How do you pre-kill your rodents?

Just wondering how some of you pre-kill your rodents!

swift and painlessly of course :P

I tried the method where you yank on their tails to separate the neck, but I somehow skinned one of the tails... that was a mess that I do not even want to think about, let alone describe.

I will be going to a paintball shop in the next day or two for gas chamber supplies.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spitzu

I tried the method where you yank on their tails to separate the neck, but I somehow skinned one of the tails... that was a mess that I do not even want to think about, let alone describe.

I will be going to a paintball shop in the next day or two for gas chamber supplies.

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cervical dislocation...
It's not really about pulling on the tail in a downwards fashion, more pulling the tail downward and the head upwards quickly to separate the spine from the head.


here is a helpful how to..
Cervical dislocation, dislocation of the neck, is a simple and humane method of killing mice and small rats (<125 gms). In the case of mice and small rats, the animal is held by its tail and placed on a surface that it can grip, then it will stretch itself out so that a pencil or similar object can be placed firmly across the back of the neck. A sharp pull on the base of the tail will then dislocate the neck.

I would not recommend that method though, there are much easier and painless ways...

I breed my own feeders so I feed live most of the time. When I do kill any feeders I use co2 in a plastic tub. I usually do it in large batches and any other method would be a pain. You want to have some shavings in with them though because they all seem to relieve themselves when they die. You also want to just barley turn the co2 on until it pushes the all the air out and then shut it off they will pass out quickly.

What I do is when the rat isn't looking, I slowly creep up behind him as to remain unnoticed. When the moment is right, I pull out my plastic bag and pull it over it's head and pull tight, usually the lack of oxygen prevent the screams from being heard by the other rats. Usually takes less then a minute for the rat to go under, quick and easy, they never know what hit em!

But seriously it is just easier to order them prekilled. Less work and it keeps the popo's off ya.

Yeah forget that. It already takes us 3-4 hours to feed our guys without wasting time thawing 50+ rats.

People pleez don't judge me or bash me, but I really don't like touching them. So I have a sad way of killing them.

I cry everytime.
I tried suffacation in a plastic tupperware.
Didn't work.
I despise touching them so I used tongs to choke them.
Made me cry.
So I just put one at a time with tongs in a paper bag and
Basically hit the side with the head against the wall. One hit and they are gone.

Again please don't hate me becuz I fee bad enough everytime I have to do this. And I really wish it didn't urk me so much to touch them.


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I use Cervical Dislocation and honestly, for someone that is experienced, there isn't many methods that are more humane (besides Co2). There is a split second of panic when you apply pressure to the spine, but I rarely even witness them twitching (if it's done well enough). With the help of a snake hook or heavy duty metal rod, you can also do it easily with adult rodents.

I'd also like to add that yanking the tails is not recommended because of tail skinning. It's much more humane to grab them above the hips.

1. Put the animal on a hard surface (such as a counter top).
2. Place the palm of your hand on their back or grasp them gently by the tail (depending on the animals temperament). Keep it gentle and do not make them panic. At this point, you don't want to apply pressure.
3. Slide the rod directly behind the skull (but don't press down yet), slide your hand above their hips and in a fluid motion press down behind their skull with the rod with all of your might while pulling the hips away from the animals skull. I pull the hips away from the skull (separating the spine) until I notice the animal has ceased twitching. If you did it correctly, it shouldn't be over 15 or so seconds that the animal will continue moving. BUT, if you did it correctly, the animal died instantly and any twitching is a reflex.

In my opinion though, it's not about our comfort levels in these feeders last moments of life. It's about making it as painless as possible and respecting the animal for providing their lives to ensure our animals continue to be healthy. If you are uncomfortable dispatching a feeder animal humanely, most pet stores will do it free of charge. If they don't, let the snake do it's job. They are relatively humane about it. Besides the snakes teeth, chest compression is considered a humane way to die.

Then again, since I started keeping rats as pets, I feed f/t.

I breed rats as well so I feed live most of the time but when I have to euthanize I use the cervical dislocation method.

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