Islam critiqued exposes animal abuse; prophet killing snakes?

In answer to the video "Bizarre Narrations- Snakes, Mice and Jews"

The prophet discouraged killing non-harmful house snakes as opposed to the venomous ones that should be killed right away if one finds himself confronted to it and with no other choice. As to the uninvited house snakes they are to be dislodged in a gentle way over 3 days and if they remain, then they can be killed. In some reports he advises reciting a prayer in remembrance of a Noahide and Solomonic covenant while dislodging them.

There is nothing irrational in verbally addressing any sentient creature to make it perceive one's basic expectations or emotional disposition towards it. This is done all the time and with all kinds of animals, by their masters, those raising them and domesticating them. The Judeo-christian critics shouldn't be shocked by this as donkeys were made to speak in their scriptures and long before, in the times of Adam, people dialogued with talking snakes.

In light of the relevant narrations, there obviously was a snake infestation. Among them, there were non-venomous ones that were regularly found in people's houses, which werent a priority. However there were others that caused blindness and miscarriages. The infestation had to be controlled by killing the venomous ones and attempting to chase away peacefully the others from peoples' homes.

Like with the snakes, the prophet recommended the killing of a type of lizard/gecko that were, in his environment, harmful pests. They leave their droppings all over a household, which might mix with people's foods. When he reportedly mentioned that lizards blew into the furnace in the time of Abraham, this statement cannot be taken more than an illustration of the potential harm that comes from them. He did not give that example as a reason to kill the house lizards. Something to note is that the scholars have traced that statement about lizards blowing into the furnace, found in hadith collections outside the sahihayn, not to the prophet but to ibn Jurayj, and questioned its authenticity. In any case, the order to kill these house pests does not cover all types of lizards. The prophet even gave free license to those that liked eating them. Nor is killing them a religious order. Aisha for example, speaking of the harmful lizards, was unaware of the order to kill them, as opposed to other companions

 "I have not heard the prophet ordering it to be killed. Saad ibn Waqqas claims that the prophet ordered that it should be killed". 

It is possible that at some point the prophet, seeing that the lizard population was increasing in some households, encouraged their killing so as to maintain some hygienic standards in certain areas or parts of the community that were affected. This can be deduced from Aisha at a later point, having to keep in her home a spear for that purpose 

"O Mother of the Believers, what do you do with this?” She said: “We kill these house lizards with it".

One last observation is not to transpose our own perception of our environment to those ancient times, where people were much more vulnerable to death, infections and diseases than nowadays. And had therefore to take measures adapted to their time so as to keep themselves safe.