Collecting Gravid Females.

[snakeman]

I know somebody who caught and release spotted turtles a little ways from my house.He wound up wiping out about 75% of all the turtle there.The next year we were finding dead spotteds all over the place.They are making a comeback now,But nowhere's near the numbers they had before.

[infernalis]

I must admit that many of my views have "evolved" and changed since joining this forum, The collective reasoning of our members is responsible for that

Firstly ANY animal that I pick up and bring into the house begins a LIFELONG commitment, in other words, I am not willing to put the awesome population that surrounds me at risk by acting on a spur of the moment whim. No different than purchasing a reptile, once it enters the home, releasing is NOT an option EVER.

“in every clutch/litter maybe one will be appealing, what happens to the other say 9 which are not”?

In response to that question, there are two answers, one is "nice" the other is not, but a reality nonetheless.

#1. Cull (put down, feed them to another rep or just euthanize them) this is performed on a regular basis by many breeders even if they will not openly admit it, These "breeders" are obviously in it for the money only, yet still have enough common sense to not release them into the wild.

#2. My personal favorite, and my choice , find suitable caring homes for all of them, or assume full responsibility for ones actions and keep them.

These have not always been my views, but as I stated at the onset of this post, the collective intelligence of this group has shaped me into a "better man" when it comes to my snake collection.

A certain member of this very group had an accidental hybrid breeding occur, producing a healthy litter of "mutts", I along with several others volunteered to care for these snakes until they pass on from old age.

I enjoy my "mutt" and find him attractive, amusing and actually rather robust. His name is Muttley, and he will be a pet until his last days sucking down oxygen.

I am also not ashamed to admit, I have fed more than one snake to our Savannah monitor, It is a natural process, and I felt better inside than just killing the animal for nothing, However they were genetically defective, or the still born from litters. I have yet to just toss a healthy snake to Chomper.

However, should I find myself overwhelmed with unwanted baby snakes, Its nice to have that option rather than see the whole collection suffer due to my overwhelmed state.

Just my thoughts...

Thank you Stefan and Thank you Tom for the posts you made, both add a sound validity to the issue at hand. And thanks to James for starting this thread in the first place.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Wayne, I use stillborn snakes as feeders for my tiger salamander and legless lizard. I do the same with babies that I know are not going to make it. But I decapitate them first with a razor. I feel better knowing that the snake's last moments, he had no idea he was going to die. When you feed them live to a predator, their last few seconds are spent being chewed up and swallowed, and possibly they are even still a bit alive by the time they reach the stomach...and well, I am sure they feel that so I choose to end it quickly and painlessly for them.

[infernalis]

Shannon let's not lose sight of the point, some breeders have been known to flush unwanted babies down the toilet, just like some people do with unwanted goldfish.

Besides that, it has been established that decapitation leaves a living brain due to super low oxygen requirements.

It has even been documented that human heads have been observed rolling eyes, and mouths reciting prayers while the head was in the basket at the guillotine.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Shannon let's not lose sight of the point, some breeders have been known to flush unwanted babies down the toilet, just like some people do with unwanted goldfish.

Besides that, it has been established that decapitation leaves a living brain due to super low oxygen requirements.

It has even been documented that human heads have been observed rolling eyes, and mouths reciting prayers while the head was in the basket at the guillotine.

Well, I was not going to mention it before as it's kind of gruesome, but that is PRECISELY the reason that immediately following decapitation I completely crush the head with a blunt object. Otherwise, the head lives on for many minutes.

[brain]

Well, I was not going to mention it before as it's kind of gruesome, but that is PRECISELY the reason that immediately following decapitation I completely crush the head with a blunt object. Otherwise, the head lives on for many minutes.

I use dry ice to put down mice and rats; it displaces the oxygen thus a quite sleepy death. Less traumatic.

[infernalis]

We all have different methods I guess.