# Snakes eat mice. Get over it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 8, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344 "2001-09-08T03:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Speleophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Speleophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speleophile)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344/21 "2001-09-08T17:38:01Z")
I have a friend who’s brother once operated a ranch with several thousand head … of mice. It was the called The \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Mouse Ranch. (Name removed to protect the guilty). The owner would regularly pick up 50 lbs sacks of Purina Mouse Chow from the feed store. Once, when a women repeatedly stared at the bag, he told her “You should see the size of that sucker!” Anyhow, my friend told me his brother quickly learned that you have to keep the food supply coming, because the minute you run out, “the little guy gets it.” Yep, they’re cannibals. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344/22 "2001-09-08T17:39:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > Was the term “pinkie” used before _Pinky & the Brain_ became popular or did the cartoon lend the name to the feeders? > > jayjay Naw…that nickname’s been around forever, and it’s based on their all-pink coloring–being furless and all. There’s actually an entire series of sizes: **Pinkie** : A newborn mouse, all pink, no fur. **Fuzzy** : A mouse a days older, eyes shut, has fur. **Cruiser** : A young mouse with eyes open, full fur, who “cruises” around. **Hopper** : A nearly-grown mouse who not only can scurry about, he can hop to escape. **Adult mouse** : Um…you know this one. > [@](#): > > Have you ever had students who were REALLY REALLY scared of snakes? Not yet. Those who have been uncomfortable sit at the oppostite corner in the room. In yesterday’s outdoor snake lesson, all of the students were willing to pet him. Last year there were more hesitant kids who opted not to. > [@](#): > > BTW, what is a corn snake? Link: [http://www.stormpages.com/dracoslair/Snakes/amelanistic.html](http://www.stormpages.com/dracoslair/Snakes/amelanistic.html) The snake pictured there is albino, like my Henry. There are dozens of other color varieties–you can find some of them linked from this site. ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344/23 "2001-09-08T17:45:59Z")
Ask her how sporting is it for her to tenderly grow her marijuana plant under the stairs, then hack it to pieces and smoke it for her sick pleasure after raising it from a babe? How sporting is it? Can the plant get away? I try not to confront vegetarians with the “meat is murder” and the “love animals don’t eat them” bumper stickers, but plants are living things too. We eat them all. Sporting has nothing to do with it. Plants and animals have rights to eat and be eaten. It’s what we do. If someone is opposed to it, they should stop. Eat animals, don’t love them. After all, beastiality is a crime. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344/24 "2001-09-08T18:35:55Z")
Wow, I’ll bet she woulda loved one of my jobs at the bird rescue organization. I had to thaw out bags of frozen dead mice (killed for the sole purpose of feeding other animals). I’d have to run warm water over them to thaw them, and pry their little bodies apart, and then rip the little metal tags off their ears. Yes, rip, which meant ripping through the dead ear-skin & cartilage. Made quite a memorable sound. I love rodents, and think mice are cute as hell. But it’s fucking nature, man. Raptors gotta eat. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344/25 "2001-09-08T19:04:49Z")
Do you shave the mice first? ---
**Author:** ![Schadenfreude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@Schadenfreude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schadenfreude)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344/26 "2001-09-08T20:05:57Z")
CrankyAsAnOldMan: > [@](#): > > and then rip the little metal tags off their ears. I’m trying to think of a reason that the feeder mice would have metal tags in their ears, and failing miserably. Are these special raptor-certified mice or something? Grade A Prime USDA mice? AlbertRose: > [@](#): > > Do you shave the mice first? Only if they ask, otherwise it’s just a little off the top, and trim the sides. If that was a serious question, no. Snakes (and raptors, I’d wager) are perfectly happy eating furry critters. The fur actually gets pretty much broken down in the snake’s gut, unlike owls (and presumably other raptors?) who coough up those pellets we dug through in grade school. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344/27 "2001-09-08T20:20:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AlbertRose \* > \*\*Do you shave the mice first? \*\* You’re thinking of another activity which is widely reguarded as an urban legend. 😉 And Ruffian, if Pinkies are too small, have you tried a Brain? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-eat-mice-get-over-it/80344.md?page=1)