Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As you know i posted below about my freezer problem. I usually keep the bulk of my rodents in my garage freezer (along with my frozen meat and various other things too large for the kitchen freezer). i also keep a few mice and rats in the kitchen freezer as well out of convenience. Apparently my friends and family didnt realize that because after telling the story of my freezer going out and mentioning the loss of rodents and other food my sister has absolutely refused to eat any food that came from my house lol. Word has spread through friends and family (they known for years i have snakes where did they think i kept snake food anyway?) more and more people share my sisters feelings. I have been told how disgusting it is to keep frozen rodents with my frozen meats. What do you think? To me dead meat is dead meat. The dead chicken parts in my freezer are equally as gross as a frozen rat. Also i told them they arent wild rodents. i get them locally from ARS here in indianapolis. Such ignorance if you ask me. I remember defending myself at a family gathering. my aunt mentioned a picture she saw of one of my corns on facebook. me holding the snake. she announced to everyone that there are pictures of me and im letting snakes crawl all over me and she shivered. implying that i am some weird freak laying around letting snakes crawl all over me while i take pictures when in fact i was just holding one of my pets LOL!. still its kind of embarrassing dont you think?

Yep!,.....it's all in their minds!. If you had a cow tongue or bloody side of beef lying in the freezer it would be no different. Their minds cannot overcome the irrational thought of the picture depicted in their minds about what the frozen items are...simple as that. I have had people unwrap a frozen rodent in the freezer and have the same reaction.

Same thing with slamming a live rodent against the concrete floor very swiftly to quickly dispatch it without it having to suffer at all. I don't give this sort of thing a second thought, because you have to do what you have to do, but the general public off the street generally grossed-out bigtime by the thought of this. What people don't see, they don't ever think about, just like they don't think about what actually goes on in a slaughter house for the meat that goes on their own plates.

This beats the heck out of the animal suffering from being constricted by the snake, but most folks don't think rationally about MANY things that go on in this world.

For example, how the heck can you be scared to death at the sight of a tiny little cute cornsnake hatchling??. I will never understand it, so I don't even bother!..LOL!

To be quite honest, I think most of the general public are idiots anyway. This is proven to me on a daily basis.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

nnnnnnn
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1.0 BP Nicodemus
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Well, it is a whole food animal, so I am guessing there could be more bacteria in the gut compared to a piece of meat. Probably a non-issue in any case.

I hate spiders. I don't kill them, but I hate them. If my wife kept frozen tarantulas in our freezer I might think along the lines of your family, even if I know it is not a health issue.

I think getting a separate small freezer for snake food ends all worries. I had to do it to ease the pain in my house, and it made all things better. Cause those other people aint gonna change their minds. Guaranteed.
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Mark

For sure, they definitely aren't going to change their opinion on it..LOL!. That's why I just went out and immediately got a dedicated freezer for all my stuff for the garage when my girlfriend moved in 5 years ago. I knew it wouldn't go over well with her either, so I knew this would have to happen anyway where other non-herp people are involved with the freezer.

For a very reasonable price, I can put anything I want in there and not have to deal with what anyone else thinks about what is in it, because I am the ONLY person that uses it anyway. After all, that was the whole idea of getting it in the first place..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I keep my feeders in the extra fridge/freezer in the shed. No worries and we even use that freezer for the big stuff and holiday food overloads along with the refrigerator portion. No one in my family, EVEN my in-laws, seem to mind. Honestly, only immediate family go into that freezer anyway, but so far no one has freaked LOL!! I have a few snake "squeamish" family members who come over time to time. They dont like the idea of being around the critters, even knowing they are caged and cant get out. Most like that are fine as long as out of sight, and many realize the depth of care and attention I give these animals and are kind of facsinated and admire it just like you would be of anyone who gets into their hobby to any appreciable degree.

I keep my feeders hidden in brown paper bags over the plastic bags containing them in my freezer. My mom and sister are both afraid of snakes, but I've always warned them about digging around in my freezer, haha! Every now and then they tell me I'm gross, but I'm fortunate never to have had a major freak out to deal with, and also my husband is resigned to ratsicles.

I get that it's kind of gross to think about. I'm not a fan of dead rats and mice myself. I do think it would be a bit different if they weren't kept in a sterile, contained environment - and I'm pretty sure you aren't wrapping up your feeders with your raw chicken either! Some people are just impossible!
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~Cynthia

thanks john, you inspired my most recent blog post on the site!
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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