Put it down already

[Dalishar]

Hmmm, not a snake but related.

I've been breeding rats on a small scale for years and gearing up for the last several months. I have a very standard policy which I will explain in a moment.

I can reach into any tub of rats I have bare handed, pull pinks, move fuzzies, remove adult by the body or tail and NEVER get bit.

I don't get bit because of my policy.

IF a rat bites me, it is then food. If it is a mother, her babies are food. Same for a male, bite-food.

Knock on wood, I can't remember the last time I had a rat bite me.

I have heard many tales of rats that bite from people who don't cull the biters.

It bears thought.

I'll happily admit to being a touch dense. I think I understand your point, however.

If we cull anything that has a deformity, then ideally we'll end up with stock with no deformities at all (or in the case of rats, no nippy buggers). So basically a zero tolerance policy. I like it, too - I was fully intending on following something similar when I began breeding rats.

How do you adapt the same policy to snakes though?
Hopefully deformed males and females would never be bred to begin with. So if they throw one defective baby, do you kill otherwise perfectly healthy adults? Do you cull the entire clutch? What if it only showed up in a second or third clutch - do you then go after the other babies and destroy them too? Where's the line drawn?

For rats specifically (and I hope this isnt too far off topic) - if a male bites you, do you then destroy ANY babies sired by him? Or only if the mother does? Do you only cull the litters if you're bitten by the mother while they're still pinks / fuzzies? What if they're adults already, and have never shown themselves as aggressive / defensive biters? (wee, can't tell I'm horrendously ignorant about this, can you?)

I think my problem is intention, silly as that sounds. It makes sense to follow such a policy with rats, as they're meant for food for my snakes. I do not want to deal with food that bites / has defects. These snakes, however, are meant to be pets. As much as I hate to contribute to future deformed babies, I would not be willing to go to such extreme lengths with my pets as I would with my pet's food. There goes my rights to the "animal lover" title, right?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, and I apologize if I come off that way - I find this topic fascinating and would like to learn as much as possible.