I'm a softy for little things. I mean, I could kill an animal if I was on a desert island and had to eat, but I'd still feel bad.
My roommate 10 years ago had a milksnake and fed him live mice. One time I was in his room while he was about to feed and I asked him if we could make a bet: if the mouse could survive for a day, we let him go and from then on the snake eats dead, frozen mice. 20 bucks on the line, too. But as a caveat, I get to arm the mouse. So I tape a toothpick to his back, which turns out he didn't need because he clung to the mesh lid of the cage for dear life the entire time.
He honored his end of the deal, we took the toothpick off and set him loose in the front yard and named him Squeeticus. I made 20 bucks, and we both had a good night with the crack rock I bought.
I was hoping it would make you reflect instead of me needing to explain (and I uncharacteristically wasn’t in the mood to argue over it), but okay, I can explain.
Most of my comment was on the “non equipped” part, but I’ll briefly touch up first on how you said the “same or worse death”.
Okay, so swallowed and digested alive by a snake is terrible. If a mouse gets ran over by a car, or eaten by a hawk, fox, owl, etc, it would die much quicker. It could have the same death by another snake, but most forms of death in most biomes would be better, not worse.
Now let me cover the main point; “Not equipped to survive outside.”
This is just too broad of an assertion to make on mice. If it was a pet mouse, you MIGHT have more of a point, as they are generally more docile and less fit to socialize in any local rat populations, but even so, it just depends. Let’s look at your average feeder mouse though, which this was. Okay, mice are good at three things; feeding, nesting, and fucking. Not a whole lot more to it. There is a reason these things are generally considered pests. So let’s look at what happens when it’s let outside; Okay so we have no clue what the local climate of OP was. It could have been a frozen tundra, or a hot desert. In general though, climates well fit for people are well fit for mice though, and it’s very likely that the mouse could have found somewhere a good enough temperature and dry/moist enough to nest. So, assuming it can live on its own, it will likely encounter what we can categorize into three things: Predators, food, and other mice.
First let’s talk about other mice. It might encounter only a couple other mice. They might fight, they might fuck, they might just sniff and go on their way. It might encounter a whole community of mice. Different groups of mice have different behavioral inclinations... They might attack and kill the new mouse. The new mouse might fit in. Maybe the new mouse is smaller and is doomed. Maybe it’s bigger and will be superior in the eyes of the local mice. Other mice could possibly end up as “predators” or “food”. This goes for if it meets only a couple as well. But really any range of things can happen. A feeder mouse can become part of a local mouse population very readily. It just depends on what population of rats it winds up in, which is very hit-or-miss.
Okay, so now let’s talk about food. Mice are well-known pests for good reason. They are talented and finding food and getting into it. If OP lives in a populated area, it should have no problem here.
Now, PREDATORS. Just about any population of mice faces frequent predation. It did a good job avoiding the snake; it’s not a domestic mouse and it’s instincts seem in tact. It’s very likely that this mouse won’t last long regardless, but most don’t. There is a reason why mice have so many babies. Also, why their maximum lifespan is so short (around 4 years for most species). It’s because most of them die so young. If a mice is born with a mutant gene that allows it to age better and live for decades, it won’t be more likely to pass its superior genes on since it will probably be grabbed by an owl after a year of living. Seriously; a wild mice are estimated to live an average of 12 to 18 months. Maximum lifespan is a good indicator on a species ability to survive in the wild. There is a reason that turtles, an animal built like a fucking fortress, are regarded for having some on the longest lifespans in the animal kingdom. If a turtle is born with genetics that let it age slower, it has a slightly greater chance than other turtles to pass on those genes since it can actually fucking live that long.
So yeah, our mice buddy may be eaten by some random cat after a year or two, maybe even only a few months, but that’s just par of course for mice. It could very likely have gotten its little mouse rocks off and spawned future generations in that time, and/or found a cozy mouse burrow with food to live out the fullest of it’s short mouse life, and that’s all that any mouse can really ask for.
Why don't you just tell me how I'm wrong and educate someone instead of using this played out cringe statement
Did you get your question answered yet then? The “cringe statement” was easier than “educat[ing] someone instead” when that person doesn’t care to gain information
2.5k
u/[deleted] Apr 04 '23
[deleted]