# Rats/Mice and Snakes



## thatprettyarcanine (Aug 16, 2014)

Having 10k followers on Instagram and constantly posting pictures of all my snakes, rats and mice, I constantly get asked, "How can you love rats/mice if you feed them to your snakes?"

It's honestly irks me so much when people say stuff like that. It's the circle of life. I love my snakes, I love my mice, I love my rats. They all need to eat and I love them all equally. My mice and rats have been given second chances in life and I am proud to own such a diverse group of cuties. (Yes, I called my snakes cuties too.)

I also get a lot of hate in general with owning animals that aren't "conventional".

_"Rats/mice are gross!"_ Guess what, they probably don't like you either.
_"Mice are dirty!"_ They're probabaly cleaner than you.
_"Snakes are scary/slimey/fast and they bite!"_ Snakes are probably the clumsiest critters ever. After all, they have no legs. Any animal with teeth and a jaw has the potential to bite, including cats, dogs... even fish, (particularly parahnas.)

Basically, I tell people to keep their rude comments to themselves, and then I get bashed for being "rude" even though they're the ones calling my pets that I love gross.

ugh


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

I do not particular care for snakes but I would never bash somebody for owning them as pets. I do find them fascinating and enjoy observing them, I have just never had any desire to keep one as a pet since I like a level of emotional attachment back from any animals in my care. The other deterrent to owning snakes (for me personally) is that I would not be able to feed them rodents - I have no particular problem with non-live feeding but as someone who loves rodents, it is difficult to see them serve this purpose. I try my best to mostly stay out of the way of 'feeding live' debate since I cannot be on the fence about the issue. With regards to people's perceptions, I think you should be able to see where they are coming from when they ask you how you are able to keep three different species that are also used as food for one another. I do not understand why individuals like yourself act like that is normal, most people do not do this. Do not get me wrong, that isn't to say that you shouldn't or you are a horrible human being but you should not be irked by people who truly do not understand the concept since it isn't the norm. 

I believe that there needs to be some level of understanding but I do not think you need to expect people to be okay with your choices when (in their eyes) a rat or a mouse is purely a pet and not food for some snake. People really choose side in this and whilst some people own both, not many choose to also own reptiles that thrive on eating the rodents that they keep. When you put something up for public eyes - like pictures on Instagram, you have to be open to debate about your choices since you have given the discussion over to the mass public. Try to educate the people that do not know any better and just take the high road when you run into somebody who is particularly rude. I think it is okay to find rats or mice or snakes scary - that perception of the unknown as frightening can be worked with. To say another person's beloved pet is gross, dirty, whatever is completely disrespectful so I would ignore anybody who tells you this.


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## thatprettyarcanine (Aug 16, 2014)

I mostly don't like it when people make comments like "that's gross" to my mice, rats or snakes and do it on purpose just to piss me off. It's rude and it just shows that some people have nothing better to do.

I realize that each person has their own opinion, but they don't need to voice it to me over Instagram. It's a little childish. Especially when they try to have a full blown arguments in comments. They usually get blocked 

I don't believe mice and rats are just for feeding to snakes. I rescued my mice and my rats from stores that were just selling them as feeders. I enjoy their company and I'm pretty sure they enjoy being spoiled like crazy. As much as I love my snakes, they're mostly just to look pretty. I don't expect them to get attached to me like my furry critters.


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