Disinfecting is no longer the topic here, so why not drop it? It doesn't matter anymore. I have to figure out what I'm doing with them. The Madison recycling center won't take them either, I already called. So, I need other ideas on how to dispose of them.
I consulted more vets in this country than any of you probably would have. 3 separate ones here in this state, 1 in Florida, 1 in Colorado (that was also sold sick snakes from Wyatt and suffered multiple deaths), and 1 in Germany (recommended to me by the Sutherlands) -- not to mention the ones across the U.S. that Dr. Gordon consulted with for advice on my behalf. They made decisions based on their experiences, education, and knowledge -- and also based on the various test results we were getting, which were all across the map. Do you people tell your dog's vet he's wrong when he tells you to do something, or do you trust him based on how many years he went to school and that pretty degree he has framed on his wall? Why the hell would I have had any reason to ever doubt what was being told to me by professionals in their field? Only 2 were not routine reptile vets -- the rest involved were all reptile specialists and reptile keepers themselves. I think a certain poster here needs to read before he runs his mouth about sh*t he doesn't know a damn thing about.
If I were trying to "slip one by", don't you think I'd be sparing my clown, my spider, my yellowbelly, my reduced patterns and my morph babies and trying to sneak them out the door somehow? Nope. They're on the euthanasia roster, which has been moved forward to tonight. I can't afford to pay for them all to each have a lethal injection, so they're being put into CO2 chambers my dad made out of coolers for me. This isn't something I'm very happy about, but I don't have a damn choice in the matter. The only two that aren't being put to sleep are my 2 normal pets -- because I can't bring myself to kill the ones that I've had from day one. If I was concerned about money, I'd be trying to save the most valuable snakes. But I seriously could give less than two sh*ts at this point. I've lost pretty much everything, and have no way to get it back. Now I have to be a murderer and kill my animals -- look at their faces while I put them into bags to be suffocated to death, and then pack up their dead bodies afterward. How the f*ck do you think that makes me feel?!? Seriously!? Especially when it comes to the babies that I watched hatch from their eggs, the rescues I saved from death and turned into healthy breeders, and the babies I bought back in the beginning that I hand-raised to breeder size and will never see again. Do you think this is an easy choice for me? I've already watched over a dozen of them writhe in pain and die horrible deaths, despite everything I tried to save them. I've already brought 2 to their death at the vet's office so they could be euthanized, get chopped apart, and have tissue samples removed from their brains, hearts, lungs, liver, and whatever else and shipped 2,000 miles south to be researched. I've already wasted thousands of dollars on medicines, treatments, necropsies, blood tests, tissue samples, virology, overseas phone calls and shipments of illegal vaccines, you name it --only to not be any better off than when I started -- and actually be worse off than if I'd just tried to hide it and sell everything off and be done with it. I could have gone Wyatt's route -- as soon as this virus reared its ugly head, I could have dumped everything on a mass scale at dirt cheap prices to offload it and get what money I could out of it. But I chose not to, to try to do things the right way. Did I make mistakes in judgement? Yep. I shouldn't have put my babies up for sale or sold these racks. Luckily I had friends that made me think more clearly and revise my decisions before anything left my posession. So that makes me a bad guy? I don't think so. Let's see how clearly you think when your husband's deployed to Iraq, you're working 3 jobs, raising your daughter by yourself, dealing with expensive vet bills, watching your animals die in front of you, being attacked by the one community you felt a part of, losing thousands of dollars in the blink of an eye, now facing a nasty divorce and somehow having to figure out how you're going to rebound, get out of debt, and still keep a roof over your child's head. If any of you want to call me a bad guy after this, you can go shove it up your ass. Or bend over, and I'll gladly do it for you.
Cathy, Mark, Stef, Brian, Dan & Colette, Garrick, Kyle, and my other friends that have been here for me and stood up for me -- words cannot express how thankful I am to you guys for your advice and support over the years since I first got into snakes. I wish I could have met all of you in person, but I feel lucky enough to have known you online. Thank you.
I'm done here.
In fact, not EVERYTHING is posted here (a lot, but not all). She has several pages of her web site DEDICATED to this situation.
