How do you feel when feeding mice, rats, etc.?

[mdfreak2]

the only thing i dont like is to hear them squel since my snake will only eat live med. to large rats and he likes to let them suffer a minute till he finally kills them. but it doesnt matter to me i dont like rats so i can care less about them.

[spitzu]

I feed live mice, rats, and ASFs. I may have felt a little sad at first, but after participating in the slaughter of 50+ of them every week for the past 6 months I no longer have the least bit of sympathy for any of them.

[Juliemay13]

I used to be completely indifferent when feeding live but...somehow had an extra one once and started playing with it. That was the end of live feeding for me. I learned the benefits of feeding frozen plus had a few pet rats-they are actually awesome little pets

[Daniel Tuttle]

I honestly just think of it as the circle of life. Snakes eat rodents its a fact of life. So when I feed my snake I just look at it as a front row seat to nature.

[hope4peace]

I dont like the idea of feeding time. I just got my BP and hes on mice, but I know I need to switch him over to rats... Im not looking forward to it at all because until just this past fall, I kept rats fanatically. I have two huge cages (critter nations). At the height of my rat keeping, I had 14 rats. After a few losses in a short time period I got very depressed and was no longer able to care for them. I was so afraid to look in the cages and see I had lost another one. The vets couldnt tell me what they had died of, and they all seemed healthy beforehand. I made pan liners and hammocks out of fabrics, and special ordered top of the line food and in addition gave them a fresh fruits and veggies. Those rats were like my children. They could run free and would come when I called. It was hard to get rid of them, but I was beginning to neglect them and they deserved much better.

So... How do I feel about feeding? Feeding the mice wasnt a big deal, but im honestly terrified of how im going to react when I have to feed a baby rat. I think im going to need to just not even look.

[lisafoster2510]

I feel terrible when I feed pinkies or rat pups. I cannot feed live I had to a long time ago and I could not keep the snake after that. i am so glad they take feozen now I would not feed a snake live and notging above a large rat never a guinea pig or god forbid a rabbit or piglet. I had a hairless rat for three years was in the top 2 for my all time favorite pet. Myu 9 year old doxie is named sadie after her.

[rperry03]

I dont like rats, but there is a part of me that feels bad; I won't touch them from store to feeder cage! When I was in my teens I had to clean and take care of feeder rats at a store.

I had one look up at me and in his way beg to get him out of there when he was at the end of the tongs

[Scaleyz]

I have some mixed feelings, well first of all I raise my own rats, mice and gerbils. The only ones I feel bad for are the rat pups to me they are the cutest, this is where the mixed feelings come from. The rat pups end up being fed live to my normal male because he wont eat any other way. He used to eat fresh killed. I don't know why he won't anymore. My other normal female and pastel female will eat a fresh killed which is allot easier or they will eat a frozen thawed. Either way it's just another mouth to feed that's the way I look at it. I usually have plenty in the freezer so I don't have to feed live, but I do still have to get them in there. Ya feel me?

[Homegrownscales]

Hmm rodents well are rodents. Its population control In my eyes. Snakes, birds, lizards etc all have to eat. And guess what a rat/mouse that is hungry feels no qualms about eating anything that is near it even if it's a sibling, snake, carrion, whatever. They are opportunists too. So In general theres a cycle of life. We eat, they eat, everybodies got to eat. I feed live to all my snakes and the little ratties are cute when they are babies, but at the same time, my snakes are a hell of alot cuter.

[MoshBalls]

I do not want to say that I hate rates and mice but I dislike them very much. But it does bother me to feed live (to my BPs that will not take F/T) prey to my snakes. I just tell myself it is all part of the cycle. I have been keeping snakes for as long as I can remember and I think it will always bother me.

When we first started feeding F/T rat I was relieved, because I no longer felt like I was the cause of the rats death, however recently we have a few snakes that don't eat every week and now throwing away a f/t rat because no one would eat it bothers me. It seems like there was no reason for their death if they don't eat them. At least with live when they don't eat they get to continue to live, until they do.

I started raising my own and I feel as long as I make life good for them while they are alive, and their death serves a purpose it is fine. I guess I have the old native american way of looking at it.