Not to be evil...

But.... do you think my ball python will eat a baby bunny that has been cast out of the nest by its mother this morning? It is already cold so I stuck it in the freezer for feeding day. I don't know if she will like the smell of bunnies...

There is nothing evil about that. The rabbit is already dead. Maybe your snake would eat it. Evidently the only difference between a rabbit and a rodent is the number of teeth. If it won't eat it, put it back where you found it and something else will eat it.

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Originally Posted by ZinniaZ

But.... do you think my ball python will eat a baby bunny that has been cast out of the nest by its mother this morning? It is already cold so I stuck it in the freezer for feeding day. I don't know if she will like the smell of bunnies...

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I would not suggest it as your snake could get imprinted on the scent and will only eat bunnies ;)

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

There is nothing evil about that. The rabbit is already dead. Maybe your snake would eat it. Evidently the only difference between a rabbit and a rodent is the number of teeth. If it won't eat it, put it back where you found it and something else will eat it.

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Its not possible to put it back as its in the freezer now :P

was the bunny dead when you found it???:confused:

Yes. The baby was dead. I'm not just stealing them from the mom. We did the classic buy two bunnies thing. We were assured by THREE people that they were the same gender but alas they are not. So she ahd babies. They were born this morning and she threw one out of the nest and I found it cold and dead.

Seriously-- will the snake only like bunnies hereafter if we feed it? She is a mice girl at the moment.

If this was a captive bred bunny...then I don't think there's much risk involved in feeding it off that way. Some BP's can be really picky eaters and if yours is a mouser, it may not even bother trying to eat anything else. But if it eats it easily...it's probably not a picky eater and will probably not have a problem the next time you feed it a mouse. Just be prepared for the small risk you run of having a few weeks of refusal, should the snake suddenly decide it really liked the baby rabbit above all else.

Thanks for the replies guys. I won't let my daughters know what is going on...

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Originally Posted by ZinniaZ

Thanks for the replies guys. I won't let my daughters know what is going on...

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Why not?

Likely because these are pet bunnies that due to mis-sexing had babies and it would upset the children to have their pet's baby fed off.

Huh.... Guess I've always been a naturalist..... :oops:

Well "naturalist" or not, I think it's always important to consider a child's feelings. Just because a parent might not mind something, doesn't mean the child would easily accept a snake eating an offspring of their pet rabbit. I think in these sorts of matters, the parent(s) would be in the best position to make a decision that suits their own child's age, temperment and ability to understand predators and prey. :)

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Well "naturalist" or not, I think it's always important to consider a child's feelings. Just because a parent might not mind something, doesn't mean the child would easily accept a snake eating an offspring of their pet rabbit. I think in these sorts of matters, the parent(s) would be in the best position to make a decision that suits their own child's age, temperment and ability to understand predators and prey. :)

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X2

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Well "naturalist" or not, I think it's always important to consider a child's feelings. Just because a parent might not mind something, doesn't mean the child would easily accept a snake eating an offspring of their pet rabbit. I think in these sorts of matters, the parent(s) would be in the best position to make a decision that suits their own child's age, temperment and ability to understand predators and prey. :)

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Absolutely true regarding parental decision making being the very best-- that's why I put that little face after my last post....! I totally agree.

But another side to this multi-sided coin: I am a little confused as to why we believe that sanitizing reality is best for our children (I have done this as well with my own kids at times). What is so wrong with the reality that snakes eat and so we feed them when we have them in our care? What is so wrong with allowing a kid to understand the fact that the momma bunny pushed out a baby (as sometimes happens) and the baby bunny died. Feeling sad is okay. Processing through that sadness is healthy. Allowing the snake to eat this dead bunny is okay and I think it is okay for kids to be exposed to what is natural.

This is simply fodder for discussion and is in no way to be construed as trying to tell the OP how to best deal with the subject of death with her children.....

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Originally Posted by ZinniaZ

But.... do you think my ball python will eat a baby bunny that has been cast out of the nest by its mother this morning? It is already cold so I stuck it in the freezer for feeding day. I don't know if she will like the smell of bunnies...

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hey zinnia if your snake doesn't want it, I like collecting bones, i can pay for shipping it to me, never seen a baby bunny skull before. It's morbid, i know, but bones are so pretty and they require less food than my snakes! XD

It's a good point for discussion. :)

Quite honestly, for our family feeding off live prey is second nature. Even young Michael understands that the rats that we breed are for snake food or the snakes would die of hunger. The problem can arise though, in this situation, where the parent animals are pets and therefore are cared for at a different level of attachment by the children. Kids are kids and let's be honest, kids love bunnies, especially ones they've named and loved and watched have babies.

For me, faced with this situation, I'd either quietly feed off that bunny or dispose of it or allow the children to bury it (if that is their wish). Death needs dealt with, as do a lot of issues with children, in ways that are appropriate for that child, at that time under a certain set of circumstances. It's just one of those things, at least to me, that you can't generalize about at all. It's going to be such a unique situation that what works for one kid isn't likely to work for another at all.

I don't think it's "sanitizing" anything to consider the feelings of a young child who may well be very confused why Fluffy's baby died and may not be able to fully understand why that baby animal is now a snake's dinner.

we have rabbits as well, but have decided to breed for food meat so our daughter knows that the babies may be cute, just like a mouse or a rat is cute to her, but that they will not be staying with us in this world for long since they have a purpose. Morning of feeding day my girl will draw mice pictures and tell me they are for bobo because he's hungry.

at the same time, my friends son who is a year older can't be around when we feed the snakes because he doesn't like that the snake has to kill something to survive. Mom and dad haven't explained where chicken comes from. I know his level of understanding so I mention to the mom if they are planning on being in town durring feeding day that he may not want to be in the room if it's going to upset him.

Cool discussion that occurred while I was doing yard work today.

Yes, it is because these bunnies are pets and my daughters are young. We have not yet had them watch our snake eat. They realize the snake eats whole animals but they haven't seen it yet. We go toward these things lightly and slowly. I am not sure that I sanitize so much as broach things slowly and quietly. We have lost pets before. Our 28 year old horse had to be put down this past september and they saw her as she got sick and were with me and with her on her last day. They know the mama bunny casts the babies out if she is worried about predators. We had that discussion this morning. It's just a little insult to injury at the moment to go all the way to involving them in the snake eating the cast out baby.

I do think that kids need to grow up on farms. I like that mine have seen animals live and die. I like that they are more involved in real life. I think they will grow up fairly whole and well adjusted. :)

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Originally Posted by darkbloodwyvern

hey zinnia if your snake doesn't want it, I like collecting bones, i can pay for shipping it to me, never seen a baby bunny skull before. It's morbid, i know, but bones are so pretty and they require less food than my snakes! XD

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I will let you know! Although I may go far from my local post office to mail it.

i wouldent feed it bunnies... cuz ur BP might get used to eating them and then every 7-10 days you have to buy a bunny

I've heard from a few people and breeders that bunnies and chickens tend to loosen the poo of snakes...... :oops:

This thread brought up a great discussion.

I think it is an unfortunate thing about how society is today that many people feel the need to "sanitize" the world for their kids. As someone mentioned, some kids don't realize that the chicken, beef, pork, etc they eat used to be a living animal. To me, it seems there is something wrong with hiding that from kids, but many parents these days seem to do it.

On the other hand, little kids can form very strong attachments to their pets, and while they may know that the pet snake eats other animals, they may not want to see or know that one of the animals it ate used to be one of the other pets. My 5th grader knew the rats we borrowed for her science project were bred to be snake food, and might end up snake food when we gave them back to the breeder. She was ok with that. But she was quite definite and clear that she did not want to which ones or how many were kept to be breeders or ended up as food. And I was ok with that.

I am really glad my wish to take this to a bit of a deeper level was not interpreted incorrectly and I'm glad that some people are digging looking a little deeper than just the OP's initial thoughts and questions.

I have known many kids these days who really think that water comes from a sink and food comes from a store. I know a bunch of kids who have not seen any death at all. Our roads are cleaned of road kill quickly, our elders die in hospitals and other institutions, and death these days is more thought of as defeat (or something) than as a natural process. Heck, with so much plastic surgery going on, people don't even seem to grow old anymore!!

I fully realize the trickiness to parenting and wanting to protect our children and their feelings. I often feel that we are protecting them from what we were protected from, and then discovered at a later time, and felt some discomfort from with our discovery (in this discussion, death.) For example, people who grew up closer to the earth, farming families for instance, understood that death = life, in many instances and so I would suspect that their children also were taught this in a matter of fact manner. City dwellers though were removed from the process of death and so they protect their children from it.

Hmmm, I'm wondering if this makes sense? Maybe it's just time to grab some ice cream and watch my taped episode of Dr. Who :P

Definitely makes sense, and as a mom, your first 'why?' did make me think a bit. Always a good thing.

I do make sure my kids know where food comes from. I want them to be conscious of things like factory farming and how animals are treated on their way to slaughter, etc. Some of them won't eat beef unless it is local.

I was thinking as I fed and cleaned stalls this morning about this issue and why I don't want to talk about the bunny being eaten by the snake with them. I think it is this: both daughters see our animals as friends and equals. They don't differentiate a lot between the value of a human life and their animal's lives. So, to them, it is fairly abhorrent to treat their pet's bodies with disrespect after death, just as it would be for us to treat a human's body with disrespect after death. Eventually, I think, their perspective will change a little.

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Originally Posted by ZinniaZ

I think it is this: both daughters see our animals as friends and equals. They don't differentiate a lot between the value of a human life and their animal's lives. So, to them, it is fairly abhorrent to treat their pet's bodies with disrespect after death, just as it would be for us to treat a human's body with disrespect after death. Eventually, I think, their perspective will change a little.

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I thought about posting how even most "naturalists" would be pretty horrified at the idea of a (human) loved one's body being used for animal food, and to little kids, the distinction between a beloved human family member and a beloved pet isn't always very clear. Then I thought maybe that was going too far, but since you brought it up...

I agree that your kids' perspective will most likely change as they grow up. No need to try to rush them in to it by making them aware of feeding their dead pet to the pet snake.

Oops, I have to go sooner than I thought so I'm not really done with this post. I'll probably add more later.

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Originally Posted by ZinniaZ

... I think it is this: both daughters see our animals as friends and equals. They don't differentiate a lot between the value of a human life and their animal's lives. So, to them, it is fairly abhorrent to treat their pet's bodies with disrespect after death, just as it would be for us to treat a human's body with disrespect after death. Eventually, I think, their perspective will change a little.

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Originally Posted by kc261

I thought about posting how even most "naturalists" would be pretty horrified at the idea of a (human) loved one's body being used for animal food...

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Hmmm, different cultural beliefs are coming into play with this now. I am not a Christian and so this might be when I need to not speak to this issue anymore. In closing, I will say that I find no disrespect in allowing the snake to eat the bunny and I am sure that you are right when you say that your children's perspectives will broaden as they age.
I suppose I ought not to have used the word "naturalist" since now it is being put into quotations and used.... well maybe in a way that I did not intend. It is a web of life and with it a web of respect. I do not put human animals above any others in the animal world. I believe the disrespect comes from waste.
Great discussion!

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Originally Posted by starmom

I suppose I ought not to have used the word "naturalist" since now it is being put into quotations and used.... well maybe in a way that I did not intend.

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Darn it. I was afraid posting that half-finished post was going to get me in trouble.

What I was trying to get around to saying was that there are lots of people who will say you shouldn't worry about this or shield your kid from that because it is nature's way, or whatever. Yet many of those same people would be horrified if nature was allowed to have its way with one of their human loved ones. And for kids, the difference between a human loved one and a pet may be unclear or nonexistent.

So it really wasn't aimed at you personally Starmom, even if you were the one who used the word "naturalist" in this thread.

It is hard to know where to find a balance between sheltering kids enough and sheltering them too much, whether it be stuff like this or things like all the violence in the news. Early in this thread Joanna said something about each parent being best able to make the decision for their own child, but she left out that it is often a very hard decision to make.

Definitely this has been a great discussion.