# well it happened



## camel24j (Feb 27, 2007)

my boyfriend got 5 rats one male and 4 females he just brought them home tonight here is a pic of two of them. no names and probably wont get names but they are sweet and friendly.

















i will say this as long as i am around they will be treated as pets and loved as such.


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## camel24j (Feb 27, 2007)

sorry forgot to say that they are not on shaving any more and the cage they are in in that pic is only to bring them home in.


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## Nenn (Nov 13, 2007)

Why dont they got names?


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## zlioness (Dec 27, 2007)

Shavings are okay as long as it's aspen. Where did your boyfriend get the rats? Also, the male needs to be kept seperate from the females at all times, so as to prevent unwanted litters.


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

i sense something is planned for them that you don't like. we certainly won't be yelling at you if you tell us what your boyfriend is planning but it is disconcerting. i hope its not too horrible and any time that they have with you will be happy and bright for them. i'm sorry you will have to watch whatever it is that you are not saying. but keep hope, maybe if you show your boyfriend how lovely they are whatever he is planning won't happen and you will be able to protect them from it. they are very cute though.


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## camel24j (Feb 27, 2007)

well they are planed for a no no when it comes to this board i wont go into it but these cuties will be treated as pets to me as i will be the one cleaning and feeding them. they were got from a friend who was taken care of our snakes and our mice we just got them back so we are happy to have our whole pet family back with us. we lived in a city who passed a law stating the only animals aloud were cats dogs birds and fish and nothing else so our friend was watching our other exotics for us. we just moved to a new place just before thanksgiving and just yesterday was able to get our pets back. 

i don't know their ages but they are still young they still fit in your hand.
here are some pics i just took i don't know the terms for color but that's not that important.
two of the girls








one girl one boy








and she is a bit scared but still sweet.


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## camel24j (Feb 27, 2007)

sorry they will be breeders so they will be more like pets all of my bfs breeders in the past were treated like pets well they were alive they even got turkey and stuff, were played with and these will be the same. i know that it still is not the best. he has never used rack systems or anything like them they have always had roomy cages he even thinks that the rack cages are cruel so he dose have a heart.


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## Nenn (Nov 13, 2007)

But he still has the heart to breed them and feed to a snake?


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## dragonegg (Oct 2, 2007)

It's horrible to be caught in the middle. My brother-in-law breeds snakes and also bred rats for a while as feeders. That's how me and my son fell in love with rats in the first place. But it was hard to deal with the rats we had named (not smart, that) disappearing into the snakes. I wish I would have saved them, but it wouldn't have mattered, since there are always more being raised for food. 

Your little ratties are gorgeous...


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

the sad fact of life is that everything needs to eat something and often that something is sacrificed for the continued life of another. for those of us who eat meat, those cows, chickens, pigs and fish were all once alive. even those that eat plants have to recognize that the plant was alive before it was harvested (though if you start thinking too much about it you come to the realization that you are eating the sexual organs....). i have no problem with that. its part of life and is completely natural. we eat other living things to survive. so long as the life of animal was a good one and the killing was quick i am perfectly fine with it. the meat factories where animals live their entire lives never seeing the sun or feeling the grass under their feet, that is horrid. there is no respect shown to the animal at all that way. no acknowledgment of their sacrifice 

by treating them well and showing them love and kindness during life you show them the respect they deserve for their sacrifice. i heard something on the radio today about pig farming, a person there was explaining what his mother taught him about animals (i'm not a godly person but i can appreciate the sentiment still) he said "my mother told me god gave us pet animals to keep us happy and food animals to keep us healthy." you are going to make sure they are happy while with you and that is important. even though these animals will be food making animals instead of just pets, you are showing them the respect they deserve for it. living the good life is what we all want, these rats will get that from you and that is enough. its better then what most get. i'm glad that at the very least they will have you to show them their respect.


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## zlioness (Dec 27, 2007)

twitch said:


> the sad fact of life is that everything needs to eat something and often that something is sacrificed for the continued life of another. for those of us who eat meat, those cows, chickens, pigs and fish were all once alive. even those that eat plants have to recognize that the plant was alive before it was harvested (though if you start thinking too much about it you come to the realization that you are eating the sexual organs....). i have no problem with that. its part of life and is completely natural. we eat other living things to survive. so long as the life of animal was a good one and the killing was quick i am perfectly fine with it. the meat factories where animals live their entire lives never seeing the sun or feeling the grass under their feet, that is horrid. there is no respect shown to the animal at all that way. no acknowledgment of their sacrifice
> 
> by treating them well and showing them love and kindness during life you show them the respect they deserve for their sacrifice. i heard something on the radio today about pig farming, a person there was explaining what his mother taught him about animals (i'm not a godly person but i can appreciate the sentiment still) he said "my mother told me god gave us pet animals to keep us happy and food animals to keep us healthy." you are going to make sure they are happy while with you and that is important. even though these animals will be food making animals instead of just pets, you are showing them the respect they deserve for it. living the good life is what we all want, these rats will get that from you and that is enough. its better then what most get. i'm glad that at the very least they will have you to show them their respect.


I work at a pet store where we sell feeder mice, rats and just recently, fish. I own a corn snake who is kept healthy on a regular diet of fuzzy mice. The mice are live when I bring them home, and--I realize this is going to sound cruel to everyone and might get me flamed--before I feed them to Pumpkin I thunk them on the back of the head and that's it. No suffering, they're just out like that. Better that way than to die slowly in the grips of a snake. And you're right, snakes do have to eat, too.

Pumpkin will never be fed rats, though. He'll eventually be big enough to eat fuzzy rats, but I won't be able to do it. The mice are bad enough, but rats...


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## Nenn (Nov 13, 2007)

I do know that snakes gotta eat too, its just that why "advertise" that on a pet rat forum? As in show pictures of cute ratties that are eventually gonna get murdered and fed to a snakey snake :O
It doesnt really bother me that much but still...

anyway, my point is not to annoy, or be mean to anyone  so im sorry if i offended anyone.


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## zlioness (Dec 27, 2007)

Nenn said:


> I do know that snakes gotta eat too, its just that why "advertise" that on a pet rat forum? As in show pictures of cute ratties that are eventually gonna get murdered and fed to a snakey snake :O
> It doesnt really bother me that much but still...
> 
> anyway, my point is not to annoy, or be mean to anyone  so im sorry if i offended anyone.


I wouldn't consider it advertising. If her post had said, "Hey my boyfriend got some rats, they're going to be snake food lol!!!!!" I would call it advertising. But I consider it more of a, "These are destined to be breeders/food but I'm going to love them and take good care of them in the meantime" post.


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

zlioness said:


> Nenn said:
> 
> 
> > I do know that snakes gotta eat too, its just that why "advertise" that on a pet rat forum? As in show pictures of cute ratties that are eventually gonna get murdered and fed to a snakey snake :O
> ...


yes that's pretty much what i got out of it too. for as long as she is around these rats are going to be treated as pets for nearly every aspect, she will just have to suffer through watching them lose their babies and need to comfort them during that hard time. 

camel: are you going to give them names?


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## camel24j (Feb 27, 2007)

if they were going to be feeders i would never post a pic on here but because they will live their whole life i figured it would be fine. and most of the snakes eat mice but we have a python who needs bigger food sorry sad fact. and personally i wish i could raise my own food to because than i would know that it was treated well. and yes i have bottle feed calves and a few yrs down the road ate them its part of life and i was happy to know that that cow had a good life before hand. most of my family grew up on farms or have their own so i grew up with the fact of it all. 
sorry just getting it off my chest.

i am no good with names so i probably wont name them but i love getting to know their personalities last night they shared my chicken with me they totally loved it and i loved watching them enjoy it. 

and for my boyfriend not having a heart about 5yrs ago he was a big time breeder one of the rats was having her babies to fast she couldn't clean the first one before the next one was born so he stayed up late that night cleaning the baby's off and keeping them warm i was right there helping him. when i meet him he had a pet rat who was so spoiled.


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## Screechy (Dec 28, 2007)

It's so sad......but true. I also have snakes. 2 corns. I've had them for going on two years now, but feeding them never really bugged me because I always feed them frozen mice. BUT of course, after saving a rat, and ending up with 5 and then a litter of bubs, it's becoming harder and harder for me even though I don't feed them live mice. I feel sick now and sad, and no longer watch them as they eat, because I have a PEW rat named Jenny........and she looks just like the mice I feed my snakes, just bigger, and alive.......and not frozen......ugh. I've considered buying those snake sausages......but i have no clue where to get them >.< -sighs-


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## zlioness (Dec 27, 2007)

Screechy said:


> It's so sad......but true. I also have snakes. 2 corns. I've had them for going on two years now, but feeding them never really bugged me because I always feed them frozen mice. BUT of course, after saving a rat, and ending up with 5 and then a litter of bubs, it's becoming harder and harder for me even though I don't feed them live mice. I feel sick now and sad, and no longer watch them as they eat, because I have a PEW rat named Jenny........and she looks just like the mice I feed my snakes, just bigger, and alive.......and not frozen......ugh. I've considered buying those snake sausages......but i have no clue where to get them >.< -sighs-




Snake sausages?


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## camel24j (Feb 27, 2007)

i could only find the sausages in i think the UK but after reading it it still seems kinda gruesome what i found is T Rex Snake Steak 
there was some talk about another company making them but i couldn't find anything more on that.


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## rattieluver (Dec 29, 2007)

They are too adorable!


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## zlioness (Dec 27, 2007)

camel24j said:


> i could only find the sausages in i think the UK but after reading it it still seems kinda gruesome what i found is T Rex Snake Steak
> there was some talk about another company making them but i couldn't find anything more on that.


I looked it up and apparently the skin of the sausage is not very digestible to snakes, and can lead to liver damage over time. The inside of the skin is basically "mice mush", which sounds very gross to me. I'd rather just feed my snake a whole mouse any day.


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## JulesMichy (Apr 8, 2007)

Try and convince your boyfriend to invest in a CO2 chamber, at least. All of the pampering in the world doesn't make up for being put into a box with a predator and eaten alive.


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