how do you dispose of you deceased snakes?

Originally Posted by Snakespeare

I can't imagine that a couple of buried snakes in the yard would lower a property's value. Home inspectors look for things like buried heating oil tanks--not buried reptiles. This is hardly the sort of thing that one would be compelled to disclose as part of a real estate transaction. I'd be more concerned about the rotting carcass of a big dog or cat. Even a snake's bones would probably not be noticed after a fairly short space of decomposition. This is one of the reasons we know less about the evolution of snakes than other reptiles (as I understand it)--because their bones are so delicate that they tend not to be preserved in the fossil record as well as the bones of, say, a T-Rex.

Lol, I was kidding.
However, my sister had found and buried a dead bird in our back yard of our old house a few months before selling the house. She had a cross and everything, with the words "baby bird" written on it. The people who bought the house didn't like it. For one they didn't like the fact that there was a dead bird in their garden, and they didnt like the huge, child-made sign (i.e. decaying, crooked pieces of wood nailed together with a kid's scribbling all over it) sticking up for the world to see.

What I'm saying is it's okay if you bury a snake in your backyard, but if you have a lot of snakes and breed snakes, you're going to have more than one dead snake. Eventually your yard will fill up. And though grave markings can be taken down, there's still dead snakes in the yard which would likely not appeal to some people, as most people don't like dead things, and a whole lot of people hate snakes.

...plus they'd keep tripping over all those rocks!

Originally Posted by Animal_gal

I'm just curious as to how everyone here handles dead snakes.

Let me be the cold-hearted bastard in the bunch. When a pet dies, I feel the loss as deeply as anyone. What I don't feel is any reverence for the carcass. My dead animals go into a trash bag and then into the dumpster. If I still lived on a ranch, they would be going to the hogs, which frankly do not care WHAT they eat and have been known to be used by killers to dispose of their human victims.

I feel the same about humans. Once the person dies, the carcass is just that: a hunk of rotting meat that once housed a life. Without the life, the carcass is worthless. I don't like burials in coffins, mausoleums, any of that dreck. Between golf courses and cemeteries, far too much land is wasted; it'd better serve society if we built low-income housing on it, or medical clinics. Because the law requires that the body be disposed of within a restrictive list of parameters, my choice is cremation. After that, do what you will with the ashes. Open the jar in a convertible going down the freeway and let the ashes annoy the other drivers one last time, what do I care.

I remember my deceased pets with great fondness and regret at their passing, just as I do my lost relatives and friends. I just refuse to treat something as mundane as no-longer-animate flesh and bones as worthy of reverence.

Im going to cremate all my snakes when they die and mix the ashes with my own when I die, just so we can all stay together.

Well, if they're big enough, they'll go into the freezer until I can get some dermestids started. Then, they'll go in the dermestids until the skeleton is nice and clean. Then, they'll be carefully articulated and put on one of the living room shelves with the other bones. I wouldn't bother with a hatchling, though. Those I would just toss in the trash. But I wouldn't pass up a nice, reasonably-sized snake skeleton.

We plan to do this with our dogs and cats as well. Though, with the dogs and cats, because there's more meat and the bones are bigger, we'll probably just have our friends dissect them for us (unless Kristi doesn't care, and then she can do it) and then Kristi will boil up the bones (which is what she does as a summer job anyway) and get them nice and clean for display. Complete dog and cat skeletons cost a small fortune, so you can be sure that the ones our pets are carrying around with them won't go to waste. They'll be useful for teaching comparative osteology. The snake skeletons are just cool to look at.

And the way I will deal with my pets is not at all biased toward non-humans. When I die, I would also like to be skeletonized and used in teaching. I don't really want to be dissected in a classroom setting, because my soft tissue is a little too personal, and I don't want anyone complaining in lab about how they got the fat cadaver, but I would love to be strung up as a skeleton and wheeled around some anthropology department. I haven't quite figured out how to legally ensure that those very specific posthumous wishes will be fulfilled, though.

Originally Posted by desertanimal

I haven't quite figured out how to legally ensure that those very specific posthumous wishes will be fulfilled, though.

Either with a living will, such as is used for medical patients to direct their care if unable to communicate (DNR requests, etc.) or in your will, with a codicil directing the executer how your remains should be handled.

Originally Posted by cyclone

Im going to cremate all my snakes when they die and mix the ashes with my own when I die, just so we can all stay together.

i think this is a great idea!!

however i am not that type of person when i die i want to be cremated and then they can do what they want with me. if its fish food, flushed down the toilet, put in the trash can or dumped at the side of a road, i really couldn't care less.

as for animals, i am the complete opposite, if they are pets that i have bonded with (not fish hamsters etc) i will burry them. this is just because i think it is disrespectful to be dumped in a landfill sight. if there was another way i would sure try it.

thankfully, i have not had to deal with this yet, but i will likely have to deal with it soon as i plan on breeding king snakes next year. however i have give a second thought to the snake food idea. we are always encouraged to recycle

so far, i think the best way is to burry our beloved pets.


lee

Originally Posted by jaxom1957

, my choice is cremation. After that, do what you will with the ashes. Open the jar in a convertible going down the freeway and let the ashes annoy the other drivers one last time, what do I care.

I remember my deceased pets with great fondness and regret at their passing, just as I do my lost relatives and friends. I just refuse to treat something as mundane as no-longer-animate flesh and bones as worthy of reverence.

I have left wishes to be cremated first and the ashes placed into a display firework for the scattering bit. (modern viking funeral)( they objected to flaming ships and dead dogs .spoil sports). Lots of places do this now look it up
just don't do it before me

I hate this sort of subject because it reminds me one day Damien will pass over, when he does he will have a plate mate. his name, all his details, everything and he will be buryed somewhere no-one can ruin his grave! so even in another life i can still visit him! I'm leaving this for now as its rather upsetting..

I suppose if Selu died, I would bury him on my sister's 5 acres. She has sort-of a family pet cemetery going on there. It is also were I buried my beloved cat Sierra that I had for 17 years. My daughter also made a marker for her and my sister didn't mind. I don't think she ever plans on selling the place since she did purchase the 5 acres and put a huge house out there on a nice treed lot in Colorado. I am not a breeder so I don't have a ton of snakes to bury. I love the snake I do have dearly so I would probably go with the burial.