33
Do you think reptile live feeding is animal abuse? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 months ago by droning_in_my_ears@lemmy.world to c/casualconversation@lemm.ee
34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've stumbled across videos on YouTube that show snake owners feeding them a live rate or rabbit or whatever. Some people in the comments say well that's just nature, others say it's animal abuse. What do you think?

On reddit I saw a snake owner saying what they normally do is kill the prey beforehand with a CO2 chamber and freeze it, and that there's no reason to feed live. Like the snakes don't need it. If that's true I guess it's needless suffering then. Weird that these videos are so available on YouTube then.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

My understanding is that there's a mechanism in most mammals for detecting a build up of CO2 in the blood. Normally you'd exhale CO2, but breathing it in increases concentration, which leads to feelings of panic and suffocation. With any inert gas--helium, hydrogen, nitrogen, argon, xenon, etc.--you aren't getting CO2 levels building up, so you don't even realize that you're suffocating. I think that can even be the case with carbon monoxide, although that has other problems as well. Regardless, CO2 suffocation is definitely not a human way of killing an animal. Or a person.

[-] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 3 points 2 months ago

That's the mechanism that causes a panic cycle in hyperventilating too right?

You're panicking so you hyperventilate increasing CO2 levels causing more panic.

On the upside when you pass out you go back to breathing normally and don't die.

So my mother used to say to my brother when he would do it

this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
33 points (90.2% liked)

Casual Conversation

3379 readers
792 users here now

Share a story, ask a question, or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.

RULES

  1. Be respectful: no harassment, hate speech, bigotry, and/or trolling.
  2. Encourage conversation in your OP. This means including heavily implicative subject matter when you can and also engaging in your thread when possible.
  3. Avoid controversial topics (e.g. politics or societal debates).
  4. Stay calm: Don’t post angry or to vent or complain. We are a place where everyone can forget about their everyday or not so everyday worries for a moment. Venting, complaining, or posting from a place of anger or resentment doesn't fit the atmosphere we try to foster at all. Feel free to post those on !goodoffmychest@lemmy.world
  5. Keep it clean and SFW
  6. No solicitation such as ads, promotional content, spam, surveys etc.

Casual conversation communities:

Related discussion-focused communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
orangeNgreen@lemmy.world
neidu2@feddit.nl
BoozeOrWater@lemm.ee