Do you ever feel bad feeding live?

[AcePythons]

I only kinda feel bad for feeding rats, but mice I don't think twice about. My BF feels bad for everything I feed off, and has made me say thanks to the feeder several times, lol.

I also tell myself that if they're not going to my snake they're just gonna go to someone else's. I have started to convert to f/t though. Makes things much more manageable.

Yeah that's my theory too, that if they aren't going to mine it'll be someone else's. And (LOL), I always apologize before I put them in...hah...I'm such a nerd.

I breed em, raise em up from little pinkies, and then feed em. Sometimes it's hard, like today when I fed off one of the females from my original trio. SOmetimes it's easy, like when a little bastard escapes.

But either way, it's what has to be done for my snakies to thrive as I am running out of F/T.

LOL Pav!!!

[trott]

I used to feed live but I'm lucky in that now my whole collection slams FT. I dont necessarily feel bad(as i knew the situation going into the hobby) its just easier for me to not have to keep extra animals. As my collection grows larger i know there is a good chance that could change.

As far as an ethical debate. I work for a major Pharma co. that has a ton of Lab rodents. Most frozen rodents are put down by CO2. I've witnessed this and alot of times it takes about 3-5 minutes for the animal to go and its a gasping struggle. When feeding live, if its a "head first" grab, its usually over in 20 seconds. So my personal opinion is that feeding live is actually more humane. Just more dramatic for some.

[ameh78]

i feel like an idiot.. but i put in ear plugs because i cant stand the sound of the mouse having its last squeak...it breaks my heart =P

[Crazy4Herps]

I LOVE rats, and feel AWFUL feeding them! Used to have some pet rats, if only they were so darned much work, I'd get some more. Mice, I'm not so sad about. Nasty little buggers. But the rat's big sweet eyes, cute little nose... it's terrible!! I've had snakes strike at a rat, bite it, then let it go. That's always the worst. But when I go in the cage to take the rat out, it's terrified from all the trauma, but never bites. Mice, on the other hand, bite me before they even realize they're being fed to a snake.

Although it's nice not to hear them squealing, that's not why I switched to f/t. I switched to f/t because of the snakes' safety... and because it's cheap in bulk.

[tarakatrine]

i do. when i was in high school it didnt bother me at all but since i've grown up and had children...it kind of makes me feel bad. my daughters are 4 and 5 and they like the mice. let's face it..they are pretty darn cute. i give the mice to my snakes and leave the room. i feel like it is kind of unnatural to feed a dead animal to something that was naturally born to hunt, so i feed live and likely always will. but at the same time..i'm very open minded and i respect most any other way of doing things. to each their own, i believe. except for one guy that said he just freezes the mice alive. i thought that was kind of cruel. but anyhow...yeah i feel bad. and to kessler's kreatures, the reason it is different feeding a captive snake live mice is this: in the wild, a mouse has a chance to survive and get away. it has a chance to fight for its life. that is what is natural. when you throw a live mouse into an enclosure with a hungry snake...it has no chance at survival. that in my opinion gives it a tinge of immorality. im not trying to single you out...just wanted to point that out. i may have sounded hypocritical, but my point is that if you like snakes and have them as pets, you have to do something that a lot of people think is a crappy thing to do. even of you feed them frozen mice, those mice suffered as well. they didnt die peacefully. but like you said..it is a fact of life. i agree with you there.

[twan]

I dont feel that bad because they where born to be feeders. I will admit i do get 5 or 6 at a time and they are spoiled before they go so thats how i deal with it.

[Theartisticgemini]

I only feel bad about rats. There pretty cute

[Raptor]

I have no issue what so ever. The "special" ones are kept back for breeding. However, if they eat babies, bite me, or turn out to be over aggressive to cage mates, they get fed off.

[cheezeit32]

only with rats, and i dont like pre killing either but i refuse to f/t, only cuz i dont like the risk of bacteria and whatnot. Oh well, it's the circle of life!!

[Seru1]

I feed f/t. I'd never feed live unless it was simply a must.

Not just because I'd feel bad but because.

A) The mouse could hurt the snake

B) What do I do with the live critter if the snake don't eat it?