# Improper Care of "Feeder Rats"



## thepumpkinrat (Oct 30, 2016)

_Obviously don't read this if animal death/poor animal housing will upset you past a certain extent. It's what I'm going to be complaining about but please realize that I'm going to be discussing live feeding/feeder rats. _


As someone who owns a reptile myself (a ball python), I understand that these animals need a diet of rodents. I personally don't feed live, because I think it's extremely cruel and unnecessary. I would never be able to. Especially since it's also really dangerous for the snake/reptile and has zero benefits over feeding frozen. A lot of reptile people actually breed rodents as a food source for their snakes. The other day I saw someone posting about how their rat litters kept dying. They said the only thing they had changed in the care of the babies was that they switched to pine bedding. It's frustrating that someone can breed animals and yet know absolutely nothing about their care. If you google "rat care", one of the first things you'll find is that pine/cedar is dangerous to them, and how they have very delicate respiratory systems. Some other person replied to their thread saying that "he's used pine bedding for a decade and never had issues" 
Honestly, breeding rats for food is already sad and frustrating, but not even properly _caring _for them is just ridiculous. 
Sorry for the rant, I just can't comprehend how people can do this, especially such lovely creatures with outstanding personalities.


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## Captain Chocoate Bar (Mar 2, 2018)

First off, good on you for not live-feeding! It's terrible, but a lot of backyard breeders like this just want to suck up as much money as they can. So long as they get their cash, the suffering of the animals is quid pro quo. It doesn't even take much to care for rats, much less feeders. Old, clean towels and newspaper is cheaper, easier and safe, but people will hear what they want to.


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