Getting rid of normal offspring

[Lokua]

What? I really do not know how to reply to that statement..
Am I really the only one out here that dislikes "free to good home" ads and sees them as cop-outs for people to dump animals off that probably have huge amounts of things wrong with them?
I see nothing wrong, after thinking about it, with gifting a trusted person with a snake. It was a bit harsh, yes, for me to say I was 100% against giving away animals, thus. But no.. I will never agree to endorsing FTGH ads. Your comment on dogs though.. I don't know what that is supposed to mean!

sorry, perhaps that came out wrong. i in no way ment to disrespect dog owners, simply putting that keeping a mammal is easyer than keeping a reptile.

that if you just provide food and water for a dog they will live, its not required for a dog to have a dog house, or to be brought in from the cold or have there tempature controlled and regulated. i was simply stating that the knowledge you have about keeping snakes would allow you to make an informed descision about keeping (or even selling) a snake to someone by asking them questions about how they intend to care for the creature. that in of itself could be used to establish if someone is worthy and creditable for keeping such a pet.

I don't mean to hijack this, but kinda going with the original
question on what to do with the babies...
How much would you expect to put into their upkeep?
For one, can anyone reccomend a good hatchling rack?
Who prefers belly heat over back heat?
How long can a hatchling stay in the hatchling rack?
(yes, i know they aren't all the same, just, in general)

What could one expect to pay in upkeep on the hatchlings?
-food
-substrate

I know there's a big controversy on feeding f/t vs. live,
but, what are the pros and cons of feeding either
to a hatchling, AND, if you decide to feed live,
what kind of costs would you expect from raising your own feeders?

Sorry to bombard you all with this, but my hubby (who has shown NO interest in my balls) all the sudden is talking about
us breeding. So, I want to be as prepared as I can before I actually put a male and female together.

Thanks in advance!

cant answer all of those (alot are more experienced than me and will let them chime in) but will give info on a few.

belly heat is better for digestion and lets the snake better ajust there tempature to their liking but back heat is important too for the air tempature, eles the belly will be warm but the air above the snake will simply be room tempature which is not good (again not as knowledged as others so they may please give their imput during the daylight hours)

as for F/t vs live, i really cannot think of any pros to live except it may stimulate a better feeding response if you have a very finicky eater and if that is the case one should really work on getting them onto f/t (that and i guess those whom only have a snake to watch them eat a living creature)

cons of live however are that its alive and has a pretty good survival instinct, a mouse(or rat or whatever you are feeding) does not wish to be eaten, thus they will fight and can potentialy harm your snake. they have sharp claws and sharp teeth and dont just roll over to be devoured.

as for raising them and the cost, it would probably be cheaper to raise them yourself than buy frozen. all one would really need is a cage, food and water. and the responsibility to clean up their messes but would still suggest pre-killing the feeder before offering it to the snake. there really is no...proper way to kill a mouse, my personal suggestion is electrocution or to shove a large needle or dart (like that for dart boards) into the back of the neck, it will sever the spine and IMO the most painless way for the mouse. i suggest steralizing the dart beforehand with alcohol or fire (let it cool before using) just hold them and shove it in into the spine, you could puncture the head but pushing through the skull is much harder but if you do that do temple to temple or through the ear

sry, hope none of that sounds gorey. its just the most painless way in my opinion, alot of people suggest chrushing their heads with a hammer or slamming them onto something. which is fine but you end up with a mess and a chrushed feeder, my way is more eye-pleasing and with chrushing you sometimes mess up and have to do it again which is not a very appealing thing to do.

wholesalers use co2 to kill theres, basicly they suffocate them. works fine even though i dont personaly like that method as unsure what this can do to the snake once they eat food that has been pumped full of co2.

DO NOT use posion of any kind, this will kill your snake.

edit: one last thing, when working with sharp objects be EXTREMLY careful not to slip and stab yourself. i reccomend using latex gloves when performing this. it requires a bit of force to get kill a mouse VIA dart to the neck so dont be gentle and dont poke yourself, last thing i want is someone to have a disease or infection.

i do suggest being humane to all animals. but if all this is too squimish for you then you can just place the creature into a tupperware container and freeze them. its cruel in my opinion but gets the job done