OMG, I can't do it...

Put them in a paper bag and put them in the freezer they go to sleep when to cold within minutes.

awwww....

Dani,

I feel for ya hon...but it's your cutie mice or your snake - rigiht? Just so you know... it gets easier each time

-Tonya

danigurrl said:

I got mice for the purpose of feeding my snake. I have a litter of fuzzies thats ready to be euthanized for the purpose of....feeding Kahn.

I can't kill the mice tho! I was holding one in my hands for 20 minutes talking to it. I was going to do the "whack against a wall in a bag" method for swift euthanasia...but I just can't do it. I can't keep all these mice...and if I bring them back to where I got them from they are just going to end up as feeders anyway. I really need these babies for Kahn, I need the supply for when I go away to school, but I can't kill the little cuties. It didn't bother me when they were pinkies...but now you can tell what color they are going to be and...awww...they are so damn cute. :sobstory: hahaha, I know.

Any advice on how to make this easier? I know I have to do it...but I've never done this before. I don't have the money to make a CO2 chamber.

Click to expand...

Do you have access to dry ice? If so, that's a cheap alternative to a CO2 chamber.

Otherwise if you're left with the whacking method, you may find it easier putting them into an opaque tupperware and whacking that as hard as you can against a solid counter. If you do choose the whacking method, remember not to do it halfway. They will suffer if you don't put your mind to it and use a significant amount of force to end it quickly and immediately.

Otherwise you could take them back where you got them and ask them to euthanize them for you or simply return them and purchase some frozen-thawed.

I just euthanaised a bunch of mice in a home made CO2 chamber.

I can walk you through it if you like. It's very quick and a very humane way to kill them.

Young mice are quite resistant to hypoxia as a defense mechanism to prevent them being smothered in the next so you need to use slightly higher concentrations of CO2. I have a biologist friend who works in a research lab and I just get her to bring home a couple of cups of dry ice (they get tons of the stuff along with cell samples).

You put the CO2 pellets in a plastic tub (do not use a glass jar as it could crack) and put it on the table, put the mice in a tall vase on the floor. put some plastic food wrap over the top of each containerwith a small vent left open in the mouse vase. You'll need a tube (aquarium hose works well) to go from the CO2 tub to the mouse vase. Add some warm water to the CO2 and it will start to bubble like mad and let off a cool looking fog. At this point one end of the hose should be in the mouse vase and the other in the CO2 tub and the only gap in this system should be at the top of the mouse vase to let the oxygen out. Co2 is heavier than air and sinks to the bottom. With adult mice they don't struggle or panic. They just breath rapidly for 5-10 seconds and then flop and within 15 seconds or so there's no more movement and I take out the hose and close the plastic wrap over the jar. The mice stay there for a couple of minutes to be 100% sure they're gone and then fed off while they're still warm. It's a good idea to put some paper towel in the bottom of the case to catch any pee/poop to make the clean up easier. It's very clean and as nice as killing an animal could be.

I hope this helps.

hehe-Connie beat me to it by one minute!

I must also appologise for the lack of flow, spelling, and punctuation in the above post...I just used the type and send method rather than proof reading!



I should add, you could probably pick up dry ice from a party supplies shop.

I've actually heard that method is incredibly painful. The water in the tissue freezes and leads to a slow and painful death.

You can make a really cheap CO2 chamber using a method Bryan used on different forums. I'm making no claims to this, but it is how I do it and it works very well and is the proper way to euthanize feeders. Thanks Bryan!

"Find a "rubbermaid" type container that will hold about 1 lb of dry ice (thats about 2 handfuls). Drill 10-12 1/4" holes in the lid of the container.

Next put this container into a 5 gallon bucket, garbage can, or something along those lines.

To activate this chamber put about 1 lb of ice into the rubbermaid ... then add about 1" of ice to the same container. This will immediately cause the dry ice to produce Co2. Quickly move the rubbermaid to the bucket and LOOSELY put on lid. Start dropping in the rats and mice. Once they dry ice stops producing large amounts of Co2 (usually 5-8 minutes) shake it around a bit.

I used this last night on some extra large rats (old breeder males). They had passed out within 30 seconds and were dead within 2 minutes.

The major difference between using dry ice and a Co2 canister is that under no circumstances do you want the outer container on dry ice to be air tight (thus putting the lid on loosely). If you do make it air tight the expanding gasses will blow the lid off or the container up.

Total cost for the above setup was $0.99. That was the cost of the dry ice.

Bryan"

One more thing.-..last thing I promise!


If they haven't opened their eyes yet then you can pop them in the freezer and they'll go pretty quickly but this as absolutely NOT acceptable for mice with open eyes.

Whoa, as I was typing there were a million replies heh Sorry.

Their ability to hold body heat when they are so small is very limited so they perish very quickly this way. Once they have their eyes open they are a little bigger and will be in an unhappy situation for a little while before succumbing to the cold so the CO2 method would be better then.

You can get dry ice from many grocery stores, too. You don't need much for one litter of mice. When I've used dry ice, I put the mice down in a tall container, put the dry ice into a small tupperware with holes in the top and pour hot water in with it and put the lid on. The fog comes streaming out the holes. Put this down in the tall container with the mice and let the fog rise. Walk away for 15 minutes or so. Come back, collect the fuzzies, and put them in the freezer. Since fuzzies are somewhat resistant, they take longer to expire in CO2, so I always check that I don't see breathing and then freeze them immediately, just in case they aren't completely gone.

Wacking/Freezing and other forms of "Euthanasia"?

While I won't judge the method you use to kill food for your animals....don't delude yourself into believing that "whacking" rodents on a hard surface or freezing young mice is euthanasia.

Its has been deemed cruel by every veterinary association and is punishable as a cruelty offence in most states and provinces....so if you do it don't use terms like "painless" or "euthanasia" because they don't apply.

If you are looking for a proper euthanasia method you can easily find them on line...the cheapest is cervical dislocation (look up how to do it properly!)

Here a link to Arizona's anti-whacking laws:

www.act-az.org/petstores.html

I used to do the cervival dislocation method but I don't like it very much. It's not nearly as 'kosher' as CO2 and there is the occasional miss which is awful.

Okay... since its been brought up, what IS a humane way (i.e. quickest and least painful) to kill rodents? I would like to breed my own, for snake food, one day. Are there little gas chambers for this? Shots?

JPENA said:

Put them in a paper bag and put them in the freezer they go to sleep when to cold within minutes.

Click to expand...

If you did't hear this the first time.

Put them in a paper bag and put them in the freezer they go to sleep when to cold within minutes.

And stop looking at them!

C.D is hands on and if your not experienced can be quite a bad experience for everyone involved...the co2 is a safer bet for most people, sure there is a small cost involved but isn't that the idea of pets? People should look at it as one of the costs of breeding their own food...

Proper Euthanasia:

The ONLY approved humane methods for the euthanasia of rodents is/are:

1. Drugs (or drug embolism combination)
2. Gas
3. Cervical Dislocation

Because they will be consumed as feeders that leaves you with cervical dislocation and gas (co2 only). Cervical Dislocation isn't really that difficult but has to be done properly you shouldn't have any problems finding a "how to" online. I have done/do both but prefer co2.

pinky killing ?

i have a question. i've never done this because of my rats(infertile) but would it be human to get paper diped in alchol and put them to sleep that way. then freeze. that what i would prbably do to avoid any brain splatter

Lennycorn said:

If you did't hear this the first time.

Put them in a paper bag and put them in the freezer they go to sleep when to cold within minutes.

And stop looking at them!

Click to expand...

Lenny!!

That was so dang funny! You caught me, I always peek......hehehe

-Tonya