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weird question but...........

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New member
how do these places kill the mice they sell ?? They cant use anything toxic surley as this wood poison the Snakes ??!!
 
I believe they are knocked out ina co2 chamber then flash frozen.
 
ahh i see. well i wondered as some of the mice i buy look so battered sometimes.. looks like they have been beated to death
 
I agree, sometimes they look like they were really ill treated before they were killed.
 
Not abuse.....

Most of that comes from either vaccuum packing or the way they were positioned before they were frozen from my experiences of packing my own. they do look a little "beat up" sometimes. I assure you though, every big mouse breeder humanely kills their mice or they would have animal agancies all over them. :cool:
 
Not to mention all the time it would take to individually beat each one over the head.

How would you explain that job description. Sorry i couldn't help myself i just got this image of someone standing there with a little mouse size billy bat pulling them one by one out of a container and whacking them over the head.

I am sure they do it in the most humane and time efficient way.
 
The local pet store in Pullman uses cervical dislocation? Not sure if thats the right term but basically, they break the little guys spine at some point. I know it is quick but I'm not sure just how painless it is to the little mice. I guess they are too small of a petstore to have access to a C02 chamber. At any rate, the manager is in charge of "dispatching" the mice, I wonder how well he sleeps at night...
 
I work in the pet trade. I have been in three different smaller shops throughout that time...

MOST are humanely killed in a co2 chamber. Sometimes, when need be, I had to do the duty, I used to wack them by a method recommended to me by more than one person, put them in a fish bag, one huge swing and blammo on the counter. They all died immediately, one wack.

A local snake breeder used the spine method. He holds them by the tail and in one swift motion he flicks his wrist, wacking them against a metal garbage pail rim.

Now I know what you mean by some of them looking REALLY beat up. Unfortunately we have an inexperienced breeder, who when we ask for frozen, they usually have blood frozen on their faces and stuff... :( I don't think he is very good at "wackin'" them yet :(

Funny you mentioned the sleeping thing, for the first few years it bothered me, but then once I saw how many pet shop employees thought nothing of starving a snake to death just because they couldn't deal with feeding them mice, I realized that it was much less cruel to wack the mice/rats and have them die extremely fast than watch a reptile or snake slowly, painfully starve to death........ Anyway, I LEARNED how to sleep again!

I also worked on my "karma"! lol! I decided to baby the heck out of 6 pet rats. They live in "shangrila" are treated kindly with love, and showered with gifts.. Would you believe I have spent over $600 on RAT SUPPLIES AND GOODIES in only 9 months!

They ARE wonderfull pets! ;)

Rebecca
 
The worst is when two are frozen together and you have to pull them apart...especially when they're stuck in an odd position (ex: one's head indenting into anothers stomach)
 
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