Is it cruel to throw sea monkeys away?

[Nahnottoday]

MIL got the the kids sea monkeys for Xmas I've only been the one bothered about them. They freak me out more than anything and can't bare the thought of bringing them to the new house.

Are these the type of pets you give away? Are they pets I don't know 🤣

My sister had some. They freaked me out too. They still do. They are hybrid versions of brine shrimp and can live up to 2 years.

@frostedviolets

Disappointed to see yet more posts finding this thread hilarious. It’s just awful.

They are small and ugly yes but they are still living creatures at the end of the day and deserve to be treated with kindness.

The comparisons with nits are ridiculous, headlice are a health risk so obviously people will seek to kill them when discovered.
A creature that is killed because it actively causes harm is very different to actively going out and buying a creature/being gifted them then deciding that actually you don’t like it very much so killing it.

Yes it is true they are used as live fish food and it is true they are bottom of the food chain.
However.
I don’t imagine many people would find it acceptable to buy a box of fancy mice from the pet shop and feed them to the cat despite cats naturally eating mice.

Nor do I think most people would be comfortable giving dogs live rabbits yet left to their own devices a large proportion of dogs will chase and kill and eat rabbits.

The majority of snakes are fed dead rodents, not live.

Unlike some reptiles, the vast, vast majority of fish will happily eat flake/pellets/frozen live food so I don’t think it terribly ethical to feed them live brine shrimp, daphnia etc.

It seems to me that the fact they are small, incredibly ugly, dont require significant financial outlay, don’t really ‘bond’ with you or do anything interesting like say a cat or dog makes them worthless in the eyes of many people.

And I think that’s a really awful, cruel and callous attitude to have.

Exactly all life is precious and it's disgusting to think other wise

What are their names OP?

@frostedviolets

people buy mice from the pet shop to feed their snakes

Yeah, in the freezer section, very much dead!
Most people don’t feed live mice.

I kept mice to feed to my snakes, live. I also kept fish (which ate brine shrimps) to feed to my other snakes, also live.

And I kept locusts and crickets to feed to the lizards. And I kept rabbits to feed to the eagle owls, although I killed those first.

We have had sea monkeys since March they keep breeding they are never going to die I have four pregnant ones just now randy little things like you op I am the only one who gives a shit about them

We had them and they began reproducing! Them my eldest over fed them the food which poisoned them (i think it reduced the oxygen in the water) and they all died. I poured them down the kitchen sink. It STUNK and was especially gross seeing all the carcasses in the bottom of the sink before swilling them down the plughole. Blurrrggghhh!

‘The way to euthanise aquatic creatures would be a drop of clove oil as a sedative then neat alcohol or blunt force trauma. I keep fish and that is the recommend humane way to end suffering.’
Oh god, this thread is brilliant!!

@frostedviolets

God what an awful thread this is.

Take out ‘sea monkey’ and replace with ‘puppy’ or ‘kitten’ or ‘bunny’ and the tone would be very different.

They are living, breathing creatures...
Of course you don’t ‘throw them away’, how fucking vile.
You bought them, you look after them or you sell/give them away to someone who will

That proves nothing. Replace "headlice" with "puppies" or "kittens" or "bunnies" and the tone of threads about nits would be very different, too!

@frostedviolets

The comparisons with nits are ridiculous, headlice are a health risk so obviously people will seek to kill them when discovered
A creature that is killed because it actively causes harm is very different to actively going out and buying a creature/being gifted them then deciding that actually you don’t like it very much so killing it

What rulebook are you quoting from here? Living creatures are untouchable, unless they "wilfully" harm humans, in which case they're fair game for death by poisoning? So shall we do that to tigers, polar bears etc? Headlice are just living their lives aren't they, not their fault they were born parasitic nasties, surely they have a right to life too?

Also, who is "sourcing" the "dead" mice for the snake food? Are they all natural deaths? If they are euthanized in order to sell for food, then can the OP just use that same method of euthanasia to rid herself of the brine shrimp she's found herself lumbered with? Would that be okay?

1. Have them each individually euthanised by a vet for 80 quid a pop

1. Blend into a nutritious protein shake

1. Pour into water balloons and make sea monkey bombs to pelt your loved ones.

How randy is the OP?

Oh... this thread went well didn’t it!

‘All live is precious’ unless it’s tasty 😬

Life even

@MissBaskinIfYoureNasty 😂😂 snorted my wine out (cue questions on my alcoholism and micro shrimp pro life campaign)

I've had a shit day and this thread has cheered me up immensely. Mumsnet at its batshit best.

Oops, I posted before reading the full thread. I now see a that many people had already made the headlice analogy before me

Do all the posters in the "save the sea monkeys" camp never hoover? What about all those carpet mites you kill off with every suck of the Dyson?!

mine usually seemed to eat other even if I fed them
don't let me start on my effect on house plants

‘Micro shrimp pro life campaign’ 🤣🤣

Poor things, I mean they're not exactly an inconvenience or difficult to look after.

We have sea monkeys. I even splashed out on a new tank as I couldn't bare seeing them all crammed into that tiny plastic tank that comes with the pack. I really like them and they're constantly breeding (with a fair few dying along the way)

Shame on you for considering flushing them down the loo, they don't deserve that!

What about all those carpet mites you kill off with every suck of the Dyson?!

I've haven't been purposely feeding them and watching them swim about in their little plastic tank though 🤔

@TheInebriati I’m proper freaked out now

yes it is.

Come on this has to go into classics with all the pearl clutching.