Cervical dislocation tips?

I just tried to cervically dislocate a mouse and had horrible problems. I had thought it would be easy because I had done it before with no problems on a sick mouse, but obviously that was why it was easy, the mouse was sick.

Today this mouse dodged every attempt by me of putting the screwdriver between his head and shoulders. I'd get him holding onto the ground with his front feet, and then I'd quickly try and put the screwdriver on his neck, but he would pull his head back before I could do anything.

Any tips here? I'll need to build a CO2 tank if I can't get this dislocation thing down, and I'd really rather not have to do that.

I've used the ring on the handle of a pair of scissors with pretty good success, too. I've heard of people using a pair of tongs to grasp the head.

In any case, if you don't want to set up a CO2 chamber, how about a mini CO2 chamber and use dry ice? Put the ice in a small container with holes in the top or top of the sides. Add warm water to get the CO2 rolling, place this at the bottom of a container, put the mice down in the fog, wait a couple minutes. CO2 is heavier than air, so a lid really isn't necessary, and you don't want it air tight with CO2 letoff from dry ice..... :blowup: They will succumb to high CO2 levels in their blood and quit breathing pretty rapidly. The are unconscious within a minute or less.

Yah, I guess I could do that. I just need to find someplace the sells dry ice though.

Not that I've ever really gone shopping for dry ice, but I've seen it at party stores and even the local grocery store (why Safeway would need to sell dry ice, I don't know).

Dry ice is usely easly found at a welding gas supply shop

Thanks for that link. That's very useful.

The mouse if pretty darned sure having a screwdriver pressed into the base of it's skull is NOT a good thing~ coem to think of it~ the mouse is RIGHT~ from the mouse's veiwpoint at any rate.

The mouse is not going to idly sit still and allow you to set it up easily for you.~ you just have to keep the goal in mind and remember~ if your quick~ the mosue will only be distressed for a second or two~

hold the mouse by the tail~ set it on a hard surface~ preferably in an area where you will have good leverage~ a rough surface will make it a little easier as the mouse will attempt to pull forward against your pull backward on the tail....it somewhat distracts the mouse from what your doing with the screwdriver~ hold firmly to the tail~ the mouse should be attempting to creep forward and pull it's tail from your grasp~

VERY QUICKLY~ place the blade of the screwdriver on the back of the mouses skull~ press down HARD so the mouse can't back up and PULL the tail backwards and upwards~ IMEDIATLY (Don't stop and think about it~ if you need to think about killing the mouse do that BEFORE you start) pull back and up HARD with a STEADY force.

There will be a cracking sound~ the mouse will twitch~ It's nasty~ but do it quickly and it will be over with in a matter of seconds.

Good luck

That's a great explanation Cheryl, and it's true... I've used the ring from holding up a 24 ounce water bottle my hubby accidentally bought for me (too big for rats or mice) .... place the mouse on the table, firm grip on the tail, quickly place the device (spoon, screwdriver, metal wire, whatever) over the back of hte neck and then JERK! It's not the most pleasant feeling, but sometimes necessary. I've faced a rather distressing shortage of food items for my snakes after a couple of disasters with my mice and rats, so now that I've had some luck recently, with the majority of the snakes down for the winter, I've had a lot of little critters that have needed to be euthanized so I won't have a shortage ever again. Had a couple of dozen little hopper rats... too cute, but it was them or the snakes, so I had to dislocate them. When I'm dealing with larger quantities I buy a couple bucks worth of dry ice and ... ICE em using the method discussed above. Both methods have their downfalls. But either method produces quite yummy mice and rats for your snakes, so that is one of the biggest things to keep in mind.

Sorry for raising a very old thread, but it's what I came across in Google, after seeing an article about mouse euthenasia elsewhere.

Now, I know this question probably arouses strong sentiments - probably more so because I don't know a ... refined way of phrasing it.

Finding CO2 and going through the apparently tricky process of applying it, then performing cervical dislocation is obviously not the easiest way of putting a mouse down. Frankly, it would be far easier to simply - and here's the "unrefined" part - crush it.

Here's the actual question: is the reason for using cervical dislocation primarily a respectful method, or are there physical factors (i.e. does a mouse really die instantly if it's crushed?).

I'm sorry for even asking - but I think it's a valid, if sad, question.

Background - I recently caught 3 house mice - and while house mice don't make good "hold them" pets, I love watching them. I'm about 100% nocturnal, and therefore can observe a lot of very interesting behaviors, and would hate to put them down for any reason. But obviously it's a necessity for many different reasons.

Crushing them? Do you mean the entire mouse or their heads? Either way leaves a nasty mess that could be difficult to get into a snake, and if you don't do it right the poor rodent will be in agony before they die. You'd have to judge the weight right, and the force, and skull are pretty damn strong. That's why they house our brains. Even contemplating the idea of crushing the ribcage or something like that is a horrible thing.

C02 is a relatively quick and kind way to euthanise a rodent. Lack of oxygen makes for sleepiness, so they are unconscious when they die. Cervical dislocation, once you are sure you can do it, is really quick and likely relatively if not entirely painless.

If your wild mice ever become an issue for you, you can always... release them into the wild. If they do not need to be food for anything else and they are sick, you can get them euthanised at a veterinary hospital, where they are placed under general anesthesia (inhalant) and then euthanised.