• 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.

Got my first mice!

D

Dirk94

New member
Hey all, it's Mike,

I have a 0.1 amel corn named Cadayle. At first i bought f/t mice from the pet store (XPENSIVE!!!), then i bought a large amount (250) from The Mouse Factory (good price and good service), but for my next order from them, I would need $130.00, *ahem* $130.00 i dont have. So, I looked up info about mouse breeding online. It turns out, i have everything i need sitting in my basement! So i ran to the pet store and bought 1 male and 1 female (I only have 1 snake, i dont need 4 litters every three weeks!) and got them into a 10 gal together.

So far so good. They seem to like eachother, although so far when the male has tried to "assume the position" the female just squeaks and runs away, but I read that this is normal behaviour, especially because the two mice have never been introduced to the opposite sex before today.

Anyways, I hope to be churning out some babies soon. I am going to let one litter grow to fuzzies, and then the next to pinkies, and the next to fuzzies, etc.

And finally, i was wondering about the best euthanasia method. I don't really have anywhere to get dry ice for the 'ol dry ice in a holed container in a bucket method, but i was wondering if these two might work...
--- vinegar and baking soda in a container in a buckeet
--- firing a paintball gun without balls in it into a bucket until
i can assume it is full of CO2, and then place the mice in

Thanks all!
Mike
 
Ok, you might want to check with some other members on this because I have personally never raised a colony but... I've heard that the best way to kill a mouse besides CO2 would be the neck snap method. You put the mouse on a table and grab something blunt like a pen or a butter knife and place it on the mouse's neck, then firmly pull on the tail. This is supposed to snap the neck and cause an instant, painless dead... But as I said I have never really looked into this type of thing so some other people might need to correct me if this is inhumane. Sorry for the rather lacking post, but good luck with the new colony!
 
CO2 is the most humane, but like Maloof said snapping the neck of the rodent isn't a bad way either, There are many good threads to look into on this subject, do a search..

Julie F good site on the gas chamber. Though I would mention to put a little hole(real small hole) at the top of the chamber to allow air to escape as you fill the chamber full of CO2, or it might pop the lid right off. Though I think that container doesnt seal around the edges so it probably lets enough air out. Still one of the better designs that I have seen.
 
Forgive me, Mike, I'm not trying to take over your topic at all... I figure it's information that can help you, too, so I hope you don't mind. =)

Anyway, you said you're planning on raising them all to pinky and fuzzy stages. I plan to do the same this year for my try at breeding, but I've read in a few places that pinkies and fuzzies are effectively "immune" to suffocation, and, therefore, death by CO2. Can anyone verify this? Is there another, better way to euthanize pinkies&fuzzies? I'm personally too squeamish to snap their necks... I tried it once a year and a half ago, failed miserably, and ended up trying to save the motherless little rat fuzzy. The only alternative I know of, though, is to toss them in the freezer. Would an extended time in CO2 do the trick, or does anyone know of another method?

Also, Mike, you should put the mice in the container and then fill it slowly with CO2. Otherwise, you're introducing them fully conscious into an environment with no air, leaving them to struggle for breath until they die. The point of filling the container slowly with CO2 is for the "anesthesia" effect--instead of being deprived of air, the slow reduction of oxygen puts them to sleep, and once the container is full of CO2, they are able to pass away, essentially, in their sleep.

Hope I've been of some help. =)
 
To Floof, I don't know about the younger mouse CO2 resistance or anything but I know that just "tossing them in the freezer" is a quite painful death, and is definitely not humane. Ice crystals form in the blood stream and cause internal bleeding and such so the freezer is not a preferable option.
 
Thanks for the link Julie, although i found another way that i might try because i don't have all the materials for your suggestion. The one i saw consisted of what could be described as utilizing vinegar and baking soda in a way that is non-explosive and very efficient. It basically uses plastic hoses to release CO2 slowly into the chamber and then a large dose after that.

And thanks for the tip floof! After i read up on different ways to euthanize them I learned that, yes, you are supposed to put them in the tub and then introduce the gas.

--Mike
 
Maloof said:
To Floof, I don't know about the younger mouse CO2 resistance or anything but I know that just "tossing them in the freezer" is a quite painful death, and is definitely not humane. Ice crystals form in the blood stream and cause internal bleeding and such so the freezer is not a preferable option.
Click to expand...

Yes, hence my asking. I would prefer not to have to toss them in the freezer, but I'm not aware of an effective way to euthanize pinkies and fuzzies that doesn't involve cervical dislocation. Judging by Buzzard's comment, I take it it IS possible to euthanize them with CO2, then? :shrugs:

Thanks for reminding me of the baking soda method for CO2, Mike, I forgot all about that one. =) I doubt, if my local store even carries dry ice, that their prices are even close to "reasonable," so the baking soda/vinegar thing is probably what I'm going to do... I'm sure Costco sized baking soda & vinegar are much better priced than getting blocks of dry ice that sublimate before I can use more than a little chunk.
 
I remember that site, lol! Remember the rat fuzzy I mentioned earlier? I spent a lot of time after failing to snap its neck considering CO2 as a means of putting it to sleep. I ran across that site while researching ways to produce a CO2 euthanasia chamber with regular household items. Thanks for the link!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top