Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been thinking about what it is about snakes I like so much. I 've concluded that it is the simplicity of them. They are so deliberate in all that they do. I actually enjoy cleaning, feeding, watching them. They never are in a rush, except to eat, which is not unlike myself. They force me to slow down, wait, and do the next right thing. When I handle mine I am more relaxed, less anxious, and still enjoy just staring at them. I love the way they move. They are attractive and just awesome to me.

I am still amazed at what I call the shock effect, when someone finds out I have boas. There seems to be no middle ground-either people are disgusted and frightened or they are intrigued and curious. I am asked at least twice a day what pets I keep, and always get the comment, "if you like animals so much how can you feed your snake a rat?" Honestly, I'm not sure how I do that, I buy live and it still grates my stomach a bit to whack a rat. It took me a dozen or more to get it right. Mice have never bothered me, but the first rat almost made me puke.

I suppose I revere nature a little more than I do my emotional make-up. Snakes are incredible creatures.

Linda,
. Like you said, snakes are incredible creatures. I have been keeping and breeding them most of the last 40 years and I still am amazed at the things they do. I think they provide a temporary escape from all the stressful things in our lives. I can go into my snake room and clean cages or feed snakes and I find it very relaxing.
. There are lots of places selling dead rodents. Unless you are raising your own rodents you can save some money buying frozen feeders in bulk too.
Jeff

>>I've been thinking about what it is about snakes I like so much. I 've concluded that it is the simplicity of them. They are so deliberate in all that they do. I actually enjoy cleaning, feeding, watching them. They never are in a rush, except to eat, which is not unlike myself. They force me to slow down, wait, and do the next right thing. When I handle mine I am more relaxed, less anxious, and still enjoy just staring at them. I love the way they move. They are attractive and just awesome to me.
>>
>>I am still amazed at what I call the shock effect, when someone finds out I have boas. There seems to be no middle ground-either people are disgusted and frightened or they are intrigued and curious. I am asked at least twice a day what pets I keep, and always get the comment, "if you like animals so much how can you feed your snake a rat?" Honestly, I'm not sure how I do that, I buy live and it still grates my stomach a bit to whack a rat. It took me a dozen or more to get it right. Mice have never bothered me, but the first rat almost made me puke.
>>
>>I suppose I revere nature a little more than I do my emotional make-up. Snakes are incredible creatures.

Linda,
As far back as I can remember I've been fascinated by snakes. As a kid my nickname was 'nature boy' and you could always find me in the fields and creeks. Snakes represented the truely 'wild' in an otherwise urban environment and I sought them out where ever I roamed.
As you can see by the pic., things hav'nt changed much.
The feeding of live mice, rats, and rabbits became difficult for me: 'Sir, what mouse would you like?" "Umm, the one with the cute spot and the inquisitve, intellegent eyes".
F/T was a great discovery for me. And it eases my conscience to know that the 'Mouse Factory', where I get all my feeders, raise their rodents in spacious quarters with big wheels of cheese, tubs of peanut butter and whole ears of corn.
I do think they do a much more humane job of 'preparing' thier product than the bash method I employed.
Paul

>>Linda,
>>As far back as I can remember I've been fascinated by snakes. As a kid my nickname was 'nature boy' and you could always find me in the fields and creeks. Snakes represented the truely 'wild' in an otherwise urban environment and I sought them out where ever I roamed.
>>As you can see by the pic., things hav'nt changed much.
>>The feeding of live mice, rats, and rabbits became difficult for me: 'Sir, what mouse would you like?" "Umm, the one with the cute spot and the inquisitve, intellegent eyes".
>>F/T was a great discovery for me. And it eases my conscience to know that the 'Mouse Factory', where I get all my feeders, raise their rodents in spacious quarters with big wheels of cheese, tubs of peanut butter and whole ears of corn.
>>I do think they do a much more humane job of 'preparing' thier product than the bash method I employed.
>>Paul
>>

I had to work for that one!

Feeding a rat to a snake is no different than feeding your dog or cat their food, or yourself eating chicken, steak or whatever.
It's all meat(or some type of animal product). I will often reply "if you like animals so much, why do you eat chickens?" or something to that effect. By the way, chickens are often kept in very inhumane conditions compared to most commercially raised rodents. So eating chicken(contributing to the inhumane treatment)could be construed as a crueler act than feeding a rat to a snake.
Also it is worth noting that more often than not the person whining about the poor mouse or rat is the same person who would not hesitate to bash such an animal with a garden tool if it were encountered in their garage.
Personally, I like rats. We have one as a pet. She is smart, responsive, and gentle. My two-year old adores her.
I like my snakes too, and they gotta eat. We have a somewhat large collection and their is no way I'm gonna pre-kill that many rodents weekly.
So it's frozen mice and rats exclusively in our house.
If pre-killing makes you uneasy, try switching to frozen.
All the best,
Perry