[kksrats]

I was doing a little research on genetics and found myself on a reptile site where people talk about rat breeding occasionally. I thought that I'd likely read something I didn't agree with (considering the site purpose) but one thing I read just really made me sick. Someone posted that they "had to feed off their favorite pet rat due to myco".....and then more chimed in with similar stories. I mean, seriously? It's so cheap to buy antibiotics online and treat your rats yourself, why would feeding them to a reptile even be considered an option here? How could that thought even go through your head as an end for your "favorite pet rat"???????

 

[abratforarat]

That's awful! I can't imagine doing that. I always wanted a snake or lizard but I didn't get one because of their food. Sometimes I wish everyone was vegetarians. I'm not one, I need meat, but I feel guilty.

 

[erinsweeney]

I have a python and here's what I think: I would never feed my pet rat to the snake with something treatable like myco... but when it's time to PTS, I think that giving them as food is the most humane/natural way to do it, better than being killed by humans in a weird cold room. I'm expecting to get bashed for this, but oh well.
I'm a vegan and I think I know a lot more about compassion than anyone who's so ignorant they think they NEED meat... honestly I'm laughing so hard at that. NEED? I must be a talking corpse...

 

[kksrats]

What got me was the fact that it was treatable. When I had a boy pass from choking I actually considered letting him contribute to my snake's life, but in the end I couldn't do it. I think that if it wouldn't have had to be me doing the feeding and checking to make sure my snake was doing ok while eating it might have been different. I don't put my pets that have passed away in boxes or bags or anything, just straight into the ground so at least they can contribute that way.

 

[Jess <3]

I can't even imagine feeding any live animal to another. Giving the frozen mice to the snakes at my college was difficult enough. The whole 'it's natural so it's okay' side of things is honestly bullsh*t to me plus what's the point of putting a pet that you love through the stress of being trapped in a little glass tank with a predator when they could be PTS which 'natural' or not is far more humane in my eyes.

Come on, rats are intelligent creatures...would you shove a dying dog into a tigers cage to be eaten?

 

[erinsweeney]

Your comment about the tiger--yes, I would.
And unfortunately a snake that has been trained to accept live food will rarely switch to frozen.
I believe that human intervention is always cruel to animals unless it directly saves them from harm. I think it's cruel to breed animals for any purpose. ANY PURPOSE. But I do my best to rescue any animal I find who needs it.

 

[erinsweeney]

Actually, I take that back--I would not feed a dying dog to a tiger. The difference is that snakes naturally eat rats, and would be eating a rat anyway--so why not a dying rat? Why feed a perfectly healthy rat to the snake when one is already dying anyway?
Also, snakes are evolved to kill rats, quickly and efficiently. I believe it's the most natural, if not the most hum ane way to PTS.

 

[Jaguar]

I'm a vegan and I think I know a lot more about compassion than anyone who's so ignorant they think they NEED meat... honestly I'm laughing so hard at that. NEED? I must be a talking corpse...

What on earth does this have to do with the conversation at hand?

You might think you're a better person for being vegan, but unfortunately your diet choices do not make up for your highly inflated sense of self superiority...

Rude and inflammatory behavior is not allowed here, regardless of where it's posted. Please keep this to yourself next time.

 

[Jess <3]

Your comment about the tiger--yes, I would.
And unfortunately a snake that has been trained to accept live food will rarely switch to frozen.
I believe that human intervention is always cruel to animals unless it directly saves them from harm. I think it's cruel to breed animals for any purpose. ANY PURPOSE

I can see that we're just going to keep disagreeing so there's not much point continuing this line of conversation. I respect that you have your own opinions even if they seems bizarre to me.

 

[ducketar]

For me, it comes down to familiarity. I couldn't feed a pet to another animal any more than I could eat it myself! But I wouldn't have a problem feeding a rat that I don't know to a snake I did, as long as the rat was already dead. Snakes have crappy immune systems and it's not worth risking the damage that a rat can inflict. Sure, wild snakes hunt and eat wild rats but some of them are maimed or killed when hunting. It may be natural, but nature is a bloody, brutal business.

 

[artgecko]

Perhaps the myco infection was severe or left untreated such that the animal probably wouldn't recover.. Some people also euthanize to avoid transmission of disease, but with myco that isn't really an issue.

I keep snakes, I have 11, and I feed f/t rodents to mine. I would not consider feeding live unless that was the ONLY option to get the snake to eat. Feeding live is dangerous for the snake and unnecessarily stressful on the rat. Euthanizing with CO2 (when done correctly) is a lot less stressful and a more humane way to go IMO.

I have had to euthanize some of my rats due to illness (severe tumors, stroke-inflcted damage, MC in a recently weaned pup I got from a breeder, and my most recent case was a male that was fine in the morning and when I got home from work could not walk, could barely move his head and showed no interest in water or food.. After 24 hrs. of no improvement I euthanized him as well. In all these cases I used CO2 which is more humane than some methods vets have been known to use on rats. And even though they had to be euthanized anyway, I would never use a sick animal as a feeder...

The only situation I could see using one of my pet rats as a feeder would be if they died of old age and had no known issues at the time.. Then I could see using them for food, but they would be dead beforehand.

Most snake people that I know (who breed their own feeders) will treat their colony if it has animals with lice, mites, myco, or something easily treatable / curable. If an individual animal is very sickly (i.e. extreme breathing issues, etc.) or has extreme behavioral issues (biting, etc.), then they euthanize it and use as a feeder. Most people that I'm in touch with frown upon live feeding because of the unnecessary risks involved and the easy availability and affordability of f/t rodents.