/t rat pups.

Wow; after reading everyone's replies, I feel so indifferent. Feeding live has never bothered me in the least. I make sure that my feeders have a good life while they are being raised up to feed, and then into the tub they go.

I personally hope I never have to feed live. Dakota has eaten f/t since we got him...and never seems to waiver. The only time I had to pick it up and dance it was when I tried to feed him on a paper towel after reading that I shouldn't feed him on substrate! He hated that paper towel - or couldn't see the creature, I'm not sure which. Anyway - I'd probably attach immediately to a live feeder and would only do it if I thought Dakota was gonna die without it.

I love feeding our boa Seren pinkies and fuzzies. . .its so exciting seeing her strike it and wrap around it even though when we first started feeding her I had to wack the mice in the head and knock them out (My fear of her getting hurt, not her fear) and it was pretty cool but freaked my kids out @ the same time, lol.


I prefer live over frozen. . .just because!

Hmm, I never minded feeding Nagini live mice, and I don't think she would take anything but live. She seems to hunt by movement. Anyway, I kind of enjoy watching her zero in on the mouse and snatch it up in her coils when I lower it in.

FT, PK or live, I don't mind any method. I even have three mice here that have become pets, and I still have no qualms feeding mice...but I do mind feeding rats, which is why all three snakes are on mice and probably always will be. I've heard that scream at the reptile store I frequent, and its not a pretty sound, but that's not why I won't do rats. It's not even my love for rats, since I was 'conditioned' at the zoo to tell food from pet with no gray areas. The reason I won't feed rats is because whereas mice just scrabble around trying to get away, rats scratch and struggle trying to fight. Yes, I offer live food with the tail in tongs...but I know the agility and tenacity of rats and I would not want myself or especially my dear snake to be injured. I know it will mean giving her three or four adult mice per feeding when she's an adult, but that's ok since I'm trying to breed them. :)

This is a strange subject..I had no problems feeding mine mice but once I picked up live rat pups it was completely different. Maybe because they were still babies and they were taken from their mom, or all they wanted to do is burrow in the bedding, and once I dropped them in the tub they took off for the hide and SNATCH!

if you have a loud stereo, play Marilyn Mansons 'fight song' really loud while you feed him...not only is the song crazy, but it will be cool and you won't hear the screaming....you'll probably even start cheering for your snakey :)

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Originally Posted by FIREball

This is a strange subject..I had no problems feeding mine mice but once I picked up live rat pups it was completely different. Maybe because they were still babies and they were taken from their mom, or all they wanted to do is burrow in the bedding, and once I dropped them in the tub they took off for the hide and SNATCH!

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Yea, I can appreciate that. I had a similar thing once when I was wanting a jumbo mouse and the guy pulls out this pregnant breeder and says something like "Or you could feed him this big fat pregnant one!" and I just couldn't take it.