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The High Price of Life
Feb. 2nd, 2010 08:09 pm
I've had snakes on and off my entire life. Mostly on. I always feed my snakes live prey, and I've never had any problems because of it. Ed and Nessie are both well cared for, incredibly healthy and companionable pythons. I do not expect my snakes to behave as anything besides what they are - predators. Specifically, ball pythons are 'lie-in-wait predators'.
Sometimes, though, I do feel bad. I have to feed the cute mice to the snakes first, otherwise I end up with pet mice and rats. I give them to Jody, Jamie or Miranda because they are rodent people. I like mice and rats & other rodents enough to find them cute, and they are physically clean animals, with soft fur; they do have personalities; they are trainable - but to me, they smell atrocious. It doesn't matter how many times a day I clean out their habitat, they just stink. Back in the day, people used to call external tumors 'mice' because of the odor that emanates from that type of tumor or cancerous sore. My mother's breath had that mousey odor after she got lung cancer, and no matter how many cigarettes she smoked or how many times she brushed her teeth would that odor subside.
Tonight I had to give Nessie the world's absolute cutest mouse. It was salt & pepper - gray, black & white. with brown eyes... and a black patch around one eye. Usually it's the fawn-colored mice & rats that give me the biggest heartaches, but this mouse was a freakin' pi-rat. In my world, it is possible to be too cute to live.
Sometimes, though, I do feel bad. I have to feed the cute mice to the snakes first, otherwise I end up with pet mice and rats. I give them to Jody, Jamie or Miranda because they are rodent people. I like mice and rats & other rodents enough to find them cute, and they are physically clean animals, with soft fur; they do have personalities; they are trainable - but to me, they smell atrocious. It doesn't matter how many times a day I clean out their habitat, they just stink. Back in the day, people used to call external tumors 'mice' because of the odor that emanates from that type of tumor or cancerous sore. My mother's breath had that mousey odor after she got lung cancer, and no matter how many cigarettes she smoked or how many times she brushed her teeth would that odor subside.
Tonight I had to give Nessie the world's absolute cutest mouse. It was salt & pepper - gray, black & white. with brown eyes... and a black patch around one eye. Usually it's the fawn-colored mice & rats that give me the biggest heartaches, but this mouse was a freakin' pi-rat. In my world, it is possible to be too cute to live.
