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Poll-Feeding cats to snakes

Is it okay to feed live cats to snakes?

  • Yes

    Votes: 29 25.4%

  • No

    Votes: 85 74.6%

  • Can't decide

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    114
I voted no on this one. I can see where everyone is coming from with the "food is food" argument and I respect it because it makes perfect sense. But I personally have been involved with domestic pet rescue for far too long to not have a strong emotional response when I saw that article in the other thread.

I have (and still do!) keep rodents of all varieties as pets and I do feed live to the snakes that require it (thanks a lot ball pythons), but I keep my feeder population separate. I feel that it adds an aspect of cruelty to raise something with love and special attention and then toss into a snake's den. I very often go out and buy live feeders from suppliers just to avoid feeding off my "pet only" population of rats and mice.
 
chris1968 said:
The guy is an idiot, and probably doesn't know any better.
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I disagree.
But I can admit that the idea that he simply didn't consider the response the video would get is not wholly inconceivable. I've encountered the type ("wouldn't it be cool if...")
 
I don't find it cruel at all to lavish attention on my feeder rats, raise them up and then feed them off. Why would it be cruel to give the best possible care to a animal just because it's life is deigned to end as food? Should I ignore them an just give them the bare minimum of care?

The way the poll is phrased, I would have to say "No" but only because I'm afraid a live cat would injure the snake. I'm not opposed to people eating cats, dogs, horses, cows, pigs, chickens or even snakes. I can hardly say it's wrong for a snake to eat a cat if I'm willing to say that people can eat cats, right?

The video was completely wrong, because it's inflaming people against keeping reptiles responsibly. It's the same as if someone who feeds rats to their python goes to a rat fanciers pet group in order to start talking about how many rats are fed to his snakes and starts describing how the python squeezes them to death. There's no good reason for the behavior other than garnering attention. Mommy obviously didn't pay him enough attention, or paid too much attention and now he's a whiny pogue who can't deal with the fact that he's actually not 'special'.
 
Personally I wouldn't feed a cat (or dog) to my snakes. But if there were some huge shortage of other feeders then yes other animals would become an option. However I would not feed live animals to my snake. So I voted "No".

No I wouldn't feed a snake to my cat. Though my cat would love to eat my small snakes. I have to make sure my cats are nowhere around when I handle them as they want to comp on it.
 
Really, is this kind of poll even necessary? A live cat could seriously damage a snake.Who would risk that but an idiot.I know what a cat can do, we've had to deal with feral cats off and on for years.My son got his arm shredded by one that got in the house, being a ten year old he doesnt always think and grabbed it by its scruff to throw it out.Even kittens can go right through your thumb down to the bone(personal experience)..I myself could not feed a cat, I got kids and dont want to warp their minds any more then I have too.Yes its just meat, but can you imagine if they go to school and tell their friends???? I will stick with socially acceptable food products for my snakes.Anyway all mine are too small for cats so its not a problem here.
 
Cats?

Does anyone here want to estrange our hobby anymore, live cats? Grown man here, do I even need to have this conversation? The fact that this is a pole/question?

C'mon man... it is 100% not acceptable. If you are doing it, AND FILMING IT?

In an era where we are fighting hard to keep our hobby, this does not help. Low key, enjoy your animals, maintain them in a smart fashion. Enjoy your hobby.

Simply, if you are doing it, have done it, filmed it, been vocal about it, you have hurt the hobby.

The further herpetology can distance itself from vodoo/witchcraft/goth crazy the better. This is absurd.
 
And lets all agree, our hobby is a bit on the out skirts of what the general population understands, BUT rapidly growing if we all use strong discretion.

If the 6pm news starts reading "Python owners feeding kitty cats to wild beast snakes" it is going to cause a problem, sensationalize what we all do, and hurt the hobby.

This hobby, has been hurt the most, by lack of common sense.

Common sense... Darwinism..... common sense folks I dont want my hobby going away because someone else was not responsible.
 
Voted no. I've taught my persian cat in the past to shake my hand and come upstairs when I called him. Also, bathed and blowdried him weekly. But, I remember watching animal planet and hearing that domestic cats in the wild only live for a few years, due to starvation, cat fights, traffic, diseases, etc. So it'd be no worse to feed a burm a DEAD cat vs a rabbit that could be a pet.
 
RonzRoyalz said:
Voted no. I've taught my persian cat in the past to shake my hand and come upstairs when I called him. Also, bathed and blowdried him weekly. But, I remember watching animal planet and hearing that domestic cats in the wild only live for a few years, due to starvation, cat fights, traffic, diseases, etc. So it'd be no worse to feed a burm a DEAD cat vs a rabbit that could be a pet.
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While they may only live a few years they do a ton of damage to the wildlife. Feral cats are the most destructive animals around. My buddy cusses them and calls them mini lions lol. I'd not listen to much of animal planets propaganda as they have an objective against pet owners. They try to make people believe what they feel will better their hidden cause.
 
So, here are my thoughts, abstracting away the fact I'm a life-long cat lover and would never feed a cat in actual practice.

Live cats? Never. Too dangerous for the snake -- claws, and sharp bacteria-filled teeth could do far too much harm to the snake. Cat scratch fever, anyone? It's no joke.

chris1968 said:
Voted no; I wouldn't, but I like cats, so I'm biased :shrugs: Selling euthanized cats from a shelter as feeders, when you consider the amount of money it takes to operate a shelter, I'd have no problem with that. Little creepy tho, but that's the bias talkin' ;)
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Quick way to end up with dead snakes! Most animals in shelters are euthanized via toxic drug cocktail injection, essentially. Co2 chambers are a lot more expensive and less common. I can't imagine feeding your snake animals that were put down this way would be anything but deadly to them in the long run.

Other moral questions aside, I have a legitimate question about the hypothetical "cats as feeders". Are they NUTRITIONALLY appropriate feeders for snakes?

From my understanding of snakes (hell, most predators) in the wild, they nearly all prey on herbivores or omnivores, and species that reliably feed on other obligate carnivores are extremely rare. You don't see a lot of cases of snakes in the wild eating wolves or dingos or coyotes or bobcats, when they're going for big prey they tend to take down pigs, deer, and other ungulates like that.

I wonder if a snake primarily fed on cats (or dogs or other carnivores) wouldn't suffer from some sort of nutritional deficiency long term?
 
I voted no on this but not because I have a personal issue with it. I think feeding cats or other companion animals to any reptile is asking for more litigation to be proposed via special interest groups. Personally I like cats, dogs, and snakes and own all of the above, however; If I was hungry enough I would have no problem dispatching any of them and eating them. It goes to survival and is practiced in many countries and by all living entities. Unfortunately, animal cruelty laws are loosely written and leave way to much up for interpretation. In my state feeding a live animal to a reptile is not considered (by the states definition) animal cruelty regardless of what you are offering to the snake and is allowed by state law, however I'm sure if I fed a live cat to one of my boas and someone reported it I'd be charged. This would result in negative publicity for the reptile trade in general. If I lost the case it would again bring negative publicity. If I won the case you would most likely never hear about it in the news.

All legalities aside there are animals which are considered acceptable prey items for reptiles. The supply and cost of them is reasonable and offering them as food to reptiles is generally either accepted or a blind eye attitude taken. There is no need to offer animals as feeders that others will get offended by and definitely no need to video tape doing so. Just my 2 cents.
 
I opted not to vote on this poll. Simply because I didn't find an option that I was 100% in agreement with. I personally don't feed cats(p/k or live) to my snakes. With that being said.

I would have no problem with a keeper feeding f/t cats/kittens to their snake. I think that it could honestly be a very good population control. The big problem for me is the quality of the prey for the snake. If you could formulate a feed that gave the cats/kittens the proper nutrition, similiar to how things have been done thus far with rodent feeders. If they have been raised on a "lab diet" or atleast on it long enough to become healthier than what they would be in the pound/feral or what not and knocked off humanely, I think it could be a good thing.

I think the big issue with me is the "LIVE" part. I feed live and f/t to my smaller/baby snakes and only f/t or p/k to my larger snake. I like feeding the smaller/babies live, I feel it helps them with learning how to coil, which I like to see my boas coil around a prey item, even f/t. I feel it is an important thing for a snake to do. Helps build and retain muscle. I hate seeing a prey item just layed on the cage floor, the snakes generally get lazy over time and stop coiling. Atleast from my experience. When snakes are laying in a cage and aren't afforded the typical life they would have in the wild, they need all the excercise they can get, and besides, it's only natural for them to coil.

So my point is(ranting aside)lol.
If fed a proper diet and humanely knocked off, feeding felines could be a beneficial addition to our hobby, shelters/pounds as well as the natually occuring species they prey on when the cats are afforded to be outside. The stigma is no different than rabbits, mice, rats or chicks.
 
i would ship people cats it they would take them away i dont care what you do to them go ahead feed them to your snakes you cant even sell cats around here lol free snake food and less stray cats
 
Live cats? Hell no, for pretty much all the reasons stated (stigma/hurts hobby/dangerous prey, etc). Dead ones, I have no problem with. However, I will say that when I see a craigslist ad that specifically states that they don't want to see their kittens/puppies become snake food, it raises my blood pressure to make such a generalistic and prejudicial statement. That said, this is NOT a solution for shelters in any way, for the following reasons:

1.) CO2 asphyxiation is not an ethically acceptable means to euthanize a cat. As a matter of fact, it is only acceptable by the AVMA to use on rodents, porcines, poultry, and lagomorphs used for food for other animals. To use CO2 on a cat would be a violation of the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 (which only condones AVMA approved euthanasia methods)
2.) Holy suicide for the shelter! Many people won't take their cats to the so-called "Kill shelters" already. If they were dolling out dead cats to "creepy snake people" they would go out of business in a heartbeat.

We have rats, mice, ASFs, rabbits, guinea pigs, spiny mice, hamsters, gerbils, piglets, fish, chicks, quail, lizards, other snakes, frogs, toads, and salamanders acceptable to use for snake food. Do we really need to add cats to this list? I think not.
 
I voted no.Anyone that would is disturbed.They are a POS.I know people say in some countries they eat dogs.Ok...you ever heard of cannibalism?In some tribes that is ok too.Folks that think this ok....why not send your grandmother over there for a visit.
 
...Another thing I didn't mention on the original thread was that... Well... I have tried to give my cat a bath and I was nearly sliced to death. I can't imagine the dangers imposed on a snake intent on KILLING the cat, considering what the cat does when it's just getting bathed.... Even if it were dead, all it takes to expose those claws is a squeeze of the paw. My throat hurts just thinking about it. Rodents have claws too, but not like THAT... Ouch.
 
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