A more ethical way to live feed?

[dmyersWv]

I've had great luck with self cloning crayfish breeding tubs to use as feeders. If they arw legal where you are they reproduce large quantities regularly and you don't have to worry about fish illnesses.

 

[SpecialKay]

I do not think there is a humane way to feed live. Using clove oil to drug a feeder is essentially doing torture before the execution.

 

[Joshuakahan]

I don't think there is a way to make live feeding more humane. Either you are ok with feeding one animal to another or you are not. Not judging one way or the other. Just my opinion.

That’s my take on it too

 

[Joshuakahan]

I do wonder if the clove oil or other substance would have a negative effect on the fish eating it. Had a friend who kept snakes. He would smack them in the head before feeding them to the snakes stating that it was more humane. Still doesn't make any sense to me.

The reason for smacking live food for reptiles is so the rodent doesn’t injure the reptile, not to make it less miserable for the rodent. Rodents can do serious damage.

 

[Zmouvek]

I do wonder if the clove oil or other substance would have a negative effect on the fish eating it. Had a friend who kept snakes. He would smack them in the head before feeding them to the snakes stating that it was more humane. Still doesn't make any sense to me.

Well my thought is that the clove oil in a small minnow, would be a dose too small to affect, say a wild caught bass. It'd be like taking a childrens melationin pill, no affect because it's too small a dose.

 

[Zmouvek]

I do not think there is a humane way to feed live. Using clove oil to drug a feeder is essentially doing torture before the execution.

I would think it be like Myrrh infused Wine in a sense, clove oil is used as a sedative, and basically makes the fish incredibly tipsy and unable to function normally.
I would agree that live feeding is generally inhumane, for me, sending out sheep to a slaughter by wild wolves is insanity, but at least this way the sheep don't suffer so..

 

[Deadeye]

I wouldn’t feed a tiger a deer fawn that was loaded with propofol (one of the common animal sedatives, especially in dog/cat euthanasia) - even at a proportionally small dose there’s still dangerous chemicals in play.
I don’t feed live fish - bugs and shrimp I have no problem with. I’m sure my opinion may change if I have an overabundance of fry on my hands. It’s really all about what you are comfortable with.
The feeder is still going to die no matter what, and I’d bet being swallowed isn’t any worse than suffocating in clove oil.

 

[Zmouvek]

I wouldn’t feed a tiger a deer fawn that was loaded with propofol (one of the common animal sedatives, especially in dog/cat euthanasia) - even at a proportionally small dose there’s still dangerous chemicals in play.
I don’t feed live fish - bugs and shrimp I have no problem with. I’m sure my opinion may change if I have an overabundance of fry on my hands. It’s really all about what you are comfortable with.
The feeder is still going to die no matter what, and I’d bet being swallowed isn’t any worse than suffocating in clove oil.

Swallowed Alive, then Chewed apart by pharyngeal jaws, yeah... much worse than oil

 

[jjohnwm]

Unless an animal actually requires live food...a situation that, among fish, is close to nonexistent...then I do feel that live feeding is unethical. But everybody has their own set of ethics.

I'm not squeamish, and have no problem humanely dispatching animals large and small for food. The keywords are "quick" and "humane". I've been present for a number of the "feel-good executions" by clove oil undertaken by folks who don't have the stomach to do the deed, and I don't think there was anything humane about most of them.

Rodents? Honestly, I hate them; not a phobia or a fear, I simply find them distasteful. And they are of course capable of causing much damage to a snake if fed live. But, beyond that, how can anyone who has ever witnessed the death of a rodent by constriction consider that an acceptable scenario to create in captivity? I bred and raised snakes for many years, certainly fed many thousands of mice and rats in addition to chicks and rabbits to my snakes, and had several acquaintances who live fed regularly. It's a disgusting practice...according to my ethics...YMMV.

 

[Deadeye]

Swallowed Alive, then Chewed apart by pharyngeal jaws, yeah... much worse than oil

You’re talking about light sedation anyway - the fish will be either awake enough to experience being eaten or dead and likely no longer palatable for the predator.