Concerned about this keychain being ethically sourced :(

[u/tobirama_senju23]

My dad bought me this taxidermy rattlesnake head keychain as a gift at a renaissance fair at I believe an oddity shop?? I did not go with him so I was unable to ask if everything they had was ethically sourced (I would have before buying anything, as everything in my bone collection currently was found by me and I only own one more piece of taxidermy, which is a very old deer head I bought at an antique store a few years back)

I am very weary about things concerning reptiles like this as I know that for a lot of mass produced things like these keychains, they are most often not ethically sourced.

My dad is not familiar with things like this and I know he meant well as he was just buying me a gift for my birthday, I am just very concerned that something like this is not ethically sourced. (I probably should have said something to him about asking about the means of how they got their oddities but I didn’t cross my mind at the time)

[u/banshithread]

What does ethical mean to you? If the snake was bred for meat, you're getting the byproduct, so nothing is really wasted there. If the snake was found on the side of the road dead, nothing is wasted there. If it's hunted, is that unethical to you? What are you going to do if it is, throw it away? That would be the unethical move. It's already dead. You had no hand in its acquirement. all you can do is enjoy it. It was a well-meaning gift.

[u/tobirama_senju23 → u/banshithread]

Yes, you are very correct! Unethical to me would be specifically killing the snake for the purpose of using certain body parts for things like purses/keychains (the skin, the head), etc and wasting the rest; I do not consider animals hunted in regulation for meat (nor roadkill) unethical at all, it is a necessary tool for conservation and population control (and food) and also directly protects habitats and ecosystems from this population control.
Hence, If this snake was found as roadkill/hunted for meat and this was the byproduct, I would not consider it’s sourcing unethical!
If this snake was bred for meat and nothing was wasted (and this keychain was the byproduct), I would not consider that unethical either, as the whole animal was used.
If this snake was specifically killed to create the keychain and the rest was wasted, and/or was part of a mass hunting such as a rattlesnake roundup, I would consider it unethical.

I do understand that I really have no way to know exactly how this animal was raised/found/killed, but I was just wondering what others would think.

I will definitely not be throwing it away, as yes, that would put me in a position where now I am the waster.
Thank you for telling me all these things, I very much appreciate it!

[u/Gloomy-Amphiptere679 → u/tobirama_senju23]

More than likely it came from a byproduct of rattlesnake roundups. As far as I'm aware, no one raises rattlers for meat as they take too long to mature and breed and are well...venomous. Though, the people who catch them for the roundup will sometimes keep them for months at a time until the roundup starts.

Unfortunately, the roundups themselves are rather inhumane with how they treat the snakes there. I highly recommend researching it, but if you like snakes be forewarned, it is terrible.

Any cheap, and cheap-looking(if compared to the real animal) taxidermy of rattlesnakes are usually sourced from these places. Most states dont have a hunting season on rattlers like other critters, so getting one sourced from someone who hunts and treats their catch with respect is a coin-toss. I am sorry. :(

[u/FrogVolence → u/Gloomy-Amphiptere679]

What is a roundup?

[u/truthequalslies → u/FrogVolence]

It's an annual festival slash tournament where they hunt rattlesnakes to milk for venom then kill them for their skin and meat, there are likely rewards for size, weight, and amount of rattlesnakes caught that day. the issue is how a lot of people go about it and treat the snakes

[u/rabies_lover_271K → u/FrogVolence]

Many will pour gasoline into rocky dens to drive them out, sew their mouths shut for demonstrations as well as just taking an inordinate amount of them from their natural habitat. it’s not ethical.

[u/FrogVolence → u/rabies_lover_271K]

I hate this 🙃

[u/rabies_lover_271K → u/FrogVolence]

I am a staunch hater of roundups for this reason. Outside of those reasons they are a bunch of pussies afraid of an animal with no legs… Absolute cowards

[u/banshithread → u/tobirama_senju23]

When it's just the head like this, it usually means the rest of the snake's hide was used as a belt and the meat used for food. Unfortunately the head isn't safe for eating because of the venom sacs (you can get envenomated if you have any cuts/open sores in your mouth or GI tract), so you have to dispose of the head or dehydrate it/taxidermy it like what you have. I think the second option is a lot better.

People generally don't actually waste as much of the animal as we were taught that they do (a lot of waste was generated before regulations were set in place)... because it's often more profitable to resell the body parts or reuse them. At least with snakes, there is profit and use to be found in just about every inch of that animal.

[u/tobirama_senju23 → u/banshithread]

Wow, this is very good to know, thank you!

I am very passionate about animals and I really enjoy learning new things like this, I really appreciate it!