# Newborn kittens as food for a large python?



## BornSlippy (Jan 11, 2010)

Other than the ethics issue would this be safe to do?


----------



## 9Red (May 30, 2008)

Why would you want to? I don't imagine they would be any more nutritious than other types of prey, plus a newborn kitten is only about the size of a small rat weaner anyway. 

I recently had a stillborn kitten in my litter and a friend suggested I give it to my 5 ft burm. I decided, seeing as I have 4 resident cats in the house, that it wouldn't be a good idea to give my burm the taste of cat, in case it ever got out of it's viv plus the fact that I pretty much always smell of cat and am covered in cat hair. I'd rather not give my burm an excuse to have a munch on me when he's bigger.


----------



## Alfonzo (Mar 7, 2008)

:lol2:...be afraid, be very afraid! 

I don't see why it wouldn't be...but the issue is 'awww, but theyr'e kittens!!'...people have double standards and a rodents life isn't worth as much as a cats, apparently.


----------



## Reptilequeen (May 23, 2010)

BornSlippy said:


> Other than the ethics issue would this be safe to do?


You mean I could of been taking all 27 of my next door neighbours ferrel nasty little kittens and I could of been feeding them to my snakes Damn and I have been putting up with them for this long................where thats big landing net :flrt:


----------



## BornSlippy (Jan 11, 2010)

9Red said:


> Why would you want to? I don't imagine they would be any more nutritious than other types of prey, plus a newborn kitten is only about the size of a small rat weaner anyway.
> 
> I recently had a stillborn kitten in my litter and a friend suggested I give it to my 5 ft burm. I decided, seeing as I have 4 resident cats in the house, that it wouldn't be a good idea to give my burm the taste of cat, in case it ever got out of it's viv plus the fact that I pretty much always smell of cat and am covered in cat hair. I'd rather not give my burm an excuse to have a munch on me when he's bigger.


Interesting so they would then associate the cat scent as a food source?


----------



## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

not only is it (for most people) morrally wrong... its just a little stupid...why is (i guess your cat) pregnant, if you dont wish to have kittens, have you thought about what the cat would would feel, and what damage it could do to the mother?, mastitus etc


----------



## quizicalkat (Jul 7, 2007)

stiffling my (huge number of) moral objections the point that you may want to consider is that sometimes snakes will prefer one prey species over another - like I have heard that if you start to feed on hamsters they won't eat other things... What happens if, once you do feed kittens, if it won't go back to a 'normal' diet???


----------



## Kaouthia (Sep 30, 2010)

quizicalkat said:


> like I have heard that if you start to feed on hamsters they won't eat other things...


I know a few people that give baby roborovskis to ball pythons hatchlings that were "problem feeders" and refused the usual mice & rat pinkies. But, once in a regular feeding schedule, they did find it difficult to get them to switch (of course, it's better than the alternative of not eating at all).


----------



## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

I would, but only if the kittens had died for some reason. I asked exactly the same question a couple of years ago about still born kittens. Got similar hostile replies, even though they were already dead!


----------



## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

Crownan said:


> I would, but only if the kittens had died for some reason. I asked exactly the same question a couple of years ago about still born kittens. Got similar hostile replies, even though they were already dead!


]I personally couldnt do it, but if they are still born, i dont see what the issue is...but by the sounds of it the OP isnt asking about still borns, other wise he would of mentioned it?


----------



## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

freekygeeky said:


> ]I personally couldnt do it, but if they are still born, i dont see what the issue is...but by the sounds of it the OP isnt asking about still borns, other wise he would of mentioned it?


Could just be a theoretical quandry that appeared in his thoughts?  lol

Saying that, if you bred cats, and could swiftly, safely and humanely dispatch the kittens before feeding to a reptile, what difference is that to your average prey items of rodents/lagomorphs? :hmm:


----------



## cjsnakes (Feb 15, 2009)

As already stated i think it would be a bad idea, as the snake would either not take the pray....or worse get a taste for it and not go back to rats.....or worst case get a taste for cats then you could be putting your own cats at risk, i know you say yours is only 5ft but when it gets bigger and if it gets out, it would have no problem recognising that smell as food, and quite happily eat your cat

but what i really want to know is why you would even ask this question in the first place, to ask if it would be ok to use them as feeder food......if you didnt want your cat to have kittens then get her neutered!!!!!!!


----------



## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

freekygeeky said:


> not only is it (for most people) morrally wrong. if you dont wish to have kittens, have you thought about what the cat would would feel, and what damage it could do to the mother?, mastitus etc


 
so is breeding mice and rats for food how do you know what the mother mouse or rat feels when people take there babys away to be honist if you say that about cats you should realy think about all the other animals that have babys taken away to feed other animals


----------



## Kaouthia (Sep 30, 2010)

cjsnakes said:


> or worst case get a taste for cats then you could be putting your own cats at risk


Ummm... sorry, but regardless of whether you've fed a big snake a kitten or not before, you really think the snake's not going to see a cat as a potential food source?

I think it'd be pretty stupid to have your cats and big snakes within striking distance of each other whether your snake has a "taste" for cats or not. If anything, I wouldn't want to risk the cat scratching and biting the sh*t out of the snake.


----------



## toad650 (Feb 9, 2009)

I had the misfortune of having to look after my ex's cat for a bit and that turned out to be pregnant which i didn't know till it gave birth :devil:

There was a still born kitten and i did debate feeding it to my royal as it was about the same size but i decided against it as he'd only been fed the night before and i didn't wanna risk him deciding he prefered kittens to rats :lol2: the reason i thought about it was that with the kitten i knew exactly what the mother had been fed unlike with shop bought frozen rodents where there is no real way of telling how the parents have been fed/treated.


----------



## SeanReptiles (Sep 24, 2010)

No, that's cruel. Rats, if it needs bigger jumbo rats.


----------



## fantapants (Jan 4, 2008)

SeanReptiles said:


> No, that's cruel. Rats, if it needs bigger jumbo rats.


HOW is it cruel? I used to breed my own rats and then kull them offspring to feed to my royals........even though i kept some rats as pets. Now, i also keep cats as pets but could happily feed euthanised kittens to an animal if they had been born and bred for that reason.


----------



## BornSlippy (Jan 11, 2010)

Thanks for the replys 

I was just wondering really thats all. So it seems that as long as you don't mind euthanising the newborn kittens much as you would euthanise any other feeder animal then they would be an acceptible food source for a large snake. The downside would be they may prefer kittens over anything else, would this not apply to any feeder animal? And as pointed out they may get a taste for cat and may go on the hunt for them if they ever escaped. I would tend to agree with the poster who said this would happen anyway regardless of what feeder animal the snake has been fed on.

I neither own a snake or even a cat for that matter.


----------



## Jczreptiles (Sep 1, 2009)

:whistling2::whistling2::whistling2::whistling2::whistling2::whistling2:


----------



## kayley22 (Aug 3, 2010)

Sicko


----------



## photographymatt (Mar 6, 2006)

BornSlippy said:


> Other than the ethics issue would this be safe to do?


what ethics issue?

um, I would think claws would be a problem, but new born wouldnt have very big claws?


----------



## Jczreptiles (Sep 1, 2009)

photographymatt said:


> what ethics issue?
> 
> um, I would think claws would be a problem, but new born wouldnt have very big claws?


 The claws won't cause a problem since the legs will be pulled into the side during consumption so in theory not touching the snake on the way down.


----------



## photographymatt (Mar 6, 2006)

Jczreptiles said:


> The claws won't cause a problem since the legs will be pulled into the side during consumption so in theory not touching the snake on the way down.


oh right. thought so.

I would say it wouldnt be very financially viable to do as Im sure I see baby kittens for sale in pet shops for like £20.


----------



## ipreferaflan (Oct 8, 2009)

I bloody love cats. They are my favvvvv animal ever and there is no WAY I could feed a kitten to a snake.

Having said that, let's not have double standards about what is and what isn't okay to feed to a snake. They are all animals. The only thing I would be worried about is the size of a kitten's brain and its awareness? That is where things might be a bit crueller; it's nothing to do with how furry they are. Of course with a stillborn this isn't a problem.


----------



## cardinalgrom (Aug 23, 2010)

lol, id give it a go, after all why is a kitten more important than a rat pup? also why/how would a mother cat feel any different to a mother rat after its babies have been taken away and gassed??

answer: no difference whatso ever!


----------



## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

Cats are cute and friendly so hurting them is wrong.


----------



## beardie hunter (Aug 23, 2009)

kittens ??? why not disabled children or baby chimps why we at it ..... lol seriously though, i couldnt do it . but if done humanely, whats the difference? 

just seems so un-natural


----------



## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

i would not have a problem with buying culled cats and kittens at my pet shop as a feeder.. no difference between a cat and a rat (when gassed) and i love cats :flrt::flrt:, but at the end of the day, its still just a mammal.. very little difference.


----------



## bothrops (Jan 7, 2007)

moral issues?

sickos?

ethics?



P-lease...


If any of you where bonafide, 100% vegetarian buddhists (or at the very least none snake owners) then fine....

however, I'm assuming instead that the word 'hypocrital' needs to be raised.....


----------



## photographymatt (Mar 6, 2006)

bothrops said:


> moral issues?
> 
> sickos?
> 
> ...


not to be a dick, but not all buddhists are vegetarians. There is a story of even buddah eating meat. just doesnt want someone to kill another life just for him, but if it was dead anyways...it would be rude to refuse


----------



## BornSlippy (Jan 11, 2010)

imginy said:


> Cats are cute and friendly so hurting them is wrong.


So only things that are not cute and freindly in your option should be hurt? Gotcha,


----------



## Kaouthia (Sep 30, 2010)

imginy said:


> Cats are cute and friendly so hurting them is wrong.


So are bunnies, plenty of people feed those to snakes.


----------



## bothrops (Jan 7, 2007)

photographymatt said:


> not to be a dick, but not all buddhists are vegetarians. There is a story of even buddah eating meat. just doesnt want someone to kill another life just for him, but if it was dead anyways...it would be rude to refuse


I knew I shouldn't have put Buddhism....when I was writing it I hesitated as I wasn't even sure it counted, but still, the rest of the post stands!:2thumb:


----------



## animalmad69 (Nov 2, 2010)

hi, i may be wrong but dont shout at me for it... it's agaisnt the law to feed cats or dogs to snakes, as they are not classed as pests like rats/mice/rabbits.. and are hunted for that reason unless you are in a differeant country then dont know their rules..


----------



## animalmad69 (Nov 2, 2010)

ps i love cats and i did breed cats, and any still borns where given a good send off, and i did have snakes, 2 corn snakes


----------



## Jczreptiles (Sep 1, 2009)

animalmad69 said:


> hi, i may be wrong but dont shout at me for it... it's agaisnt the law to feed cats or dogs to snakes, as they are not classed as pests like rats/mice/rabbits.. and are hunted for that reason unless you are in a differeant country then dont know their rules..


 Are cows, sheep or pigs pests? We kill them for our consumption. I don't think you would get away with live feeding cats or dogs but as far as I am aware you can cull them to feed to a snake, the RSPCA cull cats and dogs in the 1000's every year so it must be okay:lol2:


----------



## laurz (Jul 6, 2010)

no one seems to have mentioned that rodents take up less space, are pregnant for less time, produce bigger litters, mature quicker and and physically recover quicker from the pre/post natal experience , are far cheaper to keep!

rodents are fed a veg based diet and cats a meat based could this be a factor too.
I wouldn't buy a ham hock for a horse (i hope this makes sense).

I think cats have more personality which is why people have such difficulty with it.


----------



## animalmad69 (Nov 2, 2010)

Jczreptiles said:


> Are cows, sheep or pigs pests? We kill them for our consumption. I don't think you would get away with live feeding cats or dogs but as far as I am aware you can cull them to feed to a snake, the RSPCA cull cats and dogs in the 1000's every year so it must be okay:lol2:


very true, we eat cows/pigs/sheep and some times horse, like i said i thought it was against to feed cats/kittens to snakes, i know you cant give them live food, but what about crikets to gecko's and other reptile's that eat meal worms and other creepys, we dont think twice about feeding them


----------



## Jczreptiles (Sep 1, 2009)

animalmad69 said:


> very true, we eat cows/pigs/sheep and some times horse, like i said i thought it was against to feed cats/kittens to snakes, i know you cant give them live food, but what about crikets to gecko's and other reptile's that eat meal worms and other creepys, we dont think twice about feeding them


 You can feed live food as in rodents ect, cats and dogs i'm not sure about though.


----------



## bothrops (Jan 7, 2007)

laurz said:


> no one seems to have mentioned that rodents take up less space, are pregnant for less time, produce bigger litters, mature quicker and and physically recover quicker from the pre/post natal experience , are far cheaper to keep!
> 
> rodents are fed a veg based diet and cats a meat based could this be a factor too.
> I wouldn't buy a ham hock for a horse (i hope this makes sense).
> ...


 
I don't think anyone was implying that we should stop feeding rodents and begin farming cats commercially for snake food.

I _think_ the point was, 'if I happen to have some unwanted kittens (for whatever reason) would it be ok to use them to fed my snake rather than 'waste' them'...


----------



## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

imginy said:


> Cats are cute and friendly so hurting them is wrong.





SeanReptiles said:


> No, that's cruel. Rats, if it needs bigger jumbo rats.


No more cruel or wrong than feeding a pre-killed rat is. 

Rats are intelligent, social animals, make brilliant pets, can be trained like a dog and can be just as "kissy" and loving... the only difference is that they're small.

Don't get me wrong - I have two cats and I love them dearly, and I wouldn't feed MY cats to a pet snake - but people who have pet rats feel the same way about their chosen furry pets. I've had a couple of mice and rats that have been real characters and that I absolutely adored, too.



BornSlippy said:


> The downside would be they may prefer kittens over anything else, would this not apply to any feeder animal?


Indeed. 

That's one reason lots of people will advise against feeding chicks, hamsters or gerbils - because some snakes get "hooked" on them, and in the latter two cases they're significantly more expensive and harder to get hold of than the more commonly fed mice and rats. Chicks are a special case - they're considerably cheaper than mice or rats, but they have less calcium, minerals and gut-content vitamins and *can* give some animals the runs.

But you'd find it much harder to find a reliable, consistent supply of kittens/cats of appropriate size than it is to find a reliable and consistent supply of hamsters or gerbils if your snake did decide that he preferred the Whiskas option.



laurz said:


> rodents are fed a veg based diet and cats a meat based could this be a factor too.


Many feeder-rodent breeders use cat and dog food as a base for their rodent diet - so not so much an issue there.



bothrops said:


> I don't think anyone was implying that we should stop feeding rodents and begin farming cats commercially for snake food.
> 
> I _think_ the point was, 'if I happen to have some unwanted kittens (for whatever reason) would it be ok to use them to fed my snake rather than 'waste' them'...


It'd certainly be nice if unwanted cats that were *going* to be euthanised no matter what were euthanised in such a way as to leave the possibility of them being used in some part of the food chain (whether it be snakes, birds of prey, zoo animals, whatever), rather than their lives and deaths being to no purpose... 

But the fluffy-bunny brigade (who don't necessarily have a problem with using fluffy-bunnies as feeders) would make that very difficult indeed.


----------



## naja-naja (Aug 26, 2009)

unfortunatley the chemicals used in most euthenasia cases mean that you cannot feed them to your snakes or any other animal... you cant even bury the animals as the chemical can stay in the soil for ten years and if any food was grown there then that food could then kill whtever ate it it is very potent stuff.

this issue came up on another forum (altho it was puppies in that one) and that was a response giver by either a vet, vet tech or someone studying animal medicine or similar, i forget which.


----------



## Jczreptiles (Sep 1, 2009)

Where did my snake vrs cat pic go? people post pics of snakes eating mice daily and I posted a pic of a small snake biting a big cat and it gets removed, too many hypocytical tree huggers on this site:devil::bash:


----------



## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

freekygeeky said:


> not only is it (for most people) morrally wrong... its just a little stupid...why is (i guess your cat) pregnant, if you dont wish to have kittens, have you thought about what the cat would would feel, and what damage it could do to the mother?, mastitus etc


 
same goes for mice mothers.

At the end of the day no its no different than feeding baby mice to your snakes, but i wouldnt do it and i feed mice to my snakes lol.

It's a weird world we live in, besides mice/rats etc are easier to breed.


----------



## nocturnalchunk (Oct 23, 2010)

cant see the problem with it myself mate, lets be fair with cats quite a good percentage end up having a pretty poor quality of life anyway. 

thats what really gets on my t*ts. reptiles need love to. people would be quite happy to intentionally kill a snake or lizard but when it comes to mice/rats/cats etc uneducated people go on about it being murder. 

rant over.. phew :war:


----------

