• 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.

Whoops..

K

Koperr

New member
I went to the local pet store to buy fuzzy mice for my corn snake. I asked for frozen, I took it home and I noticed rustling inside the bag.. They gave me live mice! Should I freeze them? I can't take them back, either.
 
Well if you can't take it back and you don't want to feed it live then yes you need to Euthinize it.
Either by thwocking it up against something quickly or as you said the freezer...but that's not really a human method for a warm blooded animal.

Learnt a lesson though, make sure you always check before leaving the store :grin01:
 
Well, I chose to freeze them as I read that most of those mice will die within 20 minutes because of their small body mass, though I will feel bad for the little mices :crying:
 
I can't edit my posts? oh well. And as for the "thwocking the mice" I don't think i'd be able to do something like that. :(
 
It takes them longer than 20 minutes to die from a warm blooded live state. To freeze a live animal is certainly inhumane. At least thumping them first to knock them out and then immediately feeding to the animal would ease some suffering down to a few minutes. I think this is really quite awful.
 
I wouldn't be able to do that. I bought 10 mice thinking they were frozen, and was going to store them in the freezer. We stopped off at the pet store to buy the mice on the way back from our trip (which is about 30 miles from our house) and got the mice to save money rather than getting the mice later on, making a separate trip.
 
I read somewhere in the forum about using CO2 to gas them...umm..not sure where the post is at the moment..something about using vinegar and baking soda.....

is this considered an acceptable humane way to kill them?..I'm very new to this, and I am curious :rolleyes:
 
dont feel bad about freezing them... quite a few do the very same thing. As for everyone saying Always this that or the other is inhuman.... well... its all in the eye of the person doing it.. to what They feel best or have the ability to do.
 
Personally I would only advocate fast-freezing pinks as the quickest way to kill them. Pinks can't regulate their temperature, they are resistant to CO2 and cervical dislocation is a bit fiddly at that size. For peaches and fuzzies, a sharp 'flick' to the head or careful cervical dislocation works well and they can be gassed using CO2, but are still more resistant than adults. For anything over hopper/weaned size, cervical dislocation or CO2 work quickly.
(disclaimer, I'm not a professional mouse-killer, I just try my best to dispatch the snakefood quickly)
 
Cat_Eyed_Lady said:
dont feel bad about freezing them... quite a few do the very same thing. As for everyone saying Always this that or the other is inhuman.... well... its all in the eye of the person doing it.. to what They feel best or have the ability to do.
Click to expand...
I don't agree with this. Allowing an animal to freeze to death over a prolonged period of time is something you should feel bad about. The number of people who do the same thing doesnt really matter. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but not ethics. If ethics were judged solely by those performing questionable acts, Charles Manson would be free.
 
I had ment he shouldnt feel bad because he had ordered frozen and that is not what he got. If you wish to 'burn' me, then so be it... I was trying to be nice to another person who was feeling awful for having to do something so that his snake could eat. I think anyone who has to do away with an animal Does feel bad... that doesnt mean we have to compound that feeling. yes, its great to know other ways to do it :) I, myself, appreciates that :) but since you brought up ppl... have you ever nearly frozen to death?? I have... once you get cold enough your body starts to feel very warm and you get tired. If someone doesnt keep you awake somehow, you go to sleep and dont wake up... it wasnt a horrible thing.... felt warm and comfy. But thats just me... to each their own.
 
Cat_Eyed_Lady said:
I had ment he shouldnt feel bad because he had ordered frozen and that is not what he got. If you wish to 'burn' me, then so be it... I was trying to be nice to another person who was feeling awful for having to do something so that his snake could eat. I think anyone who has to do away with an animal Does feel bad... that doesnt mean we have to compound that feeling. yes, its great to know other ways to do it :) I, myself, appreciates that :) but since you brought up ppl... have you ever nearly frozen to death?? I have... once you get cold enough your body starts to feel very warm and you get tired. If someone doesnt keep you awake somehow, you go to sleep and dont wake up... it wasnt a horrible thing.... felt warm and comfy. But thats just me... to each their own.
Click to expand...
Burn you? I thought I was fairly civil. :)

I guess I'm an insensitive guy, but I'm not going to work too hard sparing someone's feelings when we're talking about the killing of a feeder mouse. And I'm not going to pretend that a cruel method of killing a mouse is ok just to protect the o.p.'s feelings. I wouldn't want someone new to the hobby to assume this method is ok before exploring humane alternatives.

And I didn't really bring up people in the context of your comments. But anyway, I'm from Northern Vermont, and while I have never nearly frozen to death, I've certainly suffered some fairly extreme exposure to waaaay sub-zero temps for prolonged periods of time. It was painful, unpleasant, and it thoroughly sucked. Maybe everything's wonderful once you get "cold enough", but it's the getting there that's the bitch. ;)
 
.. So I could've just put them in a container with some vinegar and baking soda? If only I knew that earlier :(
 
umm...I'm not entirely sure...I read it somewhere here about how to do it...not sure if it really works...you'll have to find out from the peeps here with experience...I just got in, but I'll peek around for the post in a few minutes k?
 
Damn, if you had a 10 gallon aquarium just keep them in there until you need them. Heck, you may have your very own breeder colony. This way you can save money in the long run.
 
Oh I also agree, even though I hate the little bastards, I would never freeze them. I would thwack them first.
 
I guess I missed something but why can't you just give a good whack on a solid object and then freeze them? If they are fuzzies they probably wouldn't live on their own and would die of starvation, painful. Freezing painful. Put one or two in a bag and give em' a whack, it's over in a second. Co2 involves a chamber and a little work, not just vinegar, baking soda and a box. Hope all goes well. susan
 
If you can't -thwack- them, like against a wall, you could always just flick them in the skull like you flick away some lint. It knocks them out (well, depending on how young they are) and let's them sleep through (or be out cold through) the freezing, I believe.
 
i guess it's never occurred to me to ask how PET STORES kill their mice

it seems very likely that they just toss the mice in the freezer. but no matter how the mice get frozen, buying frozen mice from a pet store is no more humane than freezing them yourself.

and no matter how it's killed, the mouse is going to go through a good amount of pain when it dies. plus the confusion and fear that it experiences if you feed it live.

owning a snake involves accepting that they eat mice, which involves accepting that at least one mouse will die at least once every week or two by your own hand (even if you bought it dead, you're contributing), which involves accepting that the mouse will feel some sort of pain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top