Nice , balanced viewpoint .Originally Posted by Gio
This is less about the "debate" than it is the quote. The quote seems to lead folks to believe a "confined" cage area is vastly different from the typical situation in the wild and is somehow unfair to the prey.
Outside of the obvious differences, the prey is doomed in the wild just as it is in the caged environment. If the snake is hungry and prey presents itself, it is a done deal.
Snakes don't set themselves up to fail. The term "Ambush predator" means just that. The prey has almost zero chance of escape once the snake has launched the attack. How often have you seen captive, live prey break away from the coils and make a run for it? It doesn't happen in a cage, and it doesn't happen in the wild.
The royal python actually thrives in "confined spaces". The rodent burrows they inhabit used to have occupants prior to their arrival. What do you think may have happened there?
With few exceptions, snakes ambush in rather confined areas and will sit and wait motionless for weeks sometimes months until they succeed.
Their periods of famine are not due to failure of the hunt, but rather lack of prey in their proximity.
The Mike Tyson analogy doesn't apply here.
To be fair, I feed live and F/T. I have had close calls with live, but nothing serious. I also empathize a bit with the prey, however, the act of constriction is a fairly quick way to dispatch a food item. There are some awful and slow examples, but in my experience the prey is dead in under 2 minutes and a lot of the twitches are nerves and the process of the body shutting down AFTER the animal has passed out.
I don't have a problem with either method and think folks should do what works best for their situation.
My point here is that prey is prey whether it is in the wild or in a cage. The minute captive feeders are born, they are destined to serve as food.
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