Is CO2 really as humane as we think?... A must read

[Neo]

It is hard for me to explain stuff by typing but here i go....

I was watching a show on Discovery channel and it was about animal preseptions(sp?) or things. Sight, feeling, ESP, navgation, and time. And it said that animals like turtles that move v e r y slowly and have a s l o w umm... well a slow metabalism (like a slower state of mind is what i am tring to say) they would precive normal movements to us as very fast. Than they were said that mice, with very fast states of mind of metabalisms precive normal movements to us as really slow so its almost like every thig happenes slower to them.

If you put this into the equation with co2 and killing mice... what may seem quick to us could be a long time for them. It would be a slow painful death for them.

Well i am done for now and i hope you could under stand that.

[Simon]

Neo,
this might be true.

But then killing it with CO2 is still the fastest killing method that we have. Freezing, natural killing by snake, and knocking it uncautious is still slower than CO2 killing.

So it is still the most human killing method that we humans can do for the mice. Other things could make it feel more pain than using CO2.

Hope what I said make sense....

Good Luck and Happy Herping!

[Khaman]

It may seem slow but with my experience with "gassing" them one breath and they are dead. To me even if things seem slow to them one puff and AKKK thump can't take that long. Their fast metabolism works to the advantage of them dieing quickly the faster the CO2 moves through their system the quicker the death.

[nicky]

I never really thought of it that way...

[Brian]

I read in another forum that CO2 can take up to 8-10 minutes. Is there any truth in that?

I still use the burlap bag, twist, and bop against the table. Not a twitch and I don't have to watch.

[Khaman]

Not that I have seen as soon as they take a breath they croak

[kenalotia]

Well, I don't know if they're dead after a breath or just unconscious. I doubt they're in pain if they're unconscious, though, so I'm not sure how much it matters. Either way, I think there's less pain involved than there would be from freezing or being killed by a snake.

[Khaman]

No breathing. They may not be clinically dead yet but am not volunteering to do mouth to mouth ;-)

[Celeste]

this is why i dont breed my own mice...i hate killing animals of any kind! i know its hypocritical of me but i like my mice already dead that way i dont hav to kill them.....but i guess it would also be okay if i gave them to my snake alive...then i would feel as if i was doing it the nature-intended way...:(