The Live vs F/T debate

[Daigga]

I don't think the debate over live vs F/T will ever end, however I will say that morally looking down on someone for feeding their snake the exact same food items killed in a different way is very foolish. Is a hunter eating pork from a wild hog they killed themselves any different from a family eating bacon bought from the supermarket? Two pigs lived, two pigs were killed, what difference does it make who killed them and when? This is the part where you could debate certain breeding practices among pigs being highly unethical, but for arguments sake we'll assume the farm raised pigs were raised free range or something like that. A feeder rat is a feeder rat and how it died before disappearing into your snake makes no difference. Whether it died by being constricted or in a gas chamber doesn't matter much to me, because the end result is the same (a humane death and a well fed snake).

As for the feeder hurting the snake; Saying those of us who feed live are putting our snakes at risk is like saying those that own burms in Florida are putting the environment at risk. Responsibility is everything. Horror stories of rats eating prized snakes come from owners that drop a rodent in with their snake and leave it, which goes against rule number one of live feeding. I just fed my 3 finicky juveniles today, and I followed the same practice I always do: Place feeder in tank, supervise until the snake strikes, get the tongs in there if the snake had a bad wrap. They almost always get a good wrap, but sometimes the feeder has enough wiggle room to bite or kick, which I am always there to prevent because the safety of my snakes comes first. If the snake refuses to eat after about 5 minutes, I take the feeder out and try again next week.

Now I'll wrap this up by saying that I have snakes that eat live only, snakes that won't touch anything besides F/T or F/K, and snakes that go either way. I raise my own feeders and even when I buy them from the stores I always insure that what goes into my snakes is fat, happy, and totally unaware that there is any danger to it until it's already much too late. I honestly do not care what anyone else chooses to feed their snakes, because I recognize that it is ultimately not my decision. I will say that I don't appreciate being morally looked down at from people that can only pretend they're any better, and that feeding live, when done properly, presents no danger.