Potential first-time snake owner questioning morality

[Avarazac]

Hello! Recently I have become extremely interested in the world of snake ownership. I watch YouTube videos all the time and have become especially enamored with the western hognose - it is just too cute!

I am very tempted to become a snake owner, but I face a moral conundrum. I am a vegetarian because I do not like to purposefully cause harm to animals (and I know straight away that is already a hypocritical thing to say because I am not vegan and still do cause some harm, but do please bare with me). So the idea of having mice gassed to death really bothers me. I saw a video of how it is done, and you can see that they are desperately gasping for air before they fall asleep. It seems like a rather terrifying and potentially painful way to go.

I own a cat that I obviously have to feed meat to, however the difference is the cat was rescued whereas the snake would have been bred. Additional cats are not produced because I rescued mine, whereas purchasing snakes causes additional snakes to be made (supply and demand - I do love me some capitalism). So it feels as though I am intentionally causing mice to suffer because I am paying a breeder to produce a snake for me.

Has anyone else here ever pondered this dilemma? Or am I the only weirdo that thinks about such things?

Thank you very much for your time.