TLDR: Hundreds of millions of mice and rats are bred and killed each year as feeder animals for pet snakes, in conditions that resemble the worst of factory farming. We are developing a convenient, cost-competitive, and nutritionally complete snake food made from beef meat, organs, and bones to displace frozen feeder rodents. Cattle to mice is up to 1 to 100,000 replacement and a very strong welfare tradeoff. Products will be on the market in 2026, and will start displacing feeder rodents immediately on a 1:1 basis. We are anonymous on the Forum, but are an ACX Grants project raising 75k in marginal funding for early product launch, plus 9k for a university study. You can donate via Manifund or reach us at thesnakefoodcompany@gmail.com.

1. The overlooked problem: hundreds of millions of mammals in poor conditions

Each year, on the order of hundreds of millions of mice and rats are bred, farmed, and killed as feeder animals for pet snakes. These mammals are typically:

raised in crowded plastic tubs kept in barren environments exposed to high disease and mortality killed using methods that would be alarming by farmed-animal standards (freezing, blunt-force trauma, sometimes live feeding) Despite the [...]

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Outline:

(01:01) 1. The overlooked problem: hundreds of millions of mammals in poor conditions

(01:41) 2. The approach: a convenient, cost-competitive, complete diet for snakes

(02:49) 3. Short-timeline and 1:1 replacement at scale

(03:37) 4. Where we are now

(04:09) 5. Why this post is anonymous

(04:44) 6. Funding gaps

(04:48) A. $75k for early-stage launch

(05:05) B. $9k for a published university veterinary study

(05:26) C. Pre-seed funding + potential European build-out (impact investing interest)

(06:05) 7. How to help

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/JPmRGNvCt54DjHHhv/replacing-feeder-rodents-for-pet-snakes

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Episode ID: 1000737912510

GUID: 6387f43a-71ec-4e45-bee4-66aab9437a1b

Release Date: 22/11/2025, 21:30:12