Question:
It's funny to me too, kinda, and kinda not lately....

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They're called Royal Pythons in the UK. I like 'em a lot but sadly snakes are a no for me as my boyfriend has a phobia (plus he keeps rats...and if a snake smells prey anywhere on you, he might mistake you for a tasty snack).
Very envious though. I had a mouse infestation in my flat recently (fortunately haven't had any for a month or two) and a snake or cat would've been handy.

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That python of yours, Shy, will it do to feed it with pinkies when it´s grown up, or do you have to give it bigger, LIVING things??
I like snakes a lot, but, as some may know, I´m extremely fond of rats (and mice). Some years ago, we bought a young female rat, who appeared to be pregnant. We didn´t know, until one morning there were eight little babies in the cage. We decided to keep one, the others we gave away to a pet shop when they were old enough. They were soo cute, and it was really sad to give them away, but we counted on that they would find good homes. A week or so later, I visited the same store to buy some kittie food, and asked the owner if somebody had bought "my" rat babies yet. He just smiled and said: "I gave them to the snakes..."

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OH POOR MUSSE! That was just cruel of him! How awful! Our care book says it's best to feed frozen or "fresh killed" food, as the live mice will fight back and might scratch the snake all allow for infection. They give instructions for how to humanely kill a mouse....but you know.....I THINK I"LL PASS. Snake is looking at TV dinners for life.
He will have to have bigger food soon acutally, he ate three pinkies on Sunday and today I must make a run to Petsmart for more pinkies and feeder guppies. I've done the feeder guppy thing before with a turtle he found--we only kept the turtle for a couple of weeks, until the novelty wore off. This ribbon snake only gets one week.
You should have seen the little ribbon snake, though. He's semi-aquatic, and I suppose my tomcat brought him from the big pond behind the house. Jon put him in the bathroom sink with a several cups from my aquarium, and he drank and drank and drank. LOL! I'm sure he was wishing a guppy was in there, too, but my guppies are fancy ones my brother raises so, no.
We left the top raised on my aquarium and today I did find a fancy crispy guppy on the floor.
Still, I was happy. I consider the possiblities and much worse things could happen.
Jon's an odd boy, you may know. He just noticed I've not been watering my Christmas poinsettas well---it was looking pretty dead and I was going to throw it out. He was pretty mad, and had a very accusing tone when he siad "You have not been watering it."
I wasn't in the mood for that, and I pointed to the on top of my china cabinet and said, 'Yes, I have. It's that one I've not been watering.' (That one is totally crispy)
He scooped up the surivior and took it to the basement to nurse it back to health, shooting me glances glances fit for Hitler.

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That's really horrible.
It's illegal to feed live prey to animals in the UK (and actually, it's not good for the snake either, since they can get injured by a meal that decides to fight back).

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Originally Posted by Indiscreet That's really horrible.
It's illegal to feed live prey to animals in the UK (and actually, it's not good for the snake either, since they can get injured by a meal that decides to fight back). I really don´t know if he just threw the rat babies into the terrarium, or if he killed them first. It made me so sad when he told me that I never thought of asking...
This is in fact a nice man, and I doubt he wanted to be cruel, but all the same...

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Things are going to die no matter what you do, but if you enjoy raising an animal, it's a fact of life. My dad helped out with an extremely large boa constrictor when he was in college, and they always fed it live rats. They came in one morning to find the rat had chewed through the snakes skull and killed it. My dad doesn't have so much sympathy for the prey now. It was an extremely expensive snake. On the other hand, he also raised three copperheads and a rattlesnake when he was in college (In the dorms no less!), so he has a slight soft spot for snakes.
- Rich

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Originally Posted by Shycat He was pretty mad, and had a very accusing tone when he siad "You have not been watering it."
I wasn't in the mood for that, and I pointed to the on top of my china cabinet and said, 'Yes, I have. It's that one I've not been watering.' This is excellent, it made me smile. Thank you.

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Your son sounds like a joy to be around.