Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you big time breeders put down your deformed babys? Do you take them to a vet? I called a couple of vets and they wont tell me how much over the phone so im trying to skip that I guess.

I have a baby albino born ealier in the week and its missing an eye and also kind of deformed mouth which I dont think can open to eat. any tips?

Not a big time breeder here , but I've had many litters , and some have had deformed babies . If they don't have a chance to live, I'll simply put them down immediately . How ? I just hold them by the back end , and swing them onto the step of the front porch (just like my rats btw) - then I smash the head to make sure that they are gone . Sounds a little brutal , but I won't pay any vet for something so easy as putting down an animal . I guess growing up around farm animals, and hunters has allowed me to not be squeemish with these types of acts..
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Snake room janitor

Over the years I have produced a few babies with visual defects that were sold as pets with full disclosure of defect and at a much lower price than typical. It happens and no reason to put an animal down just because it's not perfect.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Freezer . . . . no pain at all N/P
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Boas By Klevitz

I Support USark.org

I don't really agree with that but I don't beleive there's any way to prove it one way or the other. If you (you as in whoever, not trying to pick on you Larry), If you are going to do the freezer route I've always heard it's better to put them in the fridge for a few hours first to slow them way down that way they are not as aware of the freezing process. Freezing causes crystals to form in the blood. I do not know reptiles pain tolerance or awareness but they do have a central nervous system and the crystals are painfull for mammals, so I would make the leap that it may be painful for reptiles as well. I understand why people choose this method (out of sight, out of mind) so it's easier... The whole point is to end the suffering of the animal, not always what's easiest for 'us'. (IMO of course)

I also feel the same as David (Morgans Boas), that the best, quickest and most humane method is blunt force head trama, not decapitation but a full destruction of the entire head.

Some interesting info at the link below, also in the related article on decapitation at the bottom of that link.

Culling is never a pretty thing but IMO it's the ethical thing to do when the snake won't be able to live a good life (not defecate or eat..)

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
-April

Euthanasia of reptiles

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'There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."' -Rainshadow

Slightly off topic, but do any of you guys ever keep the deformed ones? Not like the one in this case who likely can't eat, but ones who maybe are just missing one eye or both. I only ask because I have a burmese python that was born without eyes. I'll obviously never breed him, but he's an interesting pet that is staying small(I'm sure because of the poor genetic make up), even with a normal feeding schedule (6 feet in 3 years). Bought him at a show for $35, ate for me within a couple weeks, and has never missed a meal since. I realize you wouldn't want to breed those animals because of the probable genetic problems, but just curious if anyone ever keeps them.

I haven't had this issue yet but I have very few litters under me, but there is no reason to put an animal down because it's blind, most blind boas and pythons I've seen live healthy lives and act no different then being a little more jumpy and I've seen them offered for sale, albinos, sunglow, and other pythons and all, they are just cheaper because they are strictly pets.
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Zack Greens Reptiles

Nothing against you. but this says a lot about the breeder/seller that sold you a eyeless burmese. Why would they sell it? If anything it should have been placed in a good home. People that would bring an animal like that to a show should not be in the business.

Oh absolutely. The guy had 3 of them in fact. I'll give him this, they were only $35 instead of the $200 (or whatever the going rate for albino burms was in 2007). The other two were even worse than the one I bought, and I'm SURE none of them had eaten yet. Even though he swore up and down they were eating just fine. It took me several weeks to get mine to eat, which is quite atypical of every other baby burm I've worked with. Heck, I'm generally trying not to have my fingers eaten by little ones. So I'm sure if those snakes went to random kid who thought, "DUDE a 40 foot blind snake would be AWESOME", they were dead in very short order.

*disclaimer: yes, I know burmese pythons don't get 40 feet, that was the point*

I with Dave Colling and LarM on this one... Anything that has had a minor birth defect and still exhibits the ability to survive, feeding, pooping and so on. They typically get sold to people with the understanding that the animal isn't breeding material... Other stuff that just isn't going to survive I put in the feezer... After about 45minutes it's all over... Animal breeding isn't for the faint hearted... Death is unfortuately the brother to life... I think that's what attracts a-lot of us to animal hobbies, the emotional attachment of keeping an animal to standards that allow the cycle of life to touch us good or bad!

Al Brown
www.BrownsBoas.biz

I would have no problem keeping an animal with defects. I feel bad for them. As long as they can function,they are fine. That is like freezing the ugly people.

thanks everyone for the replies, as for Dave and DavidTetreault I agree that a lil birth defect is nothing to put anything down but seriously theres only half of its mouth formed. it cant even flick its tongue out. No way of force feeding with a pinkie pump either.

Yeah, I had one like that, lower jaw incomplete, did not even hesitate, into the freezer it went. Sucks but is part of breeding. Really only three choices...

Put it down yourself.

Have someone else put it down for you (vet, friend etc.?)

Don't breed animals!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I always used the freezer method, but used CO2 before once....... Culling is part of any animal breeding program...... I always wondered what people did with the missing eye albinos.... I've heard of people buying them for a reduced rate, and then turning around and breeding them down the road.... I saw a guy bragging about this on a forum once.... how he got in the game cheap and was about to produce his first albinos......So now there will be more snakes carrying these genes.......

It may sound cruel.... but I think it's our duty to make sure the defective ones dont survive..... We short circuit survival of the fittest already, by pampering these animals in perfect conditions, with no stressors...etc...
We should at least take the bad ones out of the equation.... And make an honest effort to only breed the really good stuff... not just the really pretty stuff... but the healthy animals....
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Marc Duhon
Lafayette, Louisiana
SURINAMBOAS.COM
kaiyudsai@SURINAMBOAS.COM

I feed them to my Savannah Monitor....He eats slugs too! He loves baby boa season....(Im sure Ill get flamed, but oh well, just being honest)
Sounds cruel, but I figured at least the animal is used. It seems to be just a waste to freeze them or toss them in the trash...
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Robert McPhee
www.BBCExotics.com

I can't think of a better way of dealing with culled boas.... Of course those activist types will get their panties in a wrinkle... but we feed mice to our snakes... same thing... the circle of life... cheers
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Marc Duhon
Lafayette, Louisiana
SURINAMBOAS.COM
kaiyudsai@SURINAMBOAS.COM