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First rodents! Ahhhh!

kimbyra

kimbyra

cornsnake addict
Howdy Folks!
Well I finally broke down and got my first rodents to breed for snake food. With 25+ snakes, it was just getting too expensive to feed them all. (and I'm keeping the snakes, lol.) I bought one mouse pair and one rat pair. They are so cute and gentle, though I picked them out of bins full of them, (being sold as feeders). I am a little freaked about the whole having to gas them thing, but I just need to deal with it. This will save me so much $, its not funny. After doing a lot of research on various methods, and discussing this on here, I've decided to go with the baking soda/vinegar CO2 method - a little in at first to put them to sleep, then the lethal amount. Ugh. I'm still apprehensive. What we do for our snakes!

So... any other advice on breeding, euthanizing, and such, is always appreciated.
 
Are you going to keep back female babies to breed back to the father? Because I dont think 2 1.1 pairs will produce nearly enough for 25+ snakes. But congrats on the rodents! And post pics soon if you can get them =)
 
The baking soda method isn't really very reliable. Just make sure you produce enough co2 to knock them out and finish them off.

For the quantity you are going to need for 25 snakes, you are really better off getting a co2 tank. The initial outlay isn't all that much considering the quantities you are going to need to process. Baking soda and vinegar will probably be more expensive in the long run.
 
Hi!

Thats the plan. I hadn't even thought of it until I read a post where someone on this forum mentioned that they do that. I was going to get 1.3 of each, but I'm a lot happeir doing it this way to ease me into the whole raising them for food thing.

Cheers!
 
Do you mean the paintball system? Or is there somewhere that sells little gas chambers? I'm not very crafty, so putting something fancy together is a little out of my league. I've read that the paintball cartridge set up doesn't give the exactness of giving them enough CO2 just to knock them out, then the lethal dose afterwards, but this is all new to me.
 
I'm talking about a 20 oz paintball co2 tank, not the little cartridges. It's about 10 inches tall by maybe 4 inches in diameter. Weighs a few pounds. With my small chamber this will last for many dozens of uses or more before needing a refill. Tanks go for $15-$25 and refills from free -$3. I get free refills on tuesdays if I leave the store's logo on the tank. I have 2 tanks I filled over 6 months ago and just started on the 2nd.

There is nothing really difficult or crafty that yu need to do. Buy the 20 oz co2 tank and "remote coil" that comes with a quick disconnect end. Cut a hole in the chamber to fit the end and seal it with glue or silcone. Cut another hole in the lid for a piece of tubing and seal that with glue or silicone. Thats it. Done.

The rubber tubing end goes in a glass of water so it can release air and co2 but not allow oxygen back in.
The remote coil has a valve that you can open slowly to precisely control how much co2 you release into the chamber, This way you can ramp it up slowly and they just drop off unconscious. Then you can flood the chamber and turn off the CO2 valve.
 
Thats very descriptive, and doesn't sound difficult at all. Thanks for the reply.
Cheers!
 
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