this is part of the minutes from the animal welfare bill being discussed just now in parliament.the transcript below is taken between the chairman who is going to set the bill for parliament and a member of the pet shop trade who either agrees or disagrees with the part of the bill going forward, and was taken a few months ago.
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Q162 Chairman: I think we have the message that there are two different perspectives on this and we will reflect carefully on them. I want to move on to the question of the feeding of live prey to some of these exotic species because Clause 2 of the Bill deals with matters connected with fighting and the herpetologists' evidence talks about some of the behavioural patterns that may require animals to be put together, different species, for various reasons, and I wonder if you would care to comment on whether there is a conflict between the "natural" way these animals exist and feed and the terms in Clause 2 of this Bill.
Mr Newman: The issue we have is on the welfare Clause, Clause 3(4)©, the need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns. That is really where part of this is coming from. The feeding of live prey to reptiles is extremely rare. Ten years ago it used to be common practice. In many parts of the world, Europe, Holland, France and Germany, it is still the most common way of feeding. We do not enter into that practice here. 99.8 per cent of what we feed will be pre killed, frozen rodents. On occasion, particularly if we are bringing in new species of snakes or whatever, you may have a specimen which is a reluctant feeder and in those circumstances it may be appropriate to feed a live vertebrate to that animal under controlled conditions. Currently under the 1911 Act it is not illegal to feed a live vertebrate to another unless you cause it unnecessary suffering, so that would have to be the result of a court case and the judge would have to make a decision. Those of us who have been involved with reptiles will argue that a mouse that is being produced for food really has no cognizance of what is going on and exhibits no fear. Whilst we absolutely do not want to encourage live feeding, we think we need some clarity as to whether that is going to be made illegal under this clause of fighting. Our concerns are, because of Clause 3(iv)©, the need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns, that snakes in the wild feed on life prey, there are no carrion feeding snakes, so that would mean we are not going to be able to feed them frozen food; we are going to have to feed them live mice, and equally we would be opposed to having to introduce that. "
the sites for keeping snakes that i found dont agree with feeding live animals to snakes and say they will readily accept humanely killed or de-frosted vertebrates. here is just one example:
The last point to mention is the use of live prey. Nearly all snakes offered should take defrosted dead rodents with little or no problems. The use of "live feeding" should therefore be frowned upon, there is no advantage over dead. Not only is it unnecessary suffering to the rodent, but the snake itself can be severely injured. The author has seen many cases where owners have left a rodent in for their snake to eat only to return to find the tables have been turned and the snake has become the meal. The worst case I have ever seen was an adult Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) which had its face and eyes eaten by a rat, the snake obviously did not survive.
so it seems as in the fish feeder arguement that feeding rats, etc to snakes can land you in court if someone saw you feeding them live, and you would have to prove that the animal in question didnt suffer. as i have said, its very much still a grey area and the law needs to determine once and for all whether it is cruel or not to feed live vertebrates to another.
