# Feeders > General Feeders >  Amount of baking soda/vinegar to euthanize 20-25 baby rats?

## porcelainwings

I have looked everywhere for dry ice locally and they either really don't have it or they're lying to me.  I found this site ( http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/ ) and wanted to try the method of putting a box inside of a garbage bag.  I have about 20-25 5-6 week old rats to euthanize.  I bought pet store rats and they popped out babies.  I am unable to find any more homes and cannot keep them.  I thought it would be more useful to be able to freeze them to feed our ball python.  I don't want to spend much on it as I never plan to breed my rats and these were unplanned litters obviously.  I want it to be humane, but the instructions seem to be for one animal and I don't want to mess this up.  Do I need to increase/change the concentrations?  Also, I have a ten gallon aquarium and found a method using that on http://www.ratfanclub.org/euth.html , but the same problem with the quantity of rats.  I have a styrofoam cooler as well if there is some way to use it for this purpose.  Thanks!

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## Homegrownscales

Really it would probably be easier to whack them in the head. I don't know anything about that method. I know when I put rats down to freeze I just give them a good whack and they pass instantly. 


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## heathers*bps

That's the way we do it too. Hold them by the tail and whack them on something hard.

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## porcelainwings

Thanks, but I'm not sure whacking them is something thqt I could do.

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## Homegrownscales

Personally I find the whack a hell of alot more humane than suffocation. Which is what would be happening with the other method. If you can't personally hold it by the tail and smack it then you can put it in a pillow case or snake bag. I used to have to this.... It worked well and I didn't have to worry about feeling like a big meanie. 
The other method just seems very complex. You could just put them in an air  tight container and the same will happen as the method you were asking about. 


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## Wh00h0069

Have you checked your local grocery stores? I have heard that they sometimes will sell dry ice.

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## kitedemon

look with shipping companies or buy some co2 and regulator.

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## boadaddy

Never tried the baking soda/vinegar method, mainly because I hate the smell of vinegar. I use the dry ice method more often then not, when there's no dry ice cervical dislocation it is. I get dry ice from my local grocery store for like $1.35 a pound which is enough to put down 75-100 rats, so you could use a 1/4 pound for only 20-25 baby rats easy.  :Smile:

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## jcooper7211

if you dont like to break their necks and have no dry ice i would say toss them in the freezer, the cold slows them down and they go to sleep and.....well......never wake up.

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## jason_ladouceur

> if you dont like to break their necks and have no dry ice i would say toss them in the freezer, the cold slows them down and they go to sleep and.....well......never wake up.



freezing to death is not falling asleep.  never having froze to death personally I can only rely on accounts of others but needless to say it is a slow and painful way to die.  and is certainly not a humane way to cull feeders.  in the last 20 years I have had to kill countless feeders.  everything from mice to rabbits and everything in between.  being an animal lover I have to say that in the beginning it was difficult,  but in order to feed my collection it was necessary.  so for me the quickest most humane way is to sever the spine of whatever feeder you need to kill.  with rats and mice this can be done as suggested above by taking the animal by the tail and striking them against something hard.  I personally prefer to place the feeder on a counter top, place forceps behind the animals head to hold it in place and give a sharp hard pull on the tail severing the spine and base of the skull.

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## boadaddy

> if you dont like to break their necks and have no dry ice i would say toss them in the freezer, the cold slows them down and they go to sleep and.....well......never wake up.


Sorry bud they don't just ''go to sleep"  :Wag of the finger: , they have a slow painful death until their blood literally freezes. Please at least just thump them if anything? If you feel bad about cervical dislocation then you should feel horrible to just toss them in the freezer!  :Confused:

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## kevinb

> Sorry bud they don't just ''go to sleep" , they have a slow painful death until their blood literally freezes. Please at least just thump them if anything? If you feel bad about cervical dislocation then you should feel horrible to just toss them in the freezer!


Agreed freezing to death for anything is painful. Your blood starts to crystalize while freezing...
Very painful. I've only used this method with fish and have thus changed to blunt head trama to do the job. Freezing is a horrible way to die.

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## Rhasputin

Agreed. Freezing is not a good method of culling rodents. 

Also, CO2 is NOT suffocation. They are still able to breath, but the gas that they breath makes them lightheaded, and them they pass out. While they're passed out, you give them a higher dose, and it kills them in their sleep. There is virtually no more humane way to cull at home.

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MissLovesSnakes (05-19-2016)

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## jasbus

Back to the original question...

3 cups of vinegar to 3 or more tablespoons of baking soda should do the trick.  If it's not enough, just have the ingredients ready for another batch.  
Don't quote me, but I think you get roughly a gallon of Co2 gas for every cup/tablespoon mixture.  More is always better, just in case my guesstimate is off....

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