Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For the life of me I can't understand the pleasure derived from taking a healthy reproductive snake out of the wild and feeding it to a snake kept in a artifical enviroment. If we are snake lovers, and I think we all are, how can you sit and watch a beautiful copperhead, corn or any snake being killed and eaten by a King. I know it happens in the wild but our pets are not in the wild and they can live on rodents. Don't enough wild snakes get killed by cars and ignorant people that we don't need to add to that grim total. Not looking to bash anyone, just trying to understand.

Let me just start by saying, I've never collected a wild caught anything to feed to my cb snakes. However, this is for health reasons and not because I am a "snake lover". Actually, I'm a "life-lover" and I think all life has the same value. That value is best broken down and described by nutritional value.
It just seems like people object to these posts because It's a snake that's getting eaten. My question (very interested to get feedback) is; *Why is the type of animal an issue?* The issue to me involves the fact that it's wild-caught and whether or not it was necessary. ie. Is the snake readily feeding on lab rodents?
Then again, I understand that people have scientific curiosity and I don't see why it should be repressed if the experiment is within reason. My biggest beef is that I'm jealous. I've only ever seen one copperhead in the wild and this guy obviously lives where they are numerous.
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

I’ll try and answer your questions as best I can. As far as the sacredness of any animal, you are right, none are more sacred than others, but, this is a herb web site which attracts snake aficionados. What ever flips our switch to be attracted to snakes I can’t explain, I just know we all share that passion ( unless some of us just want the “baddest” pet on the block ). If a person does share that passion for snakes, I just don’t understand how you could love a King, but feel okay about feeding it a copperhead. For me I don’t see a big difference between one snake to the next, love them all. It breaks my heart to see a picture of a beautiful corn going down the throat of a King. I know it happens in nature, but when we remove a wild snake from the forest just to feed our pet, that’s one less snake that will reproduce and that’s my bigger worry. We loose so much habitat every year and so many snakes are killed just because they are snakes, I feel they need all the help from us they can get. That it hurts me to see a snake killed and eaten is my problem, but imagine if you were a horse lover for instance, the last thing you would want to see is pictures of a horse being torn apart by wolves even though you know it happens with wild horses.

I see where you are coming from, but I come from somewhere else. Thanks for your response.
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

..but for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would be a democrat.

:

I'm no democrat.
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

TY for your reply/comment to the topic...
I can really see where youre coming from and reading all these post (kingsnake/general) are really me think this whole thing over. I would never ever want anything to happen to my snake. Thats why I post is to get these informed comments. TY your feelings/comments
...ps... I never said it had to be a copperhead, I've never even seen one... also reffer to general snake forum for any further questions..Thanx again

just a suggestion,but your water bowl needs cleaned and fresh water every other day,no offense dude,or maybe a big crock for him to fit in

If people are that curious, they could at least buy a captive bred copper-head.

I think most will agree that 'back in the day' we used to see a lot more snakes in the wild. I don't think we help the cause by catching wild snakes and executing them.

Is there any question that a getula will kill a copper-head???

Might as well swerve to hit snakes - or just cut their heads off where you find them to be certain they will never breed in the wild again.

Tom