• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

CO2 Mousicide

Morph Collector said:
So, I was cruising the web and found a great site on DIY stuff including this incredibly cheap and efficient Mouse / Rat CO2 Dispatching Chamber.

http://www.rodentracks.com/DIY_Co2_Chamber.html

Let me know if you get good results. I know this is cheaper than my paintball design I was going to build. I am going to try this one this weekend.
Click to expand...

I don't breed mice, and thus I don't kill them, but I would suggest just doing the paintball CO2 setup. It' easier to control, and is probably easier to get C02 tank refils then it is to get dry ice, and may be cheaper.
 
I can give you an answer based on actual experience.

Dry ice is a simple and inexpensive way to create co2. The link you provided would work but they have made it much more complicated than it needs to be.

First off, you don't need to put the dry ice in water. That looks good for you and people but makes no difference to the mice. The vapor created is water vapor and not co2. It lets you see it but also gets everything wet and creates a coat of "wet ice" over the dry ice which inhibits the co2 production.

You don't need all the extra chambers. When I used dry ice, I would put wood shavings in a Rubbermaid container to absorb the urine. I would just drop in a one pound chunk of dry ice but you can put it in a small container if you like. The idea is to keep the mice from actually touching the dry ice. Put the mice in a put the lid on. That is it.

Co2 is heavier than air so as the co2 sublimes from the solid it will settle at the bottom of the container forcing the air out of the top. The lid is not air tight so that is not a problem. You will see that the mice quickly lie down and appear to be asleep but are still breathing. If you take them out at this point, they will revive. Leave them till you can see that the have all stopped breathing. That is it.
 
patm1313 said:
I don't breed mice, and thus I don't kill them, but I would suggest just doing the paintball CO2 setup. It' easier to control, and is probably easier to get C02 tank refils then it is to get dry ice, and may be cheaper.
Click to expand...

Pat, why would you say any of that when you have no idea? Often it's best if you don't know the answer to not give an answer.
 
Unless you have a very cheap source of dry ice in small quantities, the paintball tank chamber is going to be MUCH cheaper in the long run. Dry ice is expensive and doesn't last that long.

A 20 oz co2 tank lasts a long time and I get them refilled for $2 and free on tuesdays. I always have co2 when needed and don't have to worry about dry ice evaporating away and being gone when I need it.

Where I live, if I want dry ice it's $7.50 for 10 lbs. Not too economical to kill a few mice.
 
Flagg said:
Unless you have a very cheap source of dry ice in small quantities, the paintball tank chamber is going to be MUCH cheaper in the long run. Dry ice is expensive and doesn't last that long.

A 20 oz co2 tank lasts a long time and I get them refilled for $2 and free on tuesdays. I always have co2 when needed and don't have to worry about dry ice evaporating away and being gone when I need it.

Where I live, if I want dry ice it's $7.50 for 10 lbs. Not too economical to kill a few mice.
Click to expand...

Free on Tuesdays? I have never heard of free! Must be nice. I found dry ice for $.99 a pound, so I am going to grab an "elbow" of it and see how this works. Where I get my tanks filled for my paintball guns, its $3.50 and my gun leaks out within a week anyway. This is used for a mass Mousicide, for freezing rats for say a month or so worth of feedings (for 8 snakes). The guy that made this has a 50gal setup for his collection and must do a lot more than I would be. So, buy the ice in smaller quantities! and try it out. Its really easy to control, as the vapors instantly hit the bottom of the outer chamber (they DO NOT rise, which looks cooler as well). Anyway, its here for anyone that wants a new method. I should get a new CO2 tank that doesn't leak, but that would cost more than a year supply of the method I origionaly posted in this thread. Anywho, I will let you know how it works, cause it seems nobody else is goin to give it a go. :D :D :D :D :D :D :smash::smash::smash:
 
wade said:
I can give you an answer based on actual experience.

Dry ice is a simple and inexpensive way to create co2. The link you provided would work but they have made it much more complicated than it needs to be.

First off, you don't need to put the dry ice in water. That looks good for you and people but makes no difference to the mice. The vapor created is water vapor and not co2. It lets you see it but also gets everything wet and creates a coat of "wet ice" over the dry ice which inhibits the co2 production.

You don't need all the extra chambers. When I used dry ice, I would put wood shavings in a Rubbermaid container to absorb the urine. I would just drop in a one pound chunk of dry ice but you can put it in a small container if you like. The idea is to keep the mice from actually touching the dry ice. Put the mice in a put the lid on. That is it.

Co2 is heavier than air so as the co2 sublimes from the solid it will settle at the bottom of the container forcing the air out of the top. The lid is not air tight so that is not a problem. You will see that the mice quickly lie down and appear to be asleep but are still breathing. If you take them out at this point, they will revive. Leave them till you can see that the have all stopped breathing. That is it.
Click to expand...

By the way, thanks for this bit of info... This was the way I am goin to try it (as you mentoned). The water vapor does look cool, just kinda gives a smoke effect to whats happening anyways. I agree with the mess though and not wanting to deal with it lol.
 
wade said:
Pat, why would you say any of that when you have no idea? Often it's best if you don't know the answer to not give an answer.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry Wade, but I do have an idea. I have played paintball for the past 5 years and have 5 or 6 C02 cannisters in my possession. I know how easy it is for C02 to be controlled, and I know how much it costs. I have seen several sets of instructions for building C02 chambers, and I tried searching for them to use them as refrences, but to no avail.

I'm not trying to attack you when I say this, but why bother to try and correct me? I'm not risking the life of an animal.

I know that sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut. But when I have well-founded advice to give from experience, I'm not going to restrain myself.

-Patm1313 :dgrin:
 
Thanks, someone sticks up for themselves. In your defense pat, I asked for oppinions, and you told me how you'd do it. Plain and simple here, where the problem with that?
 
wade said:
No problem, I'll bow my head and walk away quietly.
Click to expand...

I really don't blame you. I know that I have put myself in a position where my advice sometiems can't be trusted. I'm trying to work on that...:)

But really, you thought I had no clue what I was talking about, and you said so. No big deal.

-Patm1313 :dgrin:
 
wade said:
No problem, I'll bow my head and walk away quietly.
Click to expand...
Don't worry, Wade. There are many of us who recognize the fact that opinion is the lowest form of knowledge. Modern society has elevated opinion to the realm of the sacred, when in fact it is usually of about the same value as the stuff you scrape off your shoe if you aren't attentive during your walk at the dog park. An informed opinion is a different story. I look forward to reading more of your informed opinions, Wade (and discounting the uninformed ones). If other members want to rely on the guesses of people who have no experience, don't let it get you down.

I've never euthanized with CO2, so I don't feel qualified to opine about it. I've purchased CO2 cannisters for other purposes, and I've read a hundred accounts of CO2 euthanasia. But since I've never used them to kill rodents, I wouldn't expect anyone to care about my opinions on the matter. Of course, It's not important for me to appear to be an expert in all things, so I'm comfortable keeping my mouth shut on topics about which I have zero practical experience.
 
So in regards to the homemade CO2 "killing machine" I tried it out the other night. Needless to say... if you can stand mice freaking out for a couple minutes as they suffocate and pass out it works just fine. Had one twitching when it was done but the other 10 died just fine. Works well for me. Although you need to be really careful the water doesn't freeze cause it gets wicked cold in the bottom of the tub... had some mice fur freeze to the tub with dry ice in it.
 
Roy Munson said:
Don't worry, Wade. There are many of us who recognize the fact that opinion is the lowest form of knowledge. Modern society has elevated opinion to the realm of the sacred, when in fact it is usually of about the same value as the stuff you scrape off your shoe if you aren't attentive during your walk at the dog park. An informed opinion is a different story. I look forward to reading more of your informed opinions, Wade (and discounting the uninformed ones). If other members want to rely on the guesses of people who have no experience, don't let it get you down.

I've never euthanized with CO2, so I don't feel qualified to opine about it. I've purchased CO2 cannisters for other purposes, and I've read a hundred accounts of CO2 euthanasia. But since I've never used them to kill rodents, I wouldn't expect anyone to care about my opinions on the matter. Of course, It's not important for me to appear to be an expert in all things, so I'm comfortable keeping my mouth shut on topics about which I have zero practical experience.
Click to expand...

... ok ...

I guess screw it, I should keep smacking their heads together. Because this is worthless.
 
patm1313 said:
I don't breed mice, and thus I don't kill them, but I would suggest just doing the paintball CO2 setup. It' easier to control, and is probably easier to get C02 tank refils then it is to get dry ice, and may be cheaper.
Click to expand...

Ok, I have a few minutes and I will jump back into the fray for that amount of time.

I do breed mice and thus have killed many of them. I have cut back a great deal right now but at one time I was selling approximately 1000 mice a week to local pet stores and consuming approx. 300 mice per week myself. I personally have used the dry ice method, the paint ball method, and now use a 20# bottle of co2 from a local welding supply house. Based on that experience, this is my opinion. If you are going to be killing 20 or 30 mice a week, cervical dislocation is probably the easiest and least expensive way to go. Whacking their heads on a table edge works well but is not approved by PETA.

If you are going to be killing more mice than that or don’t like to break necks, then co2 is by far the best way to go. Dry Ice is readily available to me at the local grocery store. For a buck I can pick up a chunk on my way home from work or have my wife do so when she goes shopping (every d*** day of the week). That is easy and cheap.

If you want the convenience of having it at home and ready at any moment, then you need to get a canister to keep the gas in at home. A 20oz paint ball canister costs around 20.00 and you can get the valve and necessary fittings for another 10 or 15. The gas itself is inexpensive to the point of being a non-item.

You can go to much bigger gas bottles from welding supply houses but then you are talking a couple hundred bucks for the tank and regulator.

Which is best is entirely up to you and your personal circumstances and preferences.

Whichever method you chose, the co2 procedure is the same. Put the mice in the container first. Introduce the co2 slowly. It will put the mice to sleep. If they appear to be suffocating, it is probably because you added too much gas to fast. Let them go to sleep, then add enough gas to deprive them of oxygen until they are dead.

Don’t loose site of the fact that the whole point is to kill these animals. There is no nice way to kill things. That is a fact of nature. The methods I have outlined here are probably as close to nice as you can get. If that upsets you, you probably should sell your snake and get a rabbit.
 
So Wade, are we in agreement about C02? I'm trying to shut my hole, considering that you breed a couple thousand times the amount of mice I do (literally). But really, I have never found dry ice near me locally. I have found very large and impractable blocks of it at drink companies, though.
 
Where I live and everywhere that I have looked, it is avaliable at grocery stores. All grocery stores here. You can buy one pound or twenty, what every you want.

If I were only killing a few mice on occasion, I would use dry ice or some mechanical method. It would not be worth the trouble to get set up to use co2 gas.
 
That's definitely not the case everywhere. Here in the Chicago suburbs it's not sold in grocery stores. The only source is an ice company, and they sell dry ice 10 lbs minimum for $7.50.

You may use a few lbs of that for killing mice but within a few days all that extra will be vapor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top