About the author
The author is an animal lover. Any shape and size fascinate her; she always believed she would grow up to work with animals.
Along with keeping carnivorous reptiles also comes the responsibility of caring for small prey animals. This is where she learned about raising rats, and quickly enjoyed working with them too. Rats are intelligent, playful and bring immense joy to her and many other snake keeper's lives.
On raising rats, (and keeping them as pets too.)
While it's impossible for some people to understand the motivation and mentality between keeping rats as pets and also feeding them to other animals, she found the medium between the two hobbies. Simply put, "If it's named, it's a pet."
You too can meet many reptile keepers that have found the daily interaction with the rat colonies they raise as feeders to be a source of joy in their lives.
Learning the hard way...
However, learning about raising rats was no easy task. With the lack of solid or humane guidance from reptile keepers, she reached out to the fancy rat hobby for advice about raising rats. In return, she was met with silence, angry emails and strong judgmental comments.
Upset but not deterred, she wanted to share what she learned about raising rats with other folks. She knew that many other greenhorns like her were working with advice from either "minimalist" feeder breeders (with questionable and often outright disregard for the humane treatment of animals) and possibly uneducated pet stores.
This section of this websites is here for that reason. To educate others, without prejudgements, about a sustainable and respectful treatment of feeder rats, based on humanity and the nature of the animal.
Beliefs
First and foremost, she respects all animals. We hope everyone finds the medium that will allow them to enjoy both hobbies without ostracizing the other.
~ Respecting the circle of life is foremost in her mind. All animals need to eat.
~ Respecting the nature of animals. She does not believe it is right to feed an animal a diet unnatural to it.
~ Respecting the animals themselves. She believes that we must respect all life on this earth. This entails treating each and every single one of the animals in her care with the upmost respect, humanity, service and complete gratitude for what that animal brings into her life. Whether it be companionship, service, or the sustaining of life for another.
Final thoughts
The author believes it is important to feed a diet as natural as possible with special concern given to reptiles. Reptiles and their diets are not thoroughly studied, making it more difficult to ensure that an alternative diet is complete and healthy for the animal. (i.e. snake sausages, rodents given to snakes that do not eat rodents in the wild)
Some reptiles require other lizards, amphibians or snakes in their diet, however, these are few and far between in captivity.
Nature has intended for times when animals are to be predator, and some times when they are prey.
For more examples about keeping rodents as pet and feeder, follow the links below to understand this mindset.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums
Any questions or comments can be sent directly to Connie at Connie@metalmonkeyexotics.com.
