feeding house mice

[ndizzleg]

Everyone

[atp151415]

I think sometimes people forget that some of the posters on these forums are very young, 14 or 15 year old kids.

If they are asking a question with good intent and they are trying to do the right thing they deserve a polite reply.

haha

[TheMolenater2]

I wouldn't do it. A wild mice could have some bad parasites and bacteria. Better safe then sorry.

[frankykeno]

jeeze people are jumping all over me. theres a reason i asked before i did it. chill out. and to those of you who answered my question thoroughly and respectfully, thank you.

No one is jumping all over you. They are trying to make sure you don't end up with a sick or worse, dead snake. Perhaps in reading their responses you read something more into it than I'm sure they intended.

I will give you an example to illustrate the point of the seriousness of this. When I was a kid we had a really nice black cat. He snuck out one day and ended up exploring a neighbours property. Apparently that neighbour used rodent poisons. We found our cat dead and on examination by the vet it was determined he died from ingesting a rodent full of poison. I'm sure it was a horrible death for our cat and it caused our family a lot of grief and guilt feelings over not closing a door fast enough.

None of us would like to see that happen to your snake or see you have to deal with the vet bills that parasites can cause. You asked and you got straight answers about the risks of feeding wild prey to captive animals.

Someone is asking a question...asking for a little help & you act like he has been feeding his snake house mice forever!! Keep getting mad about my "rant" you need to.

No we don't "need" to, any more than you need to taunt members to do so.

He asked and he got straight answers with the reasons why it was an unsafe husbandry decision. I'm sorry that you seem to think plain speaking based on real experience, giving reasons behind the information, is not a correct way to respond to a question.

I saw you respond like this, I didn't however note a post where you gave this OP any advice regarding his actual question.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Yeah, some people can be a bit "radical" here...like the peta freaks. Calm down guys!! WOW!! Forum is here for the purpose of answering questions! It would of been different if he had already fed his snake a house mouse without asking about it first. Quit trying to drive away newbies with questions!! I love this site but sometimes I find it hard to stomach the way legitimate questions are replied to here.

Acting like PETA freaks would be because people are concerned about the “poor little wild mouse” this is not the case, people are concerned about the health of the OP snake.

Feeding wild rodents can be very hazardous. The worth that can happen is the death of the snake in question, too bad you cannot see this and feel the need to call people PETA freaks which is uncalled for!

Keep getting mad about my "rant" you need to.

People are not mad about YOUR rant they are trying to educate you about the fact that it's not ok to feed wild rodents.

People also try to educate you about what PETA is since you do not seem to know what they are really about, judging by the way you use their name as an insult.

[WytchOfTheNight]

I have much to respond to!

- Peta does agree to the keeping of pets, just against the ways they are kept! We also don't like & are against breeders & exploiting animals! We believe if you need to have a pet, to save / rescue it instead of buying them from a breeder or pet stores. These places have been more focused on the financial profit rather than the care of the animal & their ethical treatment! Though we wish in a perfect world all animals can be free & roam like all creatures, humans as well, but that is something that we know is fairly impossible & know might never happen. So in knowing this we are trying to better the lives & rights of the animals! I would copy & paste a quote or two but my experience from other forums, I think that is against regulations & is a cause for banning.

- I had the same question & google'ed "House mice & Ball Python"! My husband & I are first time Snake Parents & in debate about this topic. I say they are dangerous because they are wild & carry unknown bacteria that could harm her. As for him, he thinks a mouse is a mouse! As I was looking I found my question answered on the very site I use to help me raise my Fluffy, THIS ONE! This site has helped me learn alot about Fluffy & almost everything question I had has already been asked & answered before I even posted it! For that I am very grateful!

With that said I do agree some people are harsh at their answers to the point it would make me afraid to ask any question I had in fear of judged & verbally attacked! I wouldn't ask if I wasn't in need of knowledge to better care for Fluffy. But to be scared to ask because of the harshness of the reply is not only unnecessary but it is also threatening to the life of the snake! If people are too scared to ask they wont & will go on their best bet & in doing so might risk the lives of their pet!

- Bigj539 felt they were attacked & its not our place to say if they were or weren't. We cant tell people what they feel. We can only apologize if we made them feel a way we didn't mean to. I personally don't think they were talking about everyone who responded because some answers were very informative & non judgmental!

- Responding with a question of their seniority of the question, will just make someone feel like they aren't taken seriously. Responding with the criticism of their financial responsibility, will just make someone feel unworthy. Responding with a scolding, will just make someone feel very belittled. Why would we want to make anyone feel like this if we don't want to feel this way ourselves? We can express our shock & dismay in a form that isn't so painful!

In closing I would like to thank everyone for their answers to this question & now I have plenty to share with my husband when he gets home! Fluffy thanks you guys as well I'm sure!

[Mike41793]

Holy crap talk about raising a thread from the dead...
And your a peta member to boot

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I have much to respond to!

- Peta does agree to the keeping of pets, just against the ways they are kept! We also don't like & are against breeders & exploiting animals! We believe if you need to have a pet, to save / rescue it instead of buying them from a breeder or pet stores. These places have been more focused on the financial profit rather than the care of the animal & their ethical treatment! Though we wish in a perfect world all animals can be free & roam like all creatures, humans as well, but that is something that we know is fairly impossible & know might never happen. So in knowing this we are trying to better the lives & rights of the animals! I would copy & paste a quote or two but my experience from other forums, I think that is against regulations & is a cause for banning.

- I had the same question & google'ed "House mice & Ball Python"! My husband & I are first time Snake Parents & in debate about this topic. I say they are dangerous because they are wild & carry unknown bacteria that could harm her. As for him, he thinks a mouse is a mouse! As I was looking I found my question answered on the very site I use to help me raise my Fluffy, THIS ONE! This site has helped me learn alot about Fluffy & almost everything question I had has already been asked & answered before I even posted it! For that I am very grateful!

With that said I do agree some people are harsh at their answers to the point it would make me afraid to ask any question I had in fear of judged & verbally attacked! I wouldn't ask if I wasn't in need of knowledge to better care for Fluffy. But to be scared to ask because of the harshness of the reply is not only unnecessary but it is also threatening to the life of the snake! If people are too scared to ask they wont & will go on their best bet & in doing so might risk the lives of their pet!

- Bigj539 felt they were attacked & its not our place to say if they were or weren't. We cant tell people what they feel. We can only apologize if we made them feel a way we didn't mean to. I personally don't think they were talking about everyone who responded because some answers were very informative & non judgmental!

- Responding with a question of their seniority of the question, will just make someone feel like they aren't taken seriously. Responding with the criticism of their financial responsibility, will just make someone feel unworthy. Responding with a scolding, will just make someone feel very belittled. Why would we want to make anyone feel like this if we don't want to feel this way ourselves? We can express our shock & dismay in a form that isn't so painful!

In closing I would like to thank everyone for their answers to this question & now I have plenty to share with my husband when he gets home! Fluffy thanks you guys as well I'm sure!

The thread is 4 years old and bigj539 has left the building long ago

[WytchOfTheNight]

It might be dead to you but I just recently searched this question & was one of the first of the search engine picked up!

If it wasnt allowed to be commented on it would be closed!

[patientz3ro]

I have much to respond to!

- Peta does agree to the keeping of pets, just against the ways they are kept! We also don't like & are against breeders & exploiting animals! We believe if you need to have a pet, to save / rescue it instead of buying them from a breeder or pet stores. These places have been more focused on the financial profit rather than the care of the animal & their ethical treatment! Though we wish in a perfect world all animals can be free & roam like all creatures, humans as well, but that is something that we know is fairly impossible & know might never happen. So in knowing this we are trying to better the lives & rights of the animals! I would copy & paste a quote or two but my experience from other forums, I think that is against regulations & is a cause for banning.

There is SO much wrong with this, it's almost difficult to know where to start. First of all, at what point did the animals get together and decide that Peta was the ultimate authority on what the "correct" way to keep a pet was?

You don't like, and are against breeders and exploiting animals... Without those evil breeders, animals like our beloved Ball Pythons are collected from the wild, depleting natural populations. The Hog Island Boa is a perfect example. There's a very good possibility they're extinct in the wild. Their numbers were already low, and since they weren't widely recognized as a separate species, or even a distinct subspecies, there were no checks in place to reduce the capture of wild specimens for the pet trade. NOW, it's the evil breeders keeping those animals from vanishing. I'd hardly accuse those breeders of "exploiting" their animals. You know what I DO consider exploitation? Filming and photographing the mistreatment of animals so that those images can be used to generate more income for an organization who uses that money to buy magazine ads, billboards, and television commercials while operating animal shelters that routinely uses euthanasia to deal with,

"animals who are unwanted for one reason or another: because they are aggressive, sick, hurt, elderly, or at death's door and because no good homes exist for them."

I have no problem with Peta humanely euthanizing an animal in order to end the suffering of a dying or incurable animal, but killing aggressive, elderly, hurt, and sick animals because no "good" homes exist for them is simply disgusting to me. If there are no "good" homes, take some of the money used to fund those ad campaigns, and use it to provide care for those animals that Peta has taken responsibility for. For now, Peta would rather spend those dollars putting naked supermodels on billboards.

For the record, Peta most definitely IS against the keeping of pets, and they're more than happy to say so on their website. They openly say that it would be in the best interest of the animals if "pet keeping" never existed, and that it's a "selfish desire to possess animals and receive love from them". But let's get back to what you said. You say you're not against the keeping of pets, and then you go on to say that "...we wish in a perfect world all animals can be free & roam like all creatures, humans as well, but that is something that we know is fairly impossible & know might never happen." Maybe you're missing the contradiction in those statements, but let me point it out to you. You can either agree with the keeping of pets, or you can want all animals to be free and roam. If your idea of a "perfect world" is all animals being free to roam, that's the exact opposite of keeping pets. While I'm on the subject, I'm not a big fan of the term "pets". I prefer "companion animals," and for the record, mankind and his companion animals have had a mutually beneficial relationship since the beginning of recorded history. While I can't back my theory up with science at the moment, I believe that relationship can probably be traced back to the point when the first canids discovered they could make an easy meal of the scraps early hominids threw outside of their caves. That's why your "perfect world" is never going to happen. I, for one, am very glad it won't. If she could communicate, I feel confident my baby Ajja would tell you the same. She'll never have to face a predator, go without food and fresh water, warmth, shelter, or protection, and she will have the absolute best medical care available. What do you think the chances are that she'd have those same certainties in the wild? If you're going to share your life with a companion animal, it's time to disavow that stated goal of a perfect world where all animals roam free. To do otherwise is nothing less than hypocrisy.

For what it's worth, I applaud you for doing some research on caring for your new animal, and I hope you have a long and rewarding relationship with Fluffy.