# Culling guilt.



## RobB (May 22, 2008)

I've setup breeding cages for feeders for my snakes - mice, multis and gerbils.
So far so good, the multis have been breeding like good uns and the gerbils have had a litter too.

Thing is..... I feel bad when I cull them for food for my snakes. I don't feel as guilty when they're on their way down the snake's throat but I do find myself feeling guilt for a while afterwards.

No such qualms about crickets, locusts or roaches when they're fed to whatever so I wonder why I feel that way about the mammals? Similarly no problem when I've bought frozen food from a pet shop.

Don't mean to be a drama queen here and I'm not looking for any advice, just wondering if others have similar thoughts?
I think it's the way society is these days, we're so far away from the slaughtering process of our own food that any similar actions we make don't feel right.

Rob


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## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

RobB said:


> I've setup breeding cages for feeders for my snakes - mice, multis and gerbils.
> So far so good, the multis have been breeding like good uns and the gerbils have had a litter too.
> 
> Thing is..... I feel bad when I cull them for food for my snakes. I don't feel as guilty when they're on their way down the snake's throat but I do find myself feeling guilt for a while afterwards.
> ...


 The day you feel nothing at all when taking a life, is the day you need to be worried about . The very fact that you feel remorse, shows that you are a compassionate human being. No right minded human gets any pleasure from killing an animal, even when it is necessary to feed ourselves or our pets. I bet your rodents get the very best of care while they are alive.
Keep doing what you do :no1:


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## Barry.M (May 19, 2006)

On the flip side to that,I regularly cull prey items,and feel no remorse what so ever,however I certainly don't think it makes me a less compassionate person,I just see it that the rats we raise have a far better quality of life than the mass produced feeders from the frozen market and when its their time its part of the food chain.
When I started keeping though,frozen rodents were few and far between so had no choice really,it was either feed live or cull.
Also I guarentee the home raised prey is of a better quality than the frozens available to buy.


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## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

I keep livestock and cull my own cockerels for the table but although I don't feel guilt, I do feel a twinge of regret. Same as when I take goats to the abattoir. It's been over 25 years since I first kept livestock and I still feel regret that a life has to be taken. The day I feel nothing, is the day I eat only veggies.


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## Tristan (Oct 5, 2008)

I didn't know you could get frozen feeder gerbils from any pet store. Maybe I should start feeding frozen cats to my bosc. I'm joking of course. But a gerbil in my mind is a family pet and of no less value than a cat or ferret.

But a snake gotta eat.


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

Tristan said:


> I didn't know you could get frozen feeder gerbils from any pet store. Maybe I should start feeding cats to my bosc.
> 
> I'm joking of course. But a gerbil in my mind is a family pet.


same as a hamster you can get them in my local ''store''


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## Barry.M (May 19, 2006)

Tristan said:


> But a gerbil in my mind is a family pet and of no less value than a cat or ferret.
> 
> But a snake gotta eat.


Gerbils are the prefered natural prey of Royal pythons in fact,and can be very useful in non feeding royals.


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## Tristan (Oct 5, 2008)

Yeah probably. I don't want to start some petty argument so I'll leave it.


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## BigC90210 (Oct 20, 2008)

Thing is, i suppose if its down to your pet starving to death or having it eat another animal bred for that purpose (bear in mind it would never have been created if it wasnt to fulfil its destiny as food) then its always gonna be the mice/gerbils that get it. 

The regret is compassion, though thats just a natural reaction


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

Barry.M said:


> Gerbils are the prefered natural prey of Royal pythons in fact,and can be very useful in non feeding royals.


I would like to know where this often-quoted urban myth originated.

Unless Royal Pythons travel the 5000+ miles from Ghana (in Africa) to Mongolia (In Asia) every time they're hungry, they're absolutely NOT eating pet-trade gerbils! 

Tristan: Rats and mice make fantastic pets too... in fact, I'd rather have a pet rat than a pet gerbil (which is why I DO have pet rats and not pet gerbils) ... but I also feed rats to my snakes.


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

I can't do it, I can just about stomach feeding live pinkies/fuzzies if absolutely necessary in the name of knowing the snake will die without, but I simply cannot take a life with my own hands. I was a vegetarrian for a good number of years and although my husband has convinced me to eat meat, and I must admit to enjoying a good piece of steak, there is no way I will ever take an animals life with my own hands unless it is necessary for the humanity of that animal (ie. they need to be put down, and then, I always take them to the vets, I would never do it myself unless it was some sort of extreme circumstance!)

I have nothing against people who can cull their own, I just don't have it in me to do it with my own hands, it's a bit sad really but that's just the way I am.


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## Tristan (Oct 5, 2008)

Athravan said:


> I can't do it, I can just about stomach feeding live pinkies/fuzzies if absolutely necessary in the name of knowing the snake will die without, but I simply cannot take a life with my own hands. I was a vegetarrian for a good number of years and although my husband has convinced me to eat meat, and I must admit to enjoying a good piece of steak, there is no way I will ever take an animals life with my own hands unless it is necessary for the humanity of that animal (ie. they need to be put down, and then, I always take them to the vets, I would never do it myself unless it was some sort of extreme circumstance!)
> 
> I have nothing against people who can cull their own, I just don't have it in me to do it with my own hands, it's a bit sad really but that's just the way I am.


No it isn't sad love. I'm the same way but I reckon I've just always had a soft spot for rodents as they have a reputation slapped on them by people as just being food for other animals. They're far more suited to be a pet than most reptiles. 

On the vegetarian note, you shouldn't have been so easily converted!


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

Depends how you cull them. If its brutal and quick it can leave feelings behind. Indirect methods such as gassing can help but a quick "sorry dude" before doing the deed can also help.


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

Barry.M said:


> Gerbils are the prefered natural prey of Royal pythons in fact,and can be very useful in non feeding royals.


thats multis that are there natrual prey also christy theres nothing up with feeling like that i started breeding multis rats and mice but just cant kill them altho i also beleve if you eat meat then you should be able to kill the animal yourself


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

Athravan said:


> I have nothing against people who can cull their own, I just don't have it in me to do it with my own hands, it's a bit sad really but that's just the way I am.


There is nothing wrong with that. You've said you'll ensure that what needs doing for animals in your care gets done (i.e. if an animal is sick and dying you won't leave it to suffer) even if you don't do it yourself _personally_. 

I wasn't sure I could cull rodents. I certainly can't "whack" them (I couldn't guarantee getting it right first time every time, and I don't believe in even trying if I can't - I don't have the right to cripple and maim just because it's "quick") and I don't have confidence doing cervical dislocation (although I do know HOW to do it and I have done it - which was upsetting for me personally) ...

I don't like doing it either - especially since I won't just walk away from a CO2 box and let them get on with it. I watch them and make sure they're staying anesthetised, staying unconscious, which was hard with the first litter of rats I ever had to cull since I had spent time trying to make them into tame pets first. It is easier than it was the first time, but it doesn't mean it's EASY nor does it mean that I don't have any emotions about these rodents I put time and work into breeding, raising and feeding.

I accept the necessity in our case for doing so. I couldn't keep the royals we have if I didn't know that we have a breeding colony of rats and the ability to provide freshly killed prey if someone goes off frozen.


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## Herp_boi (May 12, 2008)

I for one feel remorse? for the mice when i whack them onto the worktop.
I prefer this method to gassing, I am used to having to kill animals. Been a hunter for a good few years and if you get the odd survivor from a shot to the head, whether it is a rabbit, duck, pheasant squirrel, i usually ring their necks. Or with a rabbit grab their back legs and slam their head against something hard.
Bit gruesome some think, but everything has to eat! : victory:
Nick


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## chrisss_proctor (Aug 15, 2007)

I think that most of my opinions are covered by other people in this thread. I too breed multi's, mice, gerbils and rats to cover any eventuality! Even then it's still a struggle to get my snakes to feed!

The only other thing I would like to add as I don't remember reading it so far is that I don't usually feel too bad about the culling process because I know that the animals that I've bred and looked after have had the best treatment during their life that I could offer, however short. I think that if I knew that I was going to be bred and culled, I would like to be part of my own breeding colonies.

Hope you can get comfort from others and deal with the guilt easier.


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## _jake_ (Jul 3, 2008)

I would to feel guilt, i had to cull a fish once upon a time, that was tough!!. But everything has to eat and your just providing your snakes, no biggy.


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