A silly thread/response
 

my daughter rescues guinea pigs but took in 3 rats that were being offered as snake food, one hairless, one dumbo and one regular, all females, she has her plate full with her guinea pigs and 8 month old son so decided to try to find a good home for two of the rats, the dumbo and the regular one , same as she does with the guinea pigs once they are health checked etc. so we get a reply from a man saying his wife loves her rats, takes them out to cuddle etc (we posted "not to be used as snake food") this couple seemed ideal, but something about his name bothered me so I googled his email, came up with multiple ads for snakes he raises and sells *L* so I called his phone number to speak to his wife. She bragged about how tame her 5 female rats are and that the male is not hand trained, went on about how smart they are etc. So I asked her why she wanted 2 more if she had 6 already, her reply? Well is hard to buy pinkie rats for the snakes so we use the females for breeding but we wouldn't feed my rats to them, just their babies!!!

Oh now theres a perfect home for these two female rats!!!! thank god they'll go to a good loving home................NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't really know what else to say, other than "OMG!":eek:

Melinda- This brings up an interesting point for me personally.
We had snakes for awhile and we finally rehomed them.
We could not find a reliant, quality food supply for them. Since snakes are rodent eaters, and sustain themselves on whole food- you just cannot swap out the rodents for chicken or fowl.
I am conflicted about this now, years later- feel bad for the mice, certainly the ones people would consider pets- but not sure what else to feed a snake.
Anyway, snakes went to a reptile zoo where they have their own breeding program.
Glad that your pets did not become snake food though. Hope they find a nice home. It wasn't nice of those people to be tricky.

I do agree that it does bring up a strong point, not sure about other places but I know here in cornwall you can order a supply of "frozen" pinkies...sm, med or large...*shivers* so there really is no reason to breed your own, snakes do quite well on frozen food according to the reptile people at the toronto zoo......so it looks like my daughter will be keeping her 3 rats *L*

I love snakes, but could never own one because I just can't play God like that. I can't imagine reaching into a cage and picking out the cute critter that will be dinner that night.

Really, we are all dealing with carnivores (unless you have an iguana or pet rodents), but we are more easily detached from the art of killing their supper. Even if we feed BARF, we are still buying already dead food.

The frozen ratties aren't much better. They aren't euthanized. They are just tossed in the freezer alive... just FYI. If you gotta feed a snake, feed fresh, please!!

I came up with a solution years ago that would make me feel better about feeding former pets (used to have LOTS of rats growing up) to the new pets... Set the snake and the rat in the grass out back. If the snake can catch the rat, he can have it. If the rat gets away, then score for the rat. I doubt it would work, but it seemed a whole lot better in my head.

Too bad Purina doesn't make Snake Chow.

Hi Equla,

You bring up some good points, and I appreciate your imput.
[QUOTE]The frozen ratties aren't much better. They aren't euthanized. They are just tossed in the freezer alive... just FYI. If you gotta feed a snake, feed fresh, please!![/QUOTE]
I think being frozen is more humane than some of the other techniques used to slaughter human grade meat :(

I am afraid that some of the captive bred snakes could not catch a rat in the grass of the backyard. I think they are a bit like domestic dogs that way- it may be in their genes, but certainly not a practiced skill. We didn't feed our snakes live food, but the one time my husband did- the rat bit the snake on the nose and gave it quite a bad scar.
Our snakes were Houdini's as well...Even though they were quite big, we lost them a couple of times under close supervision into the couch or a chair- I would be scared of losing them outside.
Still leaves me conflicted about the snakes. I feed my dogs RAW, and I think it is really on the same level as feeding mice. Feeding them whole rat carcasses is slightly more "realistic/honest" than buying frozen packaged slaughter house products. It can all be someone's else's pet...

[QUOTE]The frozen ratties aren't much better. They aren't euthanized. They are just tossed in the freezer alive... just FYI. If you gotta feed a snake, feed fresh, please!![/QUOTE]

Many companies and breeders of feeder rodents use CO2 to kill the rodents. A fresh killed mouse or rat usually has its spine severed or in bad cases is smashed against a hard surface.

Feeding live can cause injury to the snake and not to mention its cruel.

I ONLY feed frozen/thawed to my snake.

CO2 sounds great to me. Even euthanizing a rat is tough. Since their veins are so small, the vets have to inject straight into the heart.

I didn't know CO2 would kill the rat, though. When I took my babies to be euthanized when they got old, the vet would put them under with CO2, but still had to inject.

my husband has euthanized wildlife with Co2 in his garage (welder/fitter) and only in dire circumstances and believe me, it really affects him badly when he does it. Each poor critter is buried in my yard, these are animals that have no hope in hell of surviving and are suffering badly. Yes its illegal, but what else can you do?? (I rehab) so if any can possibly be saved, I do do that no matter what the cost and yes it does all come out of my pocket.

Melinda, I did read somewhere on how to do it at home (easier on the small critters than a trip to the vet), but I was too scared I would screw it up.

After listening to a poor ratty thrash herself around her cage for hours and cry, I vowed to never let an animal get that bad again. I am so pro-euthansea now.

With CO2 (carbon dioxide) the rat first falls asleep and with the continuation on the CO2 will suffocate to death.