I have seen this image set circulating on facebook, twitter, and here on tumblr.

Cute, right? They’re buddies, right?

WRONG.

THIS IS ANIMAL ABUSE TOWARDS BOTH CREATURES.

“oh but it’s been like five days and he hasn’t eaten him!”

A snake that is not hungry will not eat. A snake that is stressed out (such as by having another creature running around on top of it) will not eat. They can go for long, long periods of time without eating. Ball pythons in particular are picky eaters and they will not strike even if they’re really hungry-it doesn’t matter if the prey is in there five days or fifty.

A rat is not going to think “oh, this predator hasn’t hurt me yet, we’re buddies!” This is the equivalent of someone following you around a room that you are unable to escape, pointing a gun at you at all times.  It is incredibly, unnecessarily stressful and cruel to let a rodent live like that even if you meant him as a feeder. Live feeding should be your absolute last option if your snake refuses frozen/thawed or freshly killed/stunned which are much safer options.

The deplorable condition this snake is being kept in (no substrate? Unweighted water dish?) combined with this false narrative of “buddies” shows that keeper is at best extremely ignorant. They’re not showing friendship, they’re competing for resources and keeping an eye on each other. This is going to end with one or both dead.

If they refuse to eat, the feeder should be removed immediately or it can and WILL injure and kill your snake! 

I know it really sucks to bust up the disney dreams of friendship against all odds, but no, this isn’t a one in a million tale of love, that’s just what we WANT to see. There will be an ugly ending. :(((((

For further reading on snake care, please check out these links and for the love of animals, stop sharing that terrible, terrible post!

http://animals.pawnation.com/dangers-feeding-live-prey-snakes-4384.html

http://alltailnolegs.tumblr.com/post/118230899216/have-you-seen-the-post-about-the-rat-and-snake

http://butthurtherpetologist.tumblr.com/