# opinion on feeding live mouse to piranhas



## bugmankeith (Aug 26, 2006)

I just saw a video of someone feeding a live mouse to their pet piranhas, it sickened me. I watched as it was torn to shreds alive, blood coming out, and body parts being ripped off, that must have been torture. And add the fact it was probably drowning at the same time.

Why couldnt they just feed the fish a thawed out mouse, piranhas dont need live prey, they'll eat anything as long as it smells like animal matter! I think it was completely unecessay, especailly to post it on a site for everyones entertainment.

In the wild this is a fact of life and must be done so they can eat, but our pampered pets will never go hungry in our care, so a dead mouse is fine instead of a live one.

I think this was abuse, at least snakes kill prey quickly. 

What do you think of the matter

My uncle had red bellies and he never fed mice, just goldfish,guppies, and ocassionally cooked hamburger meat.


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## crashergs (Aug 26, 2006)

i find it fine, its their pet fish, thats how that type of fish eats, it more than well mimics their wild habitat, the only sucky part is cleaning out the bloody water, now thats sick.


rats are a nuisance pest, at least its going to good use. I keep rats as pets, primarily dumbo rats, very smart rats, so your hearing this from a pet owner of rats, it doesnt matter, as long as your not torturing your animals for an altered state of mind or for sexual pleasure, do what you wish with them.


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## crashergs (Aug 26, 2006)

by the way, post the link, i wanna see a rat get mauled by fish, should end my entertainment for tonight


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## sick4x4 (Aug 26, 2006)

my mom has piranhas, and usually they dont go for the live food like mice unless they have been starved for awhile....usually its goldfish they like live..as most piranhas are scavengers, and in the wild usually never tackle live prey anyways...besides with the cost of the permits why would you want to feed them mice anyway? the water gets soiled and must be cleaned right away??? ow ya the show?:?


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## crashergs (Aug 26, 2006)

http://ebaumsworld.com/2005/12/piranhafeeding.html


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## Canfire (Aug 26, 2006)

If you think that snakes kill them quickly then you haven't seen the 9 minute video of a corn snake swallowing a pinkie feet first while its still living. It was almost 10 minutes before it completely swallowed it so I think pirahnas had a little bit more mercy to finish him off in about 13 seconds. No one forced you to watch the video and its just a part of life. Would you rather eat some lifeless boring thing or eat a live and exciting thing?


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## sick4x4 (Aug 26, 2006)

i thought there was going to be a mouse????


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## sammyp (Aug 26, 2006)

Actually, pirahnas are more piscivorous than actively carnivorous. And they are perfectly content with dead food. Ours used to get thawed lance fish as a staple with bits of mussell, cockle, squid etc thrown in.

Whilst I personally wouldn't feed such an animal live prey, as it's completely unnecesary, it is something that happens all the time in the wild.

That having been said, we as hobbyists feed our spiders live prey all the time and think nothing of it. The only difference is, one's a mammal, the other insect.


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## crashergs (Aug 26, 2006)

yeah exactly.... its not for the faint of heart, if id have piranhas, id feed them live food like goldfish, would be actually cool to see, where can i get a piranha anyway? i wonder if it would take one a male red devil cichlid, i have one of those right now and they are naturally angry all the time.


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## sick4x4 (Aug 26, 2006)

sammyp said:
			
		

> Actually, pirahnas are more piscivorous than actively carnivorous. And they are perfectly content with dead food. Ours used to get thawed lance fish as a staple with bits of mussell, cockle, squid etc thrown in.
> 
> Whilst I personally wouldn't feed such an animal live prey, as it's completely unnecesary, it is something that happens all the time in the wild.
> 
> That having been said, we as hobbyists feed our spiders live prey all the time and think nothing of it. The only difference is, one's a mammal, the other insect.


i would have to disagree with it happens all of the time in the wild???as most wild piranhas eat seeds and fruit and fish???  piranhas and live animals much content to leave each other alone....even people swimming where piranha are...so before we make comments such as we have...please have all the facts straight...other wise we mislead those that really want to know....


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## sammyp (Aug 26, 2006)

Yes, we really SHOULD get our facts straight, shouldn't we? 

Firstly, the Zambezi river is in Africa. Pirahna, on the other hand come from South America and the Amazon River.

And whilst many species of pirahna are in fact herbivores, the Red-bellies about which the OP is talking are in fact almost fully adapted to a diet of fish/meat taking what comes their way as oppurtunistic hunter/scavengers.


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## sick4x4 (Aug 26, 2006)

Pygocentrus nattereri 
Common Names: Red Belly Piranha, Gold Dust Piranha, Yellow King Emperor Piranha. The Natives call this species (Red Belly variation) Piranha Vermilla in Brazil, and Piranha Roja in Peru, both names mean Red Piranha. 
Range: A wide range of Amazonia, including most of the major tributaries, Rio Parana, and Rio Paraguay. 
Adult Size: 12" 
Tank Size: Adult specimens of this species should be maintained in a tank of at least 80gallons. 
Compatible Species: P.piraya, P.cariba. 
Hunting Method: Active chase. They will charge a group of fish, snapping at anything they can get a hold of and will chase individual prey until caught. They also sometimes practice the ambush method, but usually only get a fin or mouth full of scales rather than the whole fish.  yes scavengers but very rarely eating meat and opps wrong river lol..sammy thanks for that


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## sammyp (Aug 26, 2006)

no worries


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## Mushroom Spore (Aug 26, 2006)

Canfire said:
			
		

> If you think that snakes kill them quickly then you haven't seen the 9 minute video of a corn snake swallowing a pinkie feet first while its still living. It was almost 10 minutes before it completely swallowed it so I think pirahnas had a little bit more mercy to finish him off in about 13 seconds.


I'm not watching the video, but I have to agree with this part. I only feed my ball python frozen/thawed rodents, but even then he'll still sit there and constrict them for up to ten minutes. I imagine an animal that was still struggling would be constricted even longer, until it either died of suffocation, broken ribs puncturing internal organs, or the massive pressure on the circulatory system causing the heart to give out.

For something like that pinky, I imagine the snake must have been too young to bother constricting it first, particularly since pinkies really can't fight back. So you know what? The pinky didn't die when the snake swallowed it, it was probably still alive until the digestive juices finally ate through its skin and killed it.

I love snakes, I really do, but I don't think people realize how NOT PRETTY nature can be. Feed dead prey. Seriously.


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## liveprey (Aug 26, 2006)

They can be rather long lived also (red bellies). I had a pair that I bought when I was back in high school. They are rather shy fish although I did see one that a friend had that was quite nasty. Mine lived for 13 years and got to a size of of about 12 inches in a 100 gallon tank. They are very hardy fish also. I could clean the tank with no worries of getting bit but I kept mine fed.


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## OneSickPuppy (Aug 27, 2006)

if i wanted suffering and action, id feed my centipede a mouse. im most all cases, i kill the mice and rats before feeding them.



			
				Canfire said:
			
		

> If you think that snakes kill them quickly then you haven't seen the 9 minute video of a corn snake swallowing a pinkie feet first while its still living. It was almost 10 minutes before it completely swallowed it so I think pirahnas had a little bit more mercy to finish him off in about 13 seconds. No one forced you to watch the video and its just a part of life. Would you rather eat some lifeless boring thing or eat a live and exciting thing?


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## CockroachYet (Aug 27, 2006)

-Maybe is the same like put a cricket for feed a Tarantula, or like a trained Goshawk or trained Falcon hunting a hare or a bird for feed itself in the field, or like a live red worm for feed a Guppy fish. All these natural rules not ever understanding for the most of the common people out there.
-Best regards.


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## Stylopidae (Aug 27, 2006)

My personal thoughts?

Go for it...you're the one who has to do the water change.


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## mindlessvw (Aug 28, 2006)

I keep venomous snakes and trust me it is not a quick death with mice. I have tried to convert everything over to frozen but sometimes they will not eat unless it si alive and when you have a very young snake that has not eaten for weeks you do what you have to do...but it is certainly not quick


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## spider (Aug 29, 2006)

I agree with the death of mice via snakes is not quick.
I watch my Redtail boa squeeze the live, but stunned mice so hard fecal matter are squeezed from them and their eyes are bulging from the sockets.
You might say, "they were stunned mice," but who said I stunned all of the mice I fed my boa?


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