Can you feed guinea pigs to snakes?

[ratinabucket]

I don't own snakes, nor am I interested. I found out, my parents neighbors are breeding and feeding guinea pigs to their snakes, and I was wondering if it was legal, in Queensland?

 

[Herpetology]

nothing saying you cant feed them guinea pigs. Good on em, saving money !

 

[Sdaji]

Of course it's legal, why wouldn't it be?

 

[Delilah]

I think it’s a very fair question. Where does it stop? Some snakes would eat a cat or a dog and to most, that’s abhorrent. Guinea pigs are a popular and deeply loved member of a lot of families so it’s comparable for many. Rats and mice too, for that matter. I’m not sure what the legalities are. For me, it’s the issue of whether they were raised and euthanised in a humane manner that’s also safe for the snakes.

 

[Sdaji]

I think it’s a very fair question. Where does it stop? Some snakes would eat a cat or a dog and to most, that’s abhorrent. Guinea pigs are a popular and deeply loved member of a lot of families so it’s comparable for many. Rats and mice too, for that matter. I’m not sure what the legalities are. For me, it’s the issue of whether they were raised and euthanised in a humane manner that’s also safe for the snakes.

It's perfectly legal to feed a cat or dog to a snake, or to eat dogs and cats yourself. Absolutely, many people would find it abhorrent and that being the case it would be essential to humanely euthanise etc or any excuse would be taken to prosecute unlike rats and mice which people routinely kill (often inhumanely) as vermin.

What do you mean by 'where does it stop?'? You can eat a horse if you want to (it might make you unpopular in Australia, but it's legal, and actually horses are commonly fed to pets for that matter), it doesn't matter if you or I love the animal. You and I can love pigs or chickens as much as we like, that won't make it illegal for your friend to eat them. You can legally eat any domesticated animal which isn't classed as protected wildlife. For that matter, you can legally eat any wild animal which isn't classed as protected wildlife.

How they're raised is irrelevant as to whether or not it's legal to eat them; if it was illegal to raise them in any particular way for snake consumption, it would be illegal to raise them that way for any other purpose; the issue is how the animal is being house, not what its purpose is. Same deal for euthanasia - you can kill your pet dog or cat simply because you're bored with it or for whatever reason want to (I'm not condoning or advocating for anyone doing it, and most Australians will hate you for it, I'm just stating the reality which exists), but by law it must be done humanely, whether it's because the animal is old and sick and you're being kind or you're just a weirdo who wants to kill it or you're planning to eat it.

I'm puzzled that anyone would think eating domesticated, non native animals could somehow be illegal. On what grounds could that law exist?

 

[Delilah]

It's perfectly legal to feed a cat or dog to a snake, or to eat dogs and cats yourself. Absolutely, many people would find it abhorrent and that being the case it would be essential to humanely euthanise etc or any excuse would be taken to prosecute unlike rats and mice which people routinely kill (often inhumanely) as vermin.

What do you mean by 'where does it stop?'? You can eat a horse if you want to (it might make you unpopular in Australia, but it's legal, and actually horses are commonly fed to pets for that matter), it doesn't matter if you or I love the animal. You and I can love pigs or chickens as much as we like, that won't make it illegal for your friend to eat them. You can legally eat any domesticated animal which isn't classed as protected wildlife. For that matter, you can legally eat any wild animal which isn't classed as protected wildlife.

How they're raised is irrelevant as to whether or not it's legal to eat them; if it was illegal to raise them in any particular way for snake consumption, it would be illegal to raise them that way for any other purpose; the issue is how the animal is being house, not what its purpose is. Same deal for euthanasia - you can kill your pet dog or cat simply because you're bored with it or for whatever reason want to (I'm not condoning or advocating for anyone doing it, and most Australians will hate you for it, I'm just stating the reality which exists), but by law it must be done humanely, whether it's because the animal is old and sick and you're being kind or you're just a weirdo who wants to kill it or you're planning to eat it.

I'm puzzled that anyone would think eating domesticated, non native animals could somehow be illegal. On what grounds could that law exist?

I get that, Sdaji and I’m not the one questioning the legality of feeding guinea pigs to snakes. I think if you read between the lines, the OP probably meant to ask “is it allowed or accepted” from an animal welfare point of view. Hence, my answer, as long as the animal is treated humanely and euthanased humanely, it’s ok.

 

[Sdaji]

I get that, Sdaji and I’m not the one questioning the legality of feeding guinea pigs to snakes. I think if you read between the lines, the OP probably meant to ask “is it allowed or accepted” from an animal welfare point of view. Hence, my answer, as long as the animal is treated humanely and euthanased humanely, it’s ok.

It's pretty obvious they were hoping it was against the law so they could dob them in or use the illegality to win an argument or something similar. They made an account here just to ask the question.

 

[Delilah]

It's pretty obvious they were hoping it was against the law so they could dob them in or use the illegality to win an argument or something similar. They made an account here just to ask the question.

Yeh, I gathered that. Pretty funny he/she chose a forum of reptile lovers to ask the question

 

[ratinabucket]

I thought y'all would know more about it, since... y'know, you guys' own reptiles. It'd be weird if I asked it on a guinea pig forum.

 

[dragonlover1]

I thought y'all would know more about it, since... y'know, you guys' own reptiles. It'd be weird if I asked it on a guinea pig forum.

How much more info can we offer ? Your question has been answered. You'd definitely get a different answer on a guinea pig group

 

[Sdaji]

I thought y'all would know more about it, since... y'know, you guys' own reptiles. It'd be weird if I asked it on a guinea pig forum.

Snake keepers won't generally know more about it than the average idiot walking down the street. Guinea Pigs are rarely fed to snakes, not because of any legal or ethical issues (which don't exist), but because they're more expensive, less easy to obtain (not especially difficult to obtain as pets but rarely available frozen - I don't think I've ever seen them for sale as feed, and very few people would want to buy animals produced for pets and use them as feed) and they're a bit less of a convenient shape for snakes to eat. There are some myths about their fur being bad for snakes, but they're perfectly good for snakes to eat.

Anyway, your parents' neighbours are doing nothing illegal, and you should probably mind your own business and focus on something positive in your own life.

 

[VK2EMP]

Nothing wrong with breeding and feeding GP's to snakes. No different to feeding a large rat. So long as the feeder is euthanased properly and humanely, I see no issue with it.

Personally I wouldn't do it as GP's are cute, but at the end of the day in the wild they are prey animals for many, including snakes, hawks, etc.

 

[ratinabucket]

Snake keepers won't generally know more about it than the average idiot walking down the street. Guinea Pigs are rarely fed to snakes, not because of any legal or ethical issues (which don't exist), but because they're more expensive, less easy to obtain (not especially difficult to obtain as pets but rarely available frozen - I don't think I've ever seen them for sale as feed, and very few people would want to buy animals produced for pets and use them as feed) and they're a bit less of a convenient shape for snakes to eat. There are some myths about their fur being bad for snakes, but they're perfectly good for snakes to eat.

Anyway, your parents' neighbours are doing nothing illegal, and you should probably mind your own business and focus on something positive in your own life.

Aye, why so rude? Everyone I've asked has told me to mind my own business. I just wanted to know, since I don't own snakes, I'm just a guinea owner, and most 'idiots walking down the street' have thought it was illegal, too. Sorry for asking?

Naur, why are snake owners so rude? I just wanted to ask a simple question, and got my answer. Like I said, I thought it would be better to ask snake owners that, since they probably know about what can and can't be fed to a snake. I just wanted to know

I'm sorry for whatever horrible thing I did? I just wanted to know lmfao?

 

[Sdaji]

Aye, why so rude? Everyone I've asked has told me to mind my own business. I just wanted to know, since I don't own snakes, I'm just a guinea owner, and most 'idiots walking down the street' have thought it was illegal, too. Sorry for asking?

Naur, why are snake owners so rude? I just wanted to ask a simple question, and got my answer. Like I said, I thought it would be better to ask snake owners that, since they probably know about what can and can't be fed to a snake. I just wanted to know

I'm sorry for whatever horrible thing I did? I just wanted to know lmfao?

If everyone you've asked has told you to mind your own business, it might be because you're obviously upset about what someone else is doing and hoping it's illegal so you can hassle them about it, when in reality it's perfectly legal and ethical (assuming they're making reasonable efforts to do things properly which should be the default assumption we make about our fellow human beings unless we have reason to think otherwise). It's plainly clear that if the legal system was as broken as you hoped and it was illegal, you'd have done your best to bring legal trouble upon this person. This says something concerning.

Despite playfully calling the average person walking down the street an idiot in the context of how much they know about laws they have zero interest in, I'd have given them more credit than you do and guessed that more than half of them would guess the correct answer rather than most of them getting it wrong. They may be ignorant of the law (which is entirely reasonable for a law which is absolutely irrelevant to them) but the default legal situation is for things to be legal unless there is a reason for those things to be banned, and there is absolutely no reasonable reason to outlaw the consumption of Guinea Pigs.

It's a concerning situation when Australians have come to the point where some of them assume that the default legal situation is for things to be illegal unless there is a reason to allow it. I encourage you to take some time to think about the implications of a liberty-based vs. restrictive legal system on human happiness and success (hint: people routinely attempt to flee more restrictive countries and wish to move to less restrictive countries, and less restrictive countries consistently have better economics, health, happiness and prosperity by almost every metric).

 

[Harpo]

One of our bredli eating a GP (frozen thawed obviously).

 

[Python]

I have read this and thought it would need to be a good sized snake to eat a guinea pig. And I'm seeing references to how killed, and then frozen/ thawed.

Do any of the pet snakes get live food? And since guinea pigs are relatively large, would hamsters do better for an average snake?

 

[Harpo]

I have read this and thought it would need to be a good sized snake to eat a guinea pig. And I'm seeing references to how killed, and then frozen/ thawed.

Do any of the pet snakes get live food? And since guinea pigs are relatively large, would hamsters do better for an average snake?

People don't live feed mate. Injury risk to snakes, a chance of inhumane prey item death, it's not allowed in Aus. I'd not risk it at all, I'd hate something to bite my snake back and hurt it!

 

[Python]

Thanks for letting me know. Those seem like very practical reasons.

 

[Sdaji]

One of our bredli eating a GP (frozen thawed obviously).

View attachment 336104

Haha, probably exactly what the OP wanted to see

I have read this and thought it would need to be a good sized snake to eat a guinea pig. And I'm seeing references to how killed, and then frozen/ thawed.

Do any of the pet snakes get live food? And since guinea pigs are relatively large, would hamsters do better for an average snake?

There are no hamsters in Australia.

I actually didn't realise this site was now being run by foreigners.

 

[Delilah]

Haha, probably exactly what the OP wanted to see

There are no hamsters in Australia.

I actually didn't realise this site was now being run by foreigners.

I thought the same