do you feed live food to lizards

[GeckoJosh]

Ok its simple, yes a pinkie is harmless, but most snake species will eventually have to go onto larger food items, so its best to just keep them on dead prey items from day one, once a snake is used to live prey it can be very hard to get them eating dead prey again, I dont see why anyone would bother going through that

 

[notechistiger]

Insects are not capable of feeling pain; rodents (mammals) are. Thus, feeding mammals is cruel because it's a slow, painful and terrifying death.

If you've ever seen lizards eat insects then you would know that they get munched and swallowed within just a few seconds. That is not slow or painful.

Do you see why it's illegal (and unethical) to do one and not the other yet?

 

[Tildy]

Bugs do have a nervous system but don't process physical stimuli in the same way that more complex creatures do. And whether individuals think that they feel pain or not, the general consensus in the biology community is that they dont really feel much pain so thats why the laws are the way they are. There is reasearch starting to emerge to the contrary so who knows what will happen to the laws in future.

 

[gosia]

why are we discussing snakes when it says lizard. feed my beardies live crickets that have been put to sleep in the fridge so they still twitch and stretch. Dead without being completely still.

:shock:

OOOOKKKKKK..... snakes - lizards.....the rats/mice can still harm them...more a lizard then a snake

 

[Aussie-Pride]

I eat bananas and watermelons just saying:shock:

 

[Wrightpython]

i understand why its illegal (but its not unethical)to feed mammals live. There cute and greenies love them. In the future it will be made unlawful to feed any animal live foods, there is a major study under way right now and the rspca are pushing for complete ban, its just taken them 15 yrs to catch up. i personally feed my snakes dead when i can but ive had trouble in past and have had to resort to feeding live to my bubba, Eastern brown as his meals were not digesting properlyand was told by vet to feed live therefor venom pumps around body and then starts digestion. any other suggestions on how to overcome this problem

 

[GeckoJosh]

i understand why its illegal (but its not unethical)to feed mammals live. There cute and greenies love them. In the future it will be made unlawful to feed any animal live foods, there is a major study under way right now and the rspca are pushing for complete ban, its just taken them 15 yrs to catch up. i personally feed my snakes dead when i can but ive had trouble in past and have had to resort to feeding live to my bubba, Eastern brown as his meals were not digesting properlyand was told by vet to feed live therefor venom pumps around body and then starts digestion. any other suggestions on how to overcome this problem

Give him a hotter basking spot, browns should be able to digest without venom, the fact venomoids still flourish is testament to that (yes RH is twat etc etc etc etc)

 

[Wrightpython]

Hes in outside pit and has a hot spot of 35 degrees its fine for all others just him and because hes with two girlies they all get live as i cant risk him grabbing a FT

 

[Reptar859]

As usual not a great deal of information for the intial topic. Being allowed to feed live insects to lizards is tolerated and feeding live mammals to snakes is not. If your snake wont take tharwed food do you starve it to death !!!! NNOOO. You feed it what it eats or risk the chance of a suprise inspection to explain your high mortallity rate. So you feed what is right for you shut your trap and we all keep peacfully.,

 

[Wrightpython]

As usual not a great deal of information for the intial topic. Being allowed to feed live insects to lizards is tolerated and feeding live mammals to snakes is not. If your snake wont take tharwed food do you starve it to death !!!! NNOOO. You feed it what it eats or risk the chance of a suprise inspection to explain your high mortallity rate. So you feed what is right for you shut your trap and we all keep peacfully.,

you sound like a lovely person to be around

 

[Reptar859]

you sound like a lovely person to be around

Thank you :twisted:

 

[GeckoJosh]

Hes in outside pit and has a hot spot of 35 degrees its fine for all others just him and because hes with two girlies they all get live as i cant risk him grabbing a FT

REally>?? I didn't realise it was legal to keep dangerous species this way, also, does he have a artificial heat source?

 

[Jeannine]

i still cant work out why its illegal to feed live food to snakes, after all i dont think they encounter many frozen rats/mice/lizards in the wild

yes i know the food could turn around and make a 'meal' out of the snake but dont they run the same risk in the wild? **shrugs**

 

[chase77]

i still cant work out why its illegal to feed live food to snakes, after all i dont think they encounter many frozen rats/mice/lizards in the wild

yes i know the food could turn around and make a 'meal' out of the snake but dont they run the same risk in the wild? **shrugs**

For one, they're not in the wild, two, there's risk of injury to your snake, and three, it's cruel to the rodent.

I seriously hope that your not serious with that question.

 

[dihsmaj]

REally>?? I didn't realise it was legal to keep dangerous species this way, also, does he have a artificial heat source?

yeah, aren't you meant to keep elapids in locked enclosures?

 

[GeckoJosh]

yeah, aren't you meant to keep elapids in locked enclosures?

In NSW dangerous snakes I thought had to be kept in locked enclosures INSIDE a locked room, thats why pits cannot be used

 

[Notorious_Guf]

Do you eat the cow when it's still alive?

 

[Red-Ink]

i still cant work out why its illegal to feed live food to snakes, after all i dont think they encounter many frozen rats/mice/lizards in the wild

yes i know the food could turn around and make a 'meal' out of the snake but dont they run the same risk in the wild? **shrugs**

Your probably right, lets see if we can get the governing bodies to put live bearded dragons on the legal black head pythons food list. Knob tailed geckoes to ackies anyone?

 

[notechistiger]

The fact that snakes do it in the wild is NOT a good argument. Do you also let predators into your reptile enclosures? Do you flood their enclosure and pour water on them to simulate storms? Do you make sure they're riddled with parasites?

No? Then stop trying to justify feeding animals live because "it happens in the wild".

 

[K3nny]

actually for the record, as far as life insect goes, there are cases where crickets bite back because of either hunger or thirst, animal safety if you will is a risk when almost any type of life feed is involved.
ever been bitten by a mealworm? those things give nasty little pinches. Fact is living organisms are designed to survive, ergo (buzzword of the day) there would be always that unlikely chance of retaliation.

As far as why it's illegal? Pretty much summed up by most of the people here on the thread, + rodents and most other mammals are fluffy cute wittle things, while insects are icky, plain and simple.

The pain thing? What about feeder fish? Rarely there is such an issue with this as far as previous threads go, and not only for reptiles but also predatory fish keepers. They have backbones and a more complex nervous system associated with higher order creatures don't they?

Again it's a matter of double standards