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Killing mice

Just freeze them

I've received bad comments about this in the past. I just wrap them in tin foil like a big joint. Put them in a Tupperware container and freeze them alive.

It's painless! think of the last time you had a snowball fight and almost got frostbite. It doesn't hurt until you start to thaw out.

I feed my Corn Snake 5" long rats and they are easy to handle. Be carefull with the mice though they like to bite.

Eric
 
Hahaha

I didn't even realize the dates of the posts, I was just reading the text.

But is C02 (dry ice) a good was to humanely kill the mice?
 
wow. i never would of thought

i fed my albino corn snake a mouse on wednesday. it is smaller than what she usually eats. this morning i woke up and she was laying in her water dish. i took a closer look and there was blood all over her tank, on the glass and everywhere in the bedding. she would not move, we tried moving her with a stick and she didnt move. the mouse is still alive, has no blood on it. I get a phone call from my mom, the mouse drug my snake under her leg thing. and it tearing her apart. so my advice is dont feed your snake live mice.
-kendra
 
There are soo many methods of euthanasia out there and there is a lot of documentation on the euthanising of small mammals. I agree though, that blunt force trauma is by far the most humane way of doing this. The animal has a few milliseconds to panic before it is dead, if it even manages that and as long as you do it right it will be dead instantly, another method would be breaking the neck.

There are a lot of ways you could do this with gasses but all the studies that I have looked at (not many but still a good sample) said that a minority sample exhibited panic and suffering and this is the most inhumane thing of all.

By using these physical methods, you are taking the animals death into your own hands and it is much more humane and respectful to ensure a quick and painless death as possible. Letting an animal suffocate, whilst effective may not be the right path to take if you want to be humane and ensure a lack of discomfort to the animal.

As for injection... well I really cant see a lot of up sides to that. The animal is going to be a bit peeved by the fact that you just stabbed it with a needle and then you risk poisoning your snake as well... seriously?????

I don't think that some people are taking this seriously, what may be easier for you is not necessarily in the best interest of the animal and if thats whats important to you then you either need to step up to the plate and get your hands dirty or you need to switch to f/t. Otherwise do whatever the hell you want. I'm not here to judge people on how they euthanise their food, its up to you and as long as your doing it with respect then I really don't see an issue with any of them. At the end of the day it's necessary if you want to breed your own food and as long as the animal is dead with minimal suffering for the method you choose I don't see that anybody has the right to question you.
 
beachbumchick546 said:
i fed my albino corn snake a mouse on wednesday. it is smaller than what she usually eats. this morning i woke up and she was laying in her water dish. i took a closer look and there was blood all over her tank, on the glass and everywhere in the bedding. she would not move, we tried moving her with a stick and she didnt move. the mouse is still alive, has no blood on it. I get a phone call from my mom, the mouse drug my snake under her leg thing. and it tearing her apart. so my advice is dont feed your snake live mice.
-kendra
Click to expand...
Kendra, you've learned a painful yet valuable lesson. All joking aside, you'll find that the majority of reptile keepers do not condone feeding live for the exact reason you've stated. I hope your snake recovers well...and Welcome to CS.com!
 
I used to freeze them alive. More humane than feeding them live or stabbing them in the head with an awl or pick. Freezing is a painless way to die. Yet I was given grief here when I posted it last. I was told PITA or the USHS might be monitoring this site.

My five year old Corn started to refuse frozen/thawed rats a year ago. All he would eat were thawed mice. Too expensive as I had to feed him three.

I now make a trip to the pet store each week to get a nice size rat and feed it live. No problems. He nails them within a minute of putting the feeder in the viv. So far so good. He's not been bit. If by chance he would not be interested, I'd remove the live rat but he just nails 'em like right now. If he gets bit, well, that's a snakes life for you. That's the way they eat.
 
Old? Yes.....

but I will respond anyway.

I lways have a murder rock within reach for those who like live food. A fresh killed still twitching rodent is just as good as a live one.:crazy01:
 
Gregg said:
Dry Ice is frozen CO2.

What I do, since I've gotten tired of killing, freezing, and then thawing out my pinkies, fuzzies, and mice, is ask for a plastic cricket bag, or two, at the pet store. They've stopped asking now, but every new sale-person has asked, "Aren't you going to feed them live?"

Anyway, I put the mice into a plastic cricket bag and squeeze out the air. I then close of the end with a few twists and a attach a rubberband. I do the same with adult mice, but I then place the bag they are in into another plastic bag, since they can eat throught the first, and then seal off the second bag as well.

I live about fifteen minutes away from the pet store that supplies me with my snake food and, by the time I reach home, the pinkies and the fuzzies are dead. The mice are almost out cold by then, but take a little longer.

I forget who it was, but someone on the forum here gave me the idea when they said they used a GladWare container to suffocate their snake food. One of the guys at the pet store said to blow into the bag, since we give off CO1, but trying that didn't work. The pinkies were alive thirty-minutes later. The air has to be gone, then they sufficate on their own lack of oxigen.
Click to expand...

jesus you sound really bad at euthanizing. You're making it sound way harder than it really is.

I would suggest a hammer considering that's pretty much instant, but it's hard to control the pressure and can cause posterior trauma.
 
Posterior trauma, good one.

daytona said:
Only if you hit the wrong end.
Click to expand...

It took about a second, but then it dawned on me! Good one Daytona.

Posterior trauma = if you hit the wrong end! Lol. I love it.

In all seriousness, co2 chambers take all the air away and the mouse suffocates, whats the difference between that and putting them in a plastic bag?

Jimmy
 
LawDog1 said:
It took about a second, but then it dawned on me! Good one Daytona.

Posterior trauma = if you hit the wrong end! Lol. I love it.

In all seriousness, co2 chambers take all the air away and the mouse suffocates, whats the difference between that and putting them in a plastic bag?

Jimmy
Click to expand...

Because the CO2 knocks the adults out first, and they die while unconscious. They aren't in pain or afraid and go in their sleep.

Your way is just horrific....
 
LawDog1 said:
In all seriousness, co2 chambers take all the air away and the mouse suffocates, whats the difference between that and putting them in a plastic bag?
Click to expand...
Speed and efficiency? I dunno, using CO2 isn't very hard to watch. They gasp and seem to go into a bit of distress, but I'd imagine being vacuum sealed in a plastic bag would much worse. Mostly because they are restrained while dying, but in a slower fashion than a snake's constriction. I'd go with cervical dislocation if I was out of CO2 (with mice, not rats).
 
not my way.

Starsevol, I am not trying to start an arguement, but I do want to point out that I never condoned or said that I kill mice by restricting them in a plastic bag. I was just curious what the is, and I still am curious. I'll explain the ay I see it in a second.
Also, I was not talking about restraining them with rubber bands, someone else said that.

My question is this: CO2 works by taking the place of the o2. As the co2 level increases the oxygen decreases and the mice pass out and then die painlessly. If a mouse were in a sealed plastic bag it would breathe in the oxygn and exhale co2, slowly adding co2 to the plastic bag. When the mouse started to run low on oxygen wouldn't it pass out just like in a co2 chamber?

Whats the difference between you adding co2 in a chamber and the mouse adding co2 by breathing? That is my question.

Maybe there is a point I'm just not getting. someone explain it. I'm not trying to start arguements about the best way to kill a mouse. I dont have a problem whacking it on the head with a butter knife and tossing it to the snake while it twitches. The mouse is still warm and moving and can not hurt the snake.

Thanks in advance for the insight,
Jimmy
 
LawDog, there's a huge difference between suffocation and actual CO2 poisoning.

Sure it ends the same way, but suffocation is a longer process. Suffocation without added CO2 causes suffering. CO2 poisoning is almost instant if done properly.
 
oh and one more thing to add to that.

There's no proper way to suffocate something, so that's why it draws out the suffering a bit more. Not always much, but there's easier/faster ways than using two plastic bags and a rubber band as the previous person mentioned.

How would you like it if some one bought you at the store and put you in a bag and hopped you were dead by the time you got home form the store?(as the previous person mentioned) I'd rather be hit in the head and go brain dead before I suffocate to death.
 
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