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

[pavlovk1025]

I feel kinda bad when I feed ASFs now because I produce them, raise them, and while theyre fuzzies and hoppers Ill play with them... but a snake's gotta eat.

[CoolioTiffany]

I feel kinda bad when I feed ASFs now because I produce them, raise them, and while theyre fuzzies and hoppers Ill play with them... but a snake's gotta eat.

Yeah I see what you mean. I think of a snake eating a rodent the same way we eat cows, pigs, and chickens. So, when I think about that, I know a snake has got to stay healthy and that means eating what it needs to be eating, and we also need to stay healthy by eating meats too. Though, we eat our meats in a more brutal way than a snake eats a rodent, IMO.

[Hulihzack]

I only feel bad about 2-3 week old rat pups. They're painfully adorable

[CoolioTiffany]

I only feel bad about 2-3 week old rat pups. They're painfully adorable

Well, that I can see that it is sad, since I had to feed those to my Dumeril's boa. I never really watched it happen, only a couple of times.

I guess having a snake is a trade-off. You feed off a little rat pup (loss) but with that you gain a healthy snake (benefit).

[Kesslers Kreatures]

It doesnt really bother me to feed my snakes. I mean it does suck when there happens to be a cute rat, Ill usually feed that one to my picky eaters so if it doesnt get eaten I can keep it a little longer or introduce it to my breeding colony if its a girl. Other than that I just think about it as a way of life.. Its all about the food chain. It's like asking me if I cry as I eat a cheeseburger...

[Lolo76]

Other than that I just think about it as a way of life.. Its all about the food chain. It's like asking me if I cry as I eat a cheeseburger...

LMAO... that's like the standard answer I give people, when they ask if I "feel bad" feeding my snakes rodents. I ask, do you feel bad eating meat or offering your cat/dog chicken? Just because it doesn't look like an animal, doesn't change the fact that it IS one.

P.S. I voted for the middle option, even though I don't really care... but that one pang of sympathy counts for something, I suppose.

[SlitherSister]

No sense of sadness, more like an afterthought that the passing was the least difficult as I can administer (CO2 or cervical dislocation for mice, CO2 only for rats)

[T&C Exotics]

I am going to sound very cold hearted with my feelings when I feed my snakes. But first let me say that I do have 3 pet rats that are just pets nd will be nothing else ever. When I am feeding my snakes be live or fresh killed, I breed all my own rodents, I feel nothing at all. I guess over the years you become numb to it and just don't care anymore about the "food" you keep. I do not like it nor do I dislike it I just do not care about the rat/mouse/asf I kill and feed off. Just who I am.

[SnakeGirl3]

I feel bad if a rat is killed "just because." If it's dying because it's going to be snake food, then no, it doesn't bother me. I mean, I don't kill off a bunch of rats just for the thrill of it; if I kill off a bunch at once, it's because they are going in the freezer to be snake food at some point.

Bottom line: I don't like for anything to die in vain, but if it serves a purpose for the animal to die, I'm OK with it.

[bamf64]

I think its sad in the mildest of ways, but whenever i feed live i just think of it as what they do in the wild. its a dog eat dog world and its the way the creator of snakes and reptiles made it.