That was the last time! I hope...

[withonor]

Ok I missed a lot of good posts I want to comment on a few.

"Put the mouse on the ground and it becomes a pest."

Thats one of the simplest explanations of the situation I have seen. I am definitely going to use that.

"As I get older I become more Vegetarian"

Me too. Keep in mind I am still pretty far off but I get more and more so every year. My personal philosophy is to try and eat locally grown animals. I feel much better about eating a cow that I know was cared for properly. My girlfriend and I buy 1/4 of a cow and 1/2 of a pig every year. Its expensive up front but much cheaper in the long run. The meat is leaner than most of what you will find in a store and the animals were treated well.

This brings me to my biggest reason for not feeding F/T. My problem is not actually with feeding F/T but with buying them online. Unless you have visited the facilities of the company you buy from you don't know that the animals are cared for properly. For me raising my own rodents is the most humane option. Many people feel that its cruel to raise them only to be fed off, but these people usually say so while eating a hamburger. I explain to them that I care for all of my animals the same. My fish, cats, BP, and even my rodents get the best quality food and enclosures that I can reasonably afford. My rodents have more than 5 times the floor space that lab animals have. On top of that because I only have the one BP at this time my rodents have more time between breeding and get to grow to 30 grams before I feed them off. When my BP was still eating F/T the adults I ordered were between 18 and 24 grams. I am not trying to maximize production or minimize costs at the expense of the animals and so I believe they have a better life. I am sure many have heard the phrase, "Think global, act local" when it comes to saving the planet. Well the same applies to caring for your snake. When you breed your own, or buy locally and responsibly you are doing the right thing, not just hiding yourself form the parts of life you would rather not think about. Its more honest.

Hmm, why didn't I reply to your comment earlier?

That quote from my brother about making the rat a pest is priceless.

I think we're on the same page with the vegetarian thing. I have a long time friend, who was actually a scoutmaster in my boyscout troop, that has a weekend ranch a few hours north. He has a bunch of cattle there, breeds them minimally, and sends one to the butcher every 1-3 years. He always has too much meat for him and basically gives us as much as we ask for, though it's hard to ask when he is just giving it to you and not wanting anything in return.

When I visited this local guy who sells frozen rats we discussed the "not knowing how online dealers treat their animals". I am really thankful he existed. His setup was nice, basically what anyone in the rat breeders forum would suggest if you wanted to breed rats. He had a bin set up for euthanizing the rats and a tank of C02 instead of dry ice. I bought a live rat in case my python wouldn't take F/T, but he did and now I have a pet rat that is a complete chatterbox which leads me to believe he wasn't ever treated badly. I may want to breed my own, but I think I will need A LOT more snakes to want to do that.

[Egapal]

Hmm, why didn't I reply to your comment earlier?

That quote from my brother about making the rat a pest is priceless.

I think we're on the same page with the vegetarian thing. I have a long time friend, who was actually a scoutmaster in my boyscout troop, that has a weekend ranch a few hours north. He has a bunch of cattle there, breeds them minimally, and sends one to the butcher every 1-3 years. He always has too much meat for him and basically gives us as much as we ask for, though it's hard to ask when he is just giving it to you and not wanting anything in return.

When I visited this local guy who sells frozen rats we discussed the "not knowing how online dealers treat their animals". I am really thankful he existed. His setup was nice, basically what anyone in the rat breeders forum would suggest if you wanted to breed rats. He had a bin set up for euthanizing the rats and a tank of C02 instead of dry ice. I bought a live rat in case my python wouldn't take F/T, but he did and now I have a pet rat that is a complete chatterbox which leads me to believe he wasn't ever treated badly. I may want to breed my own, but I think I will need A LOT more snakes to want to do that.

If you have a local guy that treats his animals well and is reasonably priced then I say buy from him. Raising your own is a lot of work so unless you want to do it I would take advantage of having a good local breeder.