Another PREVENTABLE tragedy with live feeding

[robertjnovak59]

I think a big part of the problem is the information you find when you search online. There is a ton of very bad information out there. For a beginner to sift thru it and find solid advice, it can be overwhelming.

[EL Ziggy]

I highly doubt it was intentional, though it was extremely negligent, on the keepers part. I'm pretty sure they feel terrible right now so I won't call them bad names. It's a sad but valuable lesson to the all keepers. We live and we learn. Most times snakes kill rats, sometimes rats kill snakes.

[marvelfreak]

Originally Posted by red ink

I have never bought into the whole they won't eat FT argument. 99% of all Australian snakes in captivity eat FT/FK. If a whole country can do it so can anyone else...

I agree 100%. Any snake can be switched over to f/t. All people have to do is wait out the snake. Once they are hungry enough they will take a f/t. The problem is people are to inpatient and give into soon.

[KORBIN5895]

Originally Posted by robertjnovak59

I think a big part of the problem is the information you find when you search online. There is a ton of very bad information out there. For a beginner to sift thru it and find solid advice, it can be overwhelming.

That's why we strive to keep bad info off of here.

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I highly doubt it was intentional, though it was extremely negligent, on the keepers part. I'm pretty sure they feel terrible right now so I won't call them bad names. It's a sad but valuable lesson to the all keepers. We live and we learn. Most times snakes kill rats, sometimes rats kill snakes.

Rats should never kill snakes. Period.

[EL Ziggy]

Rats should never kill snakes. Period.[/QUOTE]

I agree but sometimes predators do become prey. I'm sure it happens occasionally in nature and it obviously happens more than it should in captivity.

[mclund]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

Rats should never kill snakes. Period.

at least not in captivity, what happens in the wild is somewhat left up to chance.

[dbank999]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

Rats should never kill snakes. Period.

This.

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I agree but sometimes predators do become prey. I'm sure it happens occasionally in nature and it obviously happens more than it should in captivity.

It should never happen in captivity, ever. One occurance is one too many, the situation is completely avoidable, and if anyone thinks that this is acceptable to occur every now and then due to lack of knowledge in the hobby, then you are lacking just as much common sense as the person who allowed for this snake to be mangled by its "prey".

[KORBIN5895]

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Rats should never kill snakes. Period.

I agree but sometimes predators do become prey. I'm sure it happens occasionally in nature and it obviously happens more than it should in captivity.[/QUOTE]

I doubt a healthy snake would ever be killed by a rat in the wild. A snake would have the ability to flee .

[EL Ziggy]

It should never happen in captivity, ever. One occurance is one too many, the situation is completely avoidable, and if anyone thinks that this is acceptable to occur every now and then due to lack of knowledge in the hobby, then you are lacking just as much common sense as the person who allowed for this snake to be mangled by its "prey".[/QUOTE]

LOTS of things SHOULD never happen but that doesn't stop them from happening. I never said it was acceptable but I do have enough common sense to accept the reality that bad things DO happen, whether we like it or not.

[EL Ziggy]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

I agree but sometimes predators do become prey. I'm sure it happens occasionally in nature and it obviously happens more than it should in captivity.

I doubt a healthy snake would ever be killed by a rat in the wild. A snake would have the ability to flee .[/QUOTE]

I don't use absolute terms like never, or ever, because I believe ANYTHING is possible, no matter how improbable. I highly respect the laws of nature and I understand how the food chain "typically" works but lions are 'sometimes ' killed by zebras. It doesn't happen often but it does happen.

[dbank999]

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

LOTS of things SHOULD never happen but that doesn't stop them from happening. I never said it was acceptable but I do have enough common sense to accept the reality that bad things DO happen, whether we like it or not.

Right, but we aren't talking about LOTS of things. We are talking about feeding a live rat to a ball python. A situation that can be controlled completely.

Common sense isn't required to accept reality, exposure to said reality allows for acceptance.

[poison123]

Mouse**** .

[EL Ziggy]

I respect ALL life and it's sad that one rat killed one snake. 99% of the time the roles would be reversed and people wouldn't care one bit about a rat that's thrown in a tank and suffocated by it's natural enemy. It's not the first time or the last time this will happen so no, I don't get all twisted out of shape about these things. I don't question people's intelligence, common sense or call them morons, idiots, jerks or other bad names for making what appears to be a tragic mistake. Should the keeper have known better? NO DOUBT. Hopefully this will serve as a lesson to others to NOT make the same mistake.

[infernalis]

Here is exactly what happens, IF the rat had a pile of chow and a water bottle, it never would have turned on the snake.

Rats need a steady supply of food and water.

Mice and rats locked in a box will turn on each other when denied food from any other source.

When I was breeding mice and rats for my own use, all it took was one night of falling asleep before filling their food bowls and by the next morning one of the rats was dead and stripped down to a skeleton and some fur on the ground.

I am in no way condoning what happened, but I know exactly WHY it happened, had the keeper provided something for the rat to eat, a pile of cereal, dog food or a biscuit, the rat would have preferred that over eating snake flesh.

want to see a cool demonstration? lock a solo rat in a fish tank for 24-48 hours with no food and water, now, go stick your hand in there...

[forkedtongue]

This was off Reddit....

Guy said his room-mate put it in the cage and went to sleep, woke up and decided to take some cool brah pics and send them around.

(not sure if this is mentioned on the later pages, didn't get past the first page)