Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When I went into the mouse room this morning I found two cages on the floor, with babies of different sizes, both alive and dead, scattered all over the place. There were a few adults still in the cages all confused... but most were gone... one being my FOVORITE little pet mouse that would always climb onto my hand and crawl up my arm whenever I opened the cage door. She was small... and never got pregnant... but I kept her anyway just because she was so friendly.

I stood there in amazement tryng to figure out how this happened when I remembered seeing a cat by the dog door, which enters the mouse room, several weeks before. Then too, I remembered hearing my dog making a ruckus earlier that morning but I didn't get up to check because it was garbage pick up day and she always makes a fuss about that.

Anyway... as if that wasn't enough... after cleaning up the mess I walked into my livining room to where I keep my snakes and found the top of my 60 gallon terrarium was pushed in and my FOVORITE huge shinny black Mexican King snake was gone.

Needless to say, this wasn't a very good day for me, and I'll probably never know what all actually happened... all I do know is that I lost both my favorite mouse and my favorite snake, all in one day. Sniff.

Just needed to talk about it... thanks for your shoulders.
MissHisssss

Sad to hear....You do sound like my wife though. Once I let her join me for feeding day...and that is how we got Chester...Her little furry friend,that chases cats while in his exersize ball. (He actually rams them!) This is out of a lady who calls her Cerastes "My Babies!"
Frank

Maybe the cat didn't take your favorite mouse and snake with him.... Hopefully he bolted after the containers hit the ground..... Hopefully you will find them in your house soon

Kerby...

I am so sorry to hear this, I have also lost a pet snake. Hopefully yours will be found, I would be extremly happy if I would to find out what happen to my past mexmilk, even if i find it dead. It will settle my nerves. Never give up with the snake. You just might find it sometime. Good luck and relax. THis kind of stuff happens.
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Zach Lim
Carnivorous Plant Grower and Herper
http://www.geocities.com/sf_snakes/index.html

Thank you for your kind words everyone. As far as the snake.... my little dog showed me where he was. THANK GOD. I'd already checked there, but tonight... Wiggles honed in on him and I saw just a smidgen of his tail sticking out from under the sofa. I was soooooooooooo happy.

As far as the mouse... whether the cat, or snake, took it or not it will end up dying anyway for I have too much poison out for the wild mice for it to survive. Sniff.

Thanks again for ya alls shoulders.

I LOVE these forums
MissHisssss

I know how you feel. That really sucks and I hope you find your 2 little guys!!

Not to offend anyone here that is a cat person, but I hate cats. If there is one animal that I can truly say I despise, it is the domesticated cat. Especially the feral cats running around doing massive damage to the ecosystem.

While growing up, we had a neighbor that had literally hundreds of cats on their property. They ran around and killed and ate everything they could catch.

So we decided to take care of them. The old ruger .22 and one summer took care of the cat problem.

You know, after that, we started seeing wildlife in greater abundance that we hadnt seen in a long time. Chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, songbirds and lizards and snakes!!

Cats are not a natural predator and can do lots of damage to the ecosystem when left to do whatever.

Needless to say, there are no stray cats around my neck of the woods!

Let the flames begin!
Happy Herping
Brian

Cats are not a natural predator but they do take the place of natural predators that aren't around or simply couldn't adapt to urban life. I have no problem with you shooting cats on your property if they were causing problems. A couple of years ago, in my home town, they decided to take an extremely strong stand against the feral cat population. Guess what the next problem was. Yhe squirrel population exploded and filled everyone's attics. After that everybody kind of decided the cats weren't that big of a problem.

Besides all that I have a real problem when someone says they "hate" or "don't like" a particular kind of animal. Especially coming from someone who has pets. I have an equal interest and passion for all kinds of animals. I focus on herps because of their ease of care. I don't think you can call yourself an animal lover without loving all animals. I "hate" mosquitos but still find them interesting.

"The most vile animal has sinned less than the purest of men."
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International Snakes Meetup
International Herpetology Meetup

Feral cats can devastate an eco-system very quickly. Understandably in a city environment cats may have a niche. There are no natural predators for the small rodents (mice, squirrels, rats, etc.), like there are out in the country where I live. We have coyotes, bobcats and birds of prey that keep the larger rodents in check and snakes help keep the small rodents in check.

I really dig just about all animals, but can honestly say Im not a big fan of cats. Never have been and probably never will be.

Ill take a dog over a cat any day of the week.

We wouldnt have the problem of cat overpopulation if people would just get them spayed or not allow them to run around outdoors unchecked. They breed just as fast a rabbit!!

We had a couple of cats on our farm to help keep the rats and mice down, and they were both females and spayed. Kept them well fed and they never seemed to bother the birds, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks. Maybe its because we always had chickens, geese and guineas as well.

Happy Herping
Brian