He has no problem harming pets what about a baby? What is the difference to him?

The difference is, the stray kittens were not pets, he did not torture them for kicks, he merely saw them as food for his snakes. Nothing about that indicates that he would hurt the baby. Let it go.

YOU are causing the problem in your marriage.

I was just about to post a similar post on having DH move out because I feel that soon I will no longer be able to live with SS. Your SS is a lot worse than mine though. He killed kittens and tossed a newborn baby! You are absolutely right to want to live in separate households to protect your baby and yourself. I feel for you and I feel the same way. I also have a toddler that I'm trying to protect. I can't leave DH because he will have the baby half the time and I won't know what is going on in his household during that time. DH doesn't want us to separate, but is also concerned about the situation and mentioned the two household compromise to me. I also left my job after the baby was born and now I am looking for jobs much earlier than anticipated because of SS. I don't have any advice, but I know how you're feeling. Take care of yourself and your baby.

First of all...((((HUGS))))! DH is willing to sacrifice one child for the other on who gets a Dad. I don't think you were over reacting at all. SS is harming animals. Your job is to protect your baby. I'd see if he will go for counseling about this. Hang in there.

I hate snakes, I'm really afraid of them. My SO had a small python when I met him and I couldn't sleep over because I was so scared she'd get out and crawl on me in the night. I just don't get the appeal, they'd eat you in a heart beat if they could. It's not like they love you at all. The cat thing is really sad, if the snakes were in my house, I'd say they have to go, but that's just me. You can get pretty good money for them.

That being said, I have to agree you are stretching the whole serial killer animal torturing thing. If it had been the family cat, or he broke there legs before or something, then I would see where you are coming from. Boys like to destroy things and watch animals eat each other. Think about the ants and the magnifying glass or how they ALWAYS have to throw patio furniture into the pool when no one is around. It's part of there nature.

He is your DH's son, and he's not going anywhere. I think you need to calm down and try to compromise and blend the family. Your daughter is your SS's sibling and I bet it made your DH happy to see him holding her and feeding her. Don't ruin your marriage because you want your daughter to be the DH's first priority. Think about how much you love her. That's how DH feels about ALL of his children. If he thinks you're one of those women who make him choose, he'll resent you and you guys will never make it.

It's over. You killed it. Now get on with it and have your lawyer start the divorce.

Just remember DH has a good change of shared custody . Meaning your SS will be spending plenty of time with his baby sibling on Dad's time. You'd have to have much more than SS fed a kitten to a snake to CO his banishment from baby's presence.

It seems everyone is overlooking the fact that SS didn't tell OP the reason he took the kittens. Of COURSE she's gonna be shocked! I would too! He didn't tell her because he KNEW she wouldn't agree. And frankly whether he had snakes or not would never cross my mind. Those kittens may not have been proper pets but they were receiving love and attention from the family. SS knew exactly what he was doing. And I'd NEVER trust this monster around my baby either. If DH is willing to break up his family over this kid who obviously needs help I'd tell him to not let the door hit him in the ass. DH doesn't know what being married is about. And I would consider this a separation, go make it legal and file for child support. I would absolutely refuse to speak to DH unless we received marriage counseling and take it from there. I'd bet this isn't the ONLY instance your DH sided with his kids over you

My 14 yr old has a snake but it stays at his fathers house. DS has asked several times to bring it here but I am not a snake/reptile person and don't want it in my home and getting loose. exH's caged critters get loose all the time and he thinks it's funny, me, not so much. We have cats and a dog, they are cuddly and that's the way I like it.

OP, rather than getting rid of the ss how about relocating the snake? I do understand your reaction, if the snake is big enough to eat kittens then I would be freaked having it in the house w/a newborn.

OP way over reacted to the boy holding the baby. (still not sure the OP is not crew though) Get on some hormones.

And I am pretty sure you can’t feed kittens to snakes legally. Kinda like you can’t feed kittens to dogs. You can bet your butt that if someone threw a little kitten in with their dogs so the dogs could eat it…they would be arrested. I am surprised at the people that really think it is ok, normal AND legal to feed a kitten to a snake. Lol.

The 15 year old is a weirdo and will probably end up being a crazy killer.

LF...I did not say that. AT ALL.

Camper...I call BS. Too many people get arrested or charged for animal abuse for this to be legal.

And a quick google search shows that a lot of sick efers have been arrested for feeding kittens to pet snakes.

I was surprised to read that you're a teacher. I hope you're not an English teacher.

My cousin breeds snakes and raises mice and rats to feed them and to sell to other snake owners.

She said that while kittens and bunnies are food for snakes, none of her associates would ever consider using them for food.
She also said that it's best to kill the mice and rats first. Gassing can harm the snake. Feeding them live animals can do damage to the snake, they will scratch and bite and fight for their lives.

So this kid either put live kittens in with a snake and watched them get eaten or he killed that kittens first.

As for him not being one of those parents who abandons his kids for a woman, well he's abandoning his newborn. So how is that any better.

These two adults need to get some counseling and figure out how to work through this.

Whether this is a troll or not, this thread has brought up an interesting topic.

The way we look at animals and food.

Snakes eat meat and only meat, they are carnivores. There's no getting around that.
Most adults are okay with that as long as we don't have to kill the food ourselves and as long as the food is something that we look at as a nuisance. Mice and rats.
As soon as we think about that same snake eating kittens or puppies, we are disgusted and appalled.

We eat meat, but only if it's an acceptable animal. A cow, chicken or pig. Wild meat can be okay and rabbit falls somewhere in the middle.
You start talking about eating horse meat and people get upset. Talk about eating dog meat and people loose their minds.
There was an incident in a Vancouver public bbq area. A family from Central America were roasting a guinea pig. It's a very common food where they are from and they didn't see anything wrong with it. People in the area called the cops and they were horrified.

I am not defending this kid (if this is real and not a troll, the woman has a newborn and her husband just moved out, being on a website isn't her top priority right now).

However, I do think we need to think about where we stand on meat and the food chain. My brother is vegetarian because he doesn't like the way big farm treats it's animals.
Another friend only eats meat from the small time farmer a couple of miles away from him because he also doesn't like the way big farm treats animals.
I also worked with an Asian woman who will anything if it keeps her alive. She believes humans are at the top of the food chain and it's our right to eat everything.

If I had to catch or kill my meals, I wouldn't last very long. I've never had to kill anything and don't honestly think I could.

1. Literally tossing the newborn - Very bad. But also are your overprotective mama instincts making it worse than it is? Are you so upset over the kittens that you see evil in normal?

2. The kittens - I didn't comment on your other post, but DH and I both had the same reaction to it. Feral kittens = snake food to a snake owner. Meh. Then again we eat fluffy bunnies for dinner - my grandpa made a delicious hasenpfeffer. And we eat Bambi. So I guess DH and I don't buy into the "It's so cute I can't eat it." I don't eat cat, dog, or horse but I refuse to condemn anyone who chooses to do so; it would be rather hypocritical.