!LIVE FEEDING! Viewer Discretion ~ juvenile bp catching prey comp.

[Bogertophis]

A few things, anson:

It's not so much that it's not expressly allowed, but besides being "bad advice" (which we do reserve the right to remove), the other problem is that you may not be aware of it, but there are extreme & very vocal animal rights groups that would LOVE to make our pets totally illegal, and by posting live feeding videos, you're giving them ammunition to promote their views to lawmakers, very few if any of which understand or like snakes (& any reptiles) to begin with. So let's not help them, okay? Never forget many people HATE snakes & would love to make them disappear.

...i appreciate you taking the time to reply with the well intended, descriptive, informative response. Even more so, I appreciate that your delivery of your oppositional stance, even though only through text entry, was easy for me to read and perceive as one without any anger, aggression, blame, or any other less-than-friendly emotion that often comes from those who speak out against the other side of a controversial subject. I respect your opinion and appreciate your concern....

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a moderator here. And besides, this is not one of those forums that tolerates verbal combat. Most of us are adults- & even those who are not- we expect everyone to communicate views with peaceful respect. Most of us have experienced other forums that don't moderate conversations, & the end result is that in anger, no one learns anything & good members are turned off. This forum is designed to be family friendly- we want kids to be able to learn here too, without having their parents worry about what they're exposed to. But even our adult members appreciate the tone here- you'd be surprised how many times I've been thanked privately for keeping the peace here- making this a pleasant & "safe" forum to share tips & relevant ideas.

While we don't allow "bad advice" to stand as posted here- your post is merely sharing, not so much promoting, what we consider a bad practice. You're also a new owner, so I decided it works pretty well as a reminder to readers. Like the old saying: "I'm not completely useless, I can always serve as a bad example." I appreciate that you warned viewers that the content was graphic.

And speaking of making posts that are easy to read, in the future please break up those long "wall of text" posts so that more people do read them. I'm going to edit your post now just to add some spacing. Whew, that's better...now we can get to our suggestions.

As you've already noticed, pet stores are there to sell pets & supplies- it's unfortunate that they cannot be relied upon for best care advice, but that's reality. Some mean well*, but they still don't have the experience & most cannot afford to pay more to hire help for their experience. (*But shockingly, some -the less reputable stores- just figure that when things go wrong, you'll come back & buy another pet, so they'll make more money by selling more pets & stuff to go with them. ) So the best way is doing your own research first, before you shop & fall for that adorable _______(whatever pet). You want to avoid impulse buys- but most of us have "been there".

We're here to help other keepers have the best experience with their pets- we make no money off of helping- we're here because we enjoy our animals, & we enjoy sharing what works for us, & learning about what works for others. Glad to have you join us.