You Gotta Eat!

[whtknt]

I was over on YouTube during lunch, looking at some videos when I came across a vid of a snake feeding on a hamster. What was so terrible were the comments this person received. Okay, people, if you like hamsters and not snakes, it's horrible to watch, but you know:

1. The snake has to eat. Snakes eat small animals, and they prefer their prey to be

Comments

[fordarkness]

it's actually considered bad to feed snakes live prey. while snakes in the wild eat live rodents, that's the wild. a pet snake is in a closed or limited amount of space and the rodent has no chance to escape. in the wild, small animals have a chance to get away and the damage done to the snake is minimal. in an enclosure, small animals have the potential to seriously harm a snake, resulting in injuries, medical bills, and possibly even euthanasia.

most snake owners will feed pre-killed or frozen. some snakes will take time to acclimate to that type of diet but it's the very rare snake that will starve itself when only fed pre-killed food.

i find that a lot of people feed live either because they don't know any better or because they get a kick out of the shock factor of it. just my experience/opinion.

[whtknt]

You learn something new every day. Thanks! Not being a snake owner, I was not aware of the possible repercussions of live prey. Even so, the bottom line still applies. If you don't want to see it, don't watch it. But to call the person who posted the video names and to wish that they would die and go to hell is just rude.

[fordarkness]

oh i don't disagree there at all (on the rudeness factor plus don't watch). my guess is people would be calling names even if the hamster was dead to begin with. but it's possible to claim that the person feeding live is being a bad snake owner because he/she is putting their pet's life at risk and should be called out for it.

but it's a touchy subject, one that i've seen debated across a lot of pet communities. i don't know from experience, i've never owned snakes, but since i'm involved in a lot of pet communities in general, i tend to pick up a lot of things here and there. :)