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new boysies, and dumb-fuck snake owners
14 years ago
So....a few weeks back, I happened across a woman who needed to rehome two of her boys.
No problem, I thought, I have space for 2, and she seemed to be having trouble finding them somewhere.
We chatted over email. She was in Barnet, which is a pretty reasonable distance from me. But she actually said she'd bring them to me. This is something that doesn't happen often, but usually shows the person really cares about getting the rats somewhere safe.
She claimed to have M.E and be in and out of hospital a lot, so she couldn't give them the time they needed.
She also told me that thus far, the only response she'd had for her plea to rehome them, aside from myself, was snake owners asking if they could take them on as food, or breeders to make 'food'.
Im frankly absolutely fucking sickened by these 'people'.
Who responds to an advert where someone clearly states these are loved pets, with a request to take them on and murder them? What kind of brain damage do you have to have to do that? And this wasn't one person, this was several people mailing her.
And she isn't the first person I've spoken to who has told me they've recieved these kind of mails when trying to rehome their rats.
You know, I try so hard to be open minded and non-judgemental about people who own large snakes, and tell myself that they're not all morons. But 99% of the ones I encounter ARE.
You are a special kind of fucked up to want to kill a loving, affectionate baby rat in the first place, but to message people and ask if you can have their loved pets so you can kill them is just fucked up beyond belief.
So I quickly told her to tell these people exactly where to go, and try not to get too disheartened by them.
Im sure many 'free to good home' rats do end up being murdered for snake food. But at least these ones wouldn't be.
So on the day she is travelling down to meet me, I tell her to let me know when she is about an hour away, and I'd drive up to Norwich.
She texts me and says she is bringing 4 rats. Not 2. I'd been told 2, so I was a bit taken-aback to now have 4 to deal with. I think I was a little hurt too, because I felt like she'd decieved me a bit by not being straight with me on how many she was bringing.
So the plan was to rehome two when they arrived.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately depending on how you look at it, that didn't happen.
When I picked them up, far from being the 4-5 month old boys she'd said, they were all around 8 weeks.
Im usually very good at distancing myself from rats I know are going to be rehomed, but I just fell in love with these 4. They were so affectionate, licky, docile and lovely.
I always like Jon to be comfortable with any rat decisions I make, but he said I could keep all four.
So here they are!
There are two agouti top-ears, Subway and Dante. Subway is bigger, slightly darker, but he has a horrible respiratory infection, so is off to the vet tomorrow.
Then there is Jon's little boy, Boston, the only dumbo. I think he's the omega of the group, because he has that look to him and is very submissive toward the others. Lovely little boy though.
And finally Broadway, a little agouti hoody, and the smallest.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/.....2da&type=1
They're all in quarantine at the moment as I cannot risk them bringing anything into my group, not with the way Subway is crackling. In two weeks, they'll be clear to meet the rest of my boys.
To look at them and think they could have been fed to a fucking snake if their owner hadn't been smart enough to tell these people to go fuck themselves, is horrifying.
No problem, I thought, I have space for 2, and she seemed to be having trouble finding them somewhere.
We chatted over email. She was in Barnet, which is a pretty reasonable distance from me. But she actually said she'd bring them to me. This is something that doesn't happen often, but usually shows the person really cares about getting the rats somewhere safe.
She claimed to have M.E and be in and out of hospital a lot, so she couldn't give them the time they needed.
She also told me that thus far, the only response she'd had for her plea to rehome them, aside from myself, was snake owners asking if they could take them on as food, or breeders to make 'food'.
Im frankly absolutely fucking sickened by these 'people'.
Who responds to an advert where someone clearly states these are loved pets, with a request to take them on and murder them? What kind of brain damage do you have to have to do that? And this wasn't one person, this was several people mailing her.
And she isn't the first person I've spoken to who has told me they've recieved these kind of mails when trying to rehome their rats.
You know, I try so hard to be open minded and non-judgemental about people who own large snakes, and tell myself that they're not all morons. But 99% of the ones I encounter ARE.
You are a special kind of fucked up to want to kill a loving, affectionate baby rat in the first place, but to message people and ask if you can have their loved pets so you can kill them is just fucked up beyond belief.
So I quickly told her to tell these people exactly where to go, and try not to get too disheartened by them.
Im sure many 'free to good home' rats do end up being murdered for snake food. But at least these ones wouldn't be.
So on the day she is travelling down to meet me, I tell her to let me know when she is about an hour away, and I'd drive up to Norwich.
She texts me and says she is bringing 4 rats. Not 2. I'd been told 2, so I was a bit taken-aback to now have 4 to deal with. I think I was a little hurt too, because I felt like she'd decieved me a bit by not being straight with me on how many she was bringing.
So the plan was to rehome two when they arrived.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately depending on how you look at it, that didn't happen.
When I picked them up, far from being the 4-5 month old boys she'd said, they were all around 8 weeks.
Im usually very good at distancing myself from rats I know are going to be rehomed, but I just fell in love with these 4. They were so affectionate, licky, docile and lovely.
I always like Jon to be comfortable with any rat decisions I make, but he said I could keep all four.
So here they are!
There are two agouti top-ears, Subway and Dante. Subway is bigger, slightly darker, but he has a horrible respiratory infection, so is off to the vet tomorrow.
Then there is Jon's little boy, Boston, the only dumbo. I think he's the omega of the group, because he has that look to him and is very submissive toward the others. Lovely little boy though.
And finally Broadway, a little agouti hoody, and the smallest.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/.....2da&type=1
They're all in quarantine at the moment as I cannot risk them bringing anything into my group, not with the way Subway is crackling. In two weeks, they'll be clear to meet the rest of my boys.
To look at them and think they could have been fed to a fucking snake if their owner hadn't been smart enough to tell these people to go fuck themselves, is horrifying.
I got this phone call from this one jerk, he was probably in his 20s and asked in a snarky manner if he could get them to feed to his snake.
I said No, they are for pets only and not for food.
He then said "Well my snake is really hungry and that the rat would be going to a good home in my snakes belly. My snake hasnt eaten for a few weeks and is very hungry."
I was disgusted and told the man in a calm manner that he can go elsewhere for his food and even if the snake hadnt eaten for weeks it could still go for a few more days without eating. I promptly saved his phone number in case he called again.
I love rats and it will seem hypocritical of me to be ok with people feeding mice and rats to snakes, but I am ok with it as they are serving a purpose just as cows serve a purpose as food for humans. I am only ok with the feeding as long as the rats are caged appropriately, feed correctly, cleaned, given access to a wheel for exersize, and are not tormented, maimed, or bulgoned prior to feeding.
Most snake people dont understand how upsetting it is for someone to ask that when its clearly stated that its not an option to be food. It would be like if they had to rehome the snake and having someone say it will be turned into a belt or meal.
Also, if she was using craigslist, then that would explain. The stupid on there regarding animals HURTS. There are some good people to be found...but still.
But this isn't so much even the act per se of feeding a rat to a snake, but the fact that they think its ok to contact someone who obviously loves their animals and ask if they can! It like answering an ad about someone's much loved chihuahua they need to rehome and asking if they'd be ok with you killing it, or feeding it to your python. Unbelievable.
I may never understand that mindset, even though I was a part of it once, a long time ago. I guess the more research I did, I more open to possibilities I became until something clicked that I can't quite put into words. To this effect, I want to raise my own meat animals, and do what I can small scale currently. I have no problem separating pets from food stock...but there is this wonderful respect in doing so that very few will ever understand. I dunno. There just aren't many furries like me, so I guess it's pointless to even hope to find any who are, and hopeless to talk about it.
I do appreciate people who 'create their own' rather than buying from wholesalers where you have no idea how the rats have been treated. And I do agree that if one MUST keep a large snake that needs to eat rats, then doing it yourself and making sure the rats are cared for until their slaughter is the best way. Its like organic free range meat vs factory farms.
But thats me playing devil's advocate since I would be lying if I said I was comfortable with any rat being fed to a snake in any situation other than a natural, wild meeting between two wild animals.
Those rats look totally adorable by the way. I just want to pet em.
Rats are puppies, mentally. They're fundamentally different to their wild cousins.
But yeah, I totally agree with you. Snake owners are, unfortunately, the bane of my life. If they kept themselves to themselves, it wouldn't be a problem and I could just pretend they don't exist. But every time I take on a rescue, 90% of the time there has been a snake owner involved in its misery somewhere down the line. And whenever I need to rehome a rat on, I have to be extremely careful about who I trust because snake owners make it impossible for me to trust the public. I've had people contact me to adopt rats and I KNOW they're wanting to take the rats on to use as breeders for snake food, and even had people ask me directly if they can have my rats as snake food.
Im just sick to death of dealing with these people. My life as a rescuer and rehomer would be so much easier if these people didn't exist. They're so incredibly disrespectful.