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pgr8dnlvr

pgr8dnlvr

An obsolete oldie...
Ok I must confess that I mostly try to keep up on the husbandry, photo and breeding threads of the corns, and not this one, so I appologize if I am asking a redundant set of questions here....

How do you guys uh....... kill your pinkies? Do you just directly put fresh ones in the freezer or kill them somehow first?

I have heard talk of "carbon dioxide hoods" how would one go about building one of these? Does it kill them all right away?

I have six pet rats which I allow to breed, but then I just trade the weaned babies in to the pet store I work at in hopes that some or most go as pets <I have the fancy varieties> then I just take frozen mice and rats from store stock to feed my snakes.

Now I am thinking that it might give my girls a bit of a break if I just use <feed> some of their babies to give them a break. Ie. they would only have to raise two or three as apposed to the 12 - 14 they are usually raising in each litter. Problem is I am finding it difficult to kill my own pets babies! LOL very stupid I know considering that I have "wacked" about a zillion mice, rats and hamsters, just never my own pets!

Thanks for any help guys! ;)
Rebecca
 
what you would be referring to for mice and rats is a Carbon Dioxide Chamber. theres a forum some where in the feeder section talking about how to build a simply one. My way is to take them Snip them on the back of the head crushing the skull instantly no pain. and then placing them in a freezer. I know a lot of people in here would think thats rude. But I only have 1 colony if mice to do this to. So for me its fast enough. Where as a few people in here have Huge colonies of mice and Rats and build and use a CO2 chamber.

I guess it's up to you. Many people use different methods. I use the one I use for my reasons. but thats just my 2 cents.
 
I just feed live pinks and fuzzies, easier for me and I've had better growth results out of this than using f/t. I do use f/t when I'm out of live, but I'd say 96% of the meals are live.

To freeze...pinks and fuzzies I place in ice cube trays in the freezer. This keeps them separated and prevents huddling up. They expire within a few mins. I usually leave them a few hours to freeze solid before vacuum packing.

You can lightly thump them on the head if it makes you feel better, but it risks making more of a mess than you really need. The cold usually kills them faster anyway.

CO2 is pretty hard to use on pinks and fuzzies as they're smother resistant, as they'd have to be in a small nest crammed with nesting material and littermates.

Although if you're doing rats, they're a little more resilient once they get past the pink stage. Then I'd recommend a quick thump to the back of the head or squishing their necks in hemostats, and putting them directly in the freezer.
 
I've never heard of the snipping method . . . but I do place a knife or scissor edge against the back of the neck and give a sharp pull on the base of the tail. Snaps their neck and is relatively quick. Don't use with rats though . . . their tails tend to come off or strip clean . . .

I also use the 'thump' or 'whack' method which is to have them forcefully stop at the end of a quick sharp snap from the tail against a solid object such as a counter top . . .

EDIT: oops, missed the reference to pinkies! My bad . . . I tend to use the 'whack' method for pinkies though you don't need to hold their tail. Just a quick, sharp toss to the countertop usually works. Don't really need to stun/kill pinks though unless you are in the process of trying to convert to f/t and don't want the pink/fuzzy to move.

D80
 
Man I sure feel awfull about this all. This is ridiculous because as I said, in my life I have already killed so many! Ug...

Anyway, I have been trying a number of different keywords in the "search this forum" spot and have been finding a fair bit of info. I just found the link to the following website as well, which is terrific, but then the initial cost layout may not really be worth it to me.... I hope I can find the money to do it though..

http://www.thereddragonsden.com/cornextras.htm

Thanks so much for all the suggestions and I am definitely open to hearing more. I will continue searching for all I can find or if all else fails I will go to my local python breeder to get some "killin' lessons" yuck!

Rebecca

ps - just feeding them to the snakes live most of the time won't work. For one thing, I don't really believe in feeding live for the following reasons, danger to the snake, parasites, slow death if no constriction involved. I also would have problems because it would be feast or famine in my house. All my rats have babies at the same time. So it's up to 30 pinkies and I only need three at a time right now. Obviously by next feeding time, <5 days> the babies would be much to big..

Oh well, I'll figure something out! ;)
 
I used to put mine in a pillow case and slam against a wall,but that can be quite messy.I just take a screwdriver and place behind there neck and yank their tail it snaps their neck.I never tried to snip,I am gonna try that :)
 
from eyes open age, hold them by the tail facing down and away, resting on your leg or another surface until ready, then flick them over and against the side of the table, twice, hard, on the head.... 95% are dead by the time you let go of the tail.. sometimes an extra strike is needed..

never my favourite task... i used to have to get drunk to do it... now i am more hardened... the first is the worst...

pre-eyes open... freezer yus...

i do have a carbon dioxide chamber, a home made one, made by a friend of mine... is three tupperware boxes.... mice go in the big one... then using a two step process the chamber is flooded with Co2.. produced as a result of mixing Bicarbonate of Soda, with vinegar.. this is done in two stages, firstly to induce sleep, then secondly asphixiation.. if you gas them too fast, they gasp and show distress... by gasing in two hits.... the mice stay calm throughout..

the table is a faster option, but more hands on... the first time i used the chamber, i used Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy too much vinegar and bicarb, the resulting gas release made even my partner and i wobble.... and the foam exploded everywhere... had to bin those mice... was not sure if mouse soaked in vinegar was any good... done right, the only thing that enters the mouse chamber is gas though...

i'd say its a better way for those of a gentler nature than i..

N
 
Hi Rebecca,
I was not happy with the thaw mouse I was getting from the pet shop in my town so I went to another one recommended by a friend of mine (she has 3 lucky woman!) and he only sold them alive. When I got home, I left them in the little plastic container which had some straw at the bottom and put them alive in the freezer.... I had to say "sorry" to them I felt so bad but.... if you think about it, it is like hypothermia, when you are cold you just fall asleep ;)
I personnally prefer to do it that way because if you do not do the "wack", "snap the neck", etc... properly, it will cause more distress than needed.
Once they are frozen, I put them in individual plastic bag and wrap the bags in newspaper to avoid frost-bite.
I hope this helped.
Courage, the first time is always the worse but it gets easier!
Vanina
 
Hi N -

Can you tell me what ratio of vingegar to baking soda you use? I'd like to avoid the wobbly feeling myself... :sidestep:

Thanks!

Tonya
 
jenkva said:
Hi Rebecca,
I was not happy with the thaw mouse I was getting from the pet shop in my town so I went to another one recommended by a friend of mine (she has 3 lucky woman!) and he only sold them alive. When I got home, I left them in the little plastic container which had some straw at the bottom and put them alive in the freezer.... I had to say "sorry" to them I felt so bad but.... if you think about it, it is like hypothermia, when you are cold you just fall asleep ;)
I personnally prefer to do it that way because if you do not do the "wack", "snap the neck", etc... properly, it will cause more distress than needed.
Once they are frozen, I put them in individual plastic bag and wrap the bags in newspaper to avoid frost-bite.
I hope this helped.
Courage, the first time is always the worse but it gets easier!
Vanina
Click to expand...

Hi Vania :D

Ok, I did the same thing when petstore was going out of business and I bought their whole colony of mice. What a disaster - it took over 45 minutes for the mice to actually die. Then, some escaped and my 16 year old daughter opened the freezer and ran screaming from the room.

While a hysterical teenager WAS funny, but I'd like a better way myself. I hate the fact that it takes so long for them to die, and really cant whack them.

N's baking soda/vinegar sounds interesting. Has anybody else tried this?

Tonya
 
MaizeCrazy said:
While a hysterical teenager WAS funny, but I'd like a better way myself. I hate the fact that it takes so long for them to die, and really cant whack them.
Click to expand...

Hi Tonya, You wouldn't have any pics of the hysterical teenager, would you .... LOL .... :laugh01:
 
jenkva said:
Hi Tonya, You wouldn't have any pics of the hysterical teenager, would you .... LOL .... :laugh01:
Click to expand...

Hi Jenkva!

hahahaha - no, but I should have huh? It was priceless! I was too busy cracking up.

-Tonya
 
MaizeCrazy said:
Hi Jenkva!
hahahaha - no, but I should have huh? It was priceless! I was too busy cracking up.
-Tonya
Click to expand...
Hi Tonya,

About the ":sidestep:", I usually leave mine 24hrs to cool off so to speak, might be worth trying?

Vanina
 
What about using Glade Press-n-Seal wrap? Would that prevent freezer burn? I just started breeding mice, and two of my females are ready to pop with babies. I was thinking about putting a few of the pinkies in press-n-seal wrap and putting them in the freezer. I don't think I could stomach whacking them against the wall. If given the choice...I'd rather fall asleep into hypothermia than being whacked against a wall.
 
Press-n-Seal might work. But if you can find a used vacuum packer, they work better. I just freeze mine solid, then bag them up, and seal them.

No one should ever whack pinkies, you'd have a mess on your hands. =P
 
jenkva said:
Hi Tonya,

About the ":sidestep:", I usually leave mine 24hrs to cool off so to speak, might be worth trying?

Vanina
Click to expand...

Hi Vanina :D

Yes.. that was the intention - to leave them in the container, in the freezer. However the teenager unknowingly opened it. :sidestep:

She asks now before getting into the freezer!

Tonya
 
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