Frozen mice: Hole in their chest?

Originally Posted by patm1313

I doubt the breeder used co2 as they were pinkies and pinkieas are naturally resistant to co2 euthanization.

This is news to me.

So how do feeder breeders kill pinks, or do I even want to know?

http://tinyurl.com/2drr8q

Originally Posted by Nanci

So how do feeder breeders kill pinks, or do I even want to know?

http://tinyurl.com/2drr8q

Not so sure you want to know.....
from what I understand most pinkies are killed by freezing.
I am sure their death is sheer agony for them, but I understand death takes place in a minute or less.

I am a wuss who buys all food frozen so if I am wrong, please correct me

Pinkies being "immune" to CO2 comes up quite often - now, as mammals, pinkies do indeed breath oxygen, so they will certainly be asphyxiated by high levels of carbon dioxide. The confusion comes in because pinkies are very good at surviving on very little oxygen for periods of time ... because of the way they pile in the nest and are often smothered, they have evolved to be able to cope with low oxygen levels for periods of time. This means that CO2ing a pinky takes much longer than CO2ing an older mouse.

With older animals, ice crystals forming while the animal is conscious means that freezing is a painful and horrific death, but with new pinkies they are so small that unconsciousness occurs before the crystals have time to be created, so freezing is humane for them. I can't find any references to this at the moment but I'll certainly check the lab standards for this if anyone really is interested.

Learn something new every day.

I have a feeling that some large scale feeder breeders flash freeze (liquid nitrogen) pinks and fuzzies. I think that's why places like RodentPro have some broken limbs/heads in bags. Evidently this method of freezing makes the item REALLY brittle for the first minute or two. Flash freezing would be humane because under 3 seconds they would be dead.

Originally Posted by blckkat

I have a feeling that some large scale feeder breeders flash freeze (liquid nitrogen) pinks and fuzzies. I think that's why places like RodentPro have some broken limbs/heads in bags. Evidently this method of freezing makes the item REALLY brittle for the first minute or two. Flash freezing would be humane because under 3 seconds they would be dead.

i was wondering the same thing about rodentpro

Originally Posted by blckkat

I have a feeling that some large scale feeder breeders flash freeze (liquid nitrogen) pinks and fuzzies. I think that's why places like RodentPro have some broken limbs/heads in bags. Evidently this method of freezing makes the item REALLY brittle for the first minute or two. Flash freezing would be humane because under 3 seconds they would be dead.

This makes me feel worlds better!

All pro breeders either use c02, flash freezing, or normal freezing. Freezing live pinkies is no problem, as they are almost immediatley unconcious, so that ice crystals can form without them feeling pain. C02 works great on older mice, and especially in large quantities. Flash freezing: You probably can't do many mice at a time, bt it is humane, and some companies even boast that flash freezing preserves them better.

I'm not really worried about the holes, as I have already fed them to my snake.

patm, sounds like you just read this thread and "regurged" it.....