What's wrong with feeding snakes live mice or rats?

Question

I don't get why people have a problem with it. I hear people say that it's animal cruelty and is evil but I don't see why because it would happen in the wild. I would understand if someone suddenly got bored of a hamster and fed it to their snake because you agreed to look after it when you brought it, but what is wrong with it?

Answer 1

Truthfully there is nothing really "wrong" with it since it is the circle of life but I don't agree to it dued to many reasons....

Well it depends on who the person is, if they are an animal lover then they see it as wrong because when it is a live animal, you know that you can save it. An animal's lives are no different from us. They live, they have brains and hearts. If you don't remember...we were an animal at one point a few million years ago...and we are still now. I personally don't feed my snakes live is just because I feel like I can save the mouse or rat and I know in the end it would end up as another pet.

Another reason is that I don't want to hurt my snakes. A live feeder could be dangerous to them. The mouse or rat could bit your snake and then your snake won't eat. And so much more but that was already mention in the other answers.

Also another reason is that your snake would get sick from the feeder. We don't know what type of diseases the feeder could be carrying so when we feed it to the snake...the snake could be sick. That is what happen to my ball python when the previous owner fed it a live feeder. My female ball python ended up with mouth rot and the vet bills sucked. So it was better to be safe then sorry...unless you can deal with vet bills and all that.

Also...there is a chance that feeding live could make your snake more aggressive and starts attacking your finger because he/she might confuse it as food since your finger moves too. There is many many many different reasons.

Many people has many reasons why. Some may makes sense to you some may not but it is their own opinion. Some people might think is "cool" other might think wow how could you. It depends on the person really...some of my ball pythons was on live before I got them and then I tried to feed them frozen...it took me a while ot do that but now they all are on frozen. It really just take work and what you believed in.

Answer 2

I have no problems with feeding live prey to snakes however, I choose to feed my snake frozen thawed for the protection of my snake and keep him from being injured by his intended food.

Other than that, I think people are ridiculously sensitive about feeding live prey.  

Answer 3

I have no problem with feeding live, some snakes are very picky and will eat nothing else. If you can sit and monitor the feeding to make sure your snake isn't bitten, then by all means take the risk.

Answer 4

Its all a matter of perspectives. I am a rat lover and I would definitely have trouble feeding a rat to a snake, or even breeding rats for snakes... but then snake lovers want  to show the love for their snakes and get them a present every now and then.

Either way it is not 'evil' to feed or not feed snakes rats.

Answer 5

There are two answers to your question. Lets look at the morality of it and then the animal keeping aspect of it;

I have been asked how can I feed that cute mouse or rat or anole to my snake. The answer is simple; I have an animal in captivity. It can not go out and get its own food, I have to provide for it. If I want its companionship I must provide for it and do for it what my keeping it in a cage, prevents it from doing on its own. How much crueler would it be if I refused to feed my snake its normal food because I have personal issues about it thereby letting it starve to death? If I can not provide for my reptile as nature intended then I have no business owning it and need to either let it go (if its a native species) or pass it onto someone who can put the animals needs over their own conscious.

I look in a tank of rats, I pick out a rat, I stun it or pre-kill it and offer it to my snake. Now if I take that tank of rats, dump it on the floor, let my snake loose, one of those rats is going to die by that snake. The only difference between me picking one up and giving it to the snake and my snake picking one out on its own is I chose the rat that met its end. The snake might have grabbed another rat altogether or it might even grab the same one I randomly took. The only difference between feeding them in captivity and the same thing happening in the wild is the human has control on which rat gets it, in the wild it is more random.

Now this is what is wrong with feeding snakes live food in captivity morality issues aside;

In the wild when a snake strikes and seizes its meal object it has all the room the roll, thrash, shake its head, anything it needs to do to keep the prey animal from biting or scratching back. It does not have the luxury of space in captivity. Even if you feed them loose on the floor, it is a smooth surface so there is nothing for them to hook onto (as in the wild, a rock or a twig or spot on the ground) as leverage to stop a bit or scratch.

A common injury by feeding live in captivity is damaged eyes. I myself (before I went fully to stunned or pre-killed food,) had a beautiful female ball python almost lose an eye thanks to a rat that clamped down on her left eye while she was killing it. In fact that was the incident that converted me totally to stunned or pre-killed food for my snakes and meat eating lizards. Sadly someone I knew had a python that DID lose an eye from the exact same thing.

Stunning or pre-killing the food is safer for the reptile in captivity. Yes, they don't have this luxury in the wild but a captive environment is completely different then the wild and things have to be compensated for accordingly.

Regardless of which side of this question that bothers a potential snake owner, if you can't provide for the animal as nature intended it to live, don't own one. Its as simple as that. Don't fool yourself into thinking you can own a snake if feeding it bothers you (you in general not like you, you ^_^) so much, its far crueler to let the snake starve to death while you wrestle with your own feelings about it then to either feed it what it needs or let it go.  

Answer 6

im a snake owner. he does not eat them live... he squeezes them to death first. If you reasearch the frozen ones... they were live till they froze to death. I once asked a guy how he froze them so he could sell them to the pet store as frozen mice... he said he puts them into seperate containers (small ones only fitting one mouse) and puts them into the freezer. SO... you think feeding live is so bad still?

Also... the mice that we feed to our snakes are not pets. they are bred by the thousands just to be fed to snakes and other animals that eat mice! I dont think that it is at all cruel when 2 mice can make between 10 and 20 babies at one time... and then in 3 weeks make another 10 to 20! and their babies can make 10 to 20. and the babies babies can make that many. It is not mean at all.

Everything in life is made to be killed and eaten. for vegetarians... they are KILLING plants, and plants have feelings and bleed too. (have you ever cut a tree and got sap? that is blood from a tree!)

Hope this helps your answer some! if not... i tried!

Answer 7

Back up about your little "nature" rant, buddy. No one wants to end up getting a fiesty feeder and end up with hundreds of dollars in vet bills and possibly a dead snake because of "nature". In nature, rats and mice usually never see the predator until they get hit, and if they do, they have a chance to run away. They are never faced with a predator, in nature, confined in a box where they can't get out or away. So, that little theory holds about as much water as those people who go camping in an RV and say that they love "roughing it".



It really isn't so much an issue as animal cruelty as it is about safety. In the wild, a prey animal has a chance to get away, but, when cornered with a predator facing it, it can attack, and most feeders end up being cornered in a box or tank. One of my friends had to put his snake to sleep because of what a rat did to it. The rat attacked, tearing out one of the snake's eyes and tore an openning near the snake's mouth, all of this happenning within seconds. He brought the snake to the vet, but the damage to the snake was too bad and was put down. I never fed any of my snakes live because of it. I feed frozen/thawed, and many of my friends now feed pre-killed, or frozen thawed as well.

Answer 8

i dont think its wrong. as long as the rats/mice were bred as food. if you go to petsmart and buy a mouse there thats supposed to be a pet, thats wrong. i depserately needed rats and a petsmart associate brought out a rat for me and she was petting it and stuff. i felt so bad, i couldnt do it. there are reptile shops that breed rodents specifically for food.

people also say that its bad for your snake but its not unless left unsupervised. mice are fine but rats will chew at your snake. i rescued a ball python that a druggie left a rat with him for 2 weeks! the snake now has scars on his tail and by his face. thats why people say feeding them live is bad.

oh and do you know how they make frozen food? they fricken suffocate it or put them in bags and hit them against the wall! thats how some businesses offer frozen rodent or "pre-killed". at least when the snake kills it, its nature, the circle of life. so all you rats lovers need to chillax. snakes need to eat too!

Answer 9

sometimes the rat/mouse can bite or scratch whatever hurt the snake it is not cruelty i am an animal lover i have alot of pets i used to have a snake and i fed it live mice cause i did not know better. you are right in the wild they would eat them live. its better to feed them frozen pinky mice of snake sausages.  Hope to help i have 3 hamsters 6 hermit crabs 3 cats tiger barbs and a rabbit and turtle!! :)

Answer 10

There is nothing wrong with it at all. Sometimes a larger rat or mouse can bite the snake and cause it to shy away from eating for awhile, but snakes are not scavangers in the wild they eat live prey items thats what they were born to do who are we to say that feeding them live prey is cruel, if thats how you feel you should not own a snake. There is nothing wrong with feeding them frozen animals either it should all have to do with your snakes preference.

Answer 11

There`s nothing wrong with it..

Answer 12

the danger of the rodent actually doing damage to your beloved pet reptile.mice have very sharp teeth, rats have chisels. here is a pic of what a mouse or rat can do to a snake.http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/b/jbuncc/dont%...

Answer 13

I am sure you would have no trouble killing a deer, rabbit, squirrel, feeding them to some bigger animal or maybe even kill a dog or cat?  Some people have compassion and feelings for animals and realize they can feel pain, fear, etc.  They have a strong instinct to survive.  But some people lack any compassion whatsoever toward animals and would gladly feed them to the wolves.  That's why people have a problem with what you are saying and you do not.  You do not care, you have no compassion or feeling for small animals.