Pre-killing

Unfortunately the nearest pet store has no rats the small enough for my two bps, I tried going with a smaller meal (they were mice) and both refused. It looks as though I'm going to have to go buy two small rats but I don't really want to feed live due to the risks involved. So if/when you do pre killed, how do you prekill it? Not to sound barbaric but I'm out of options.

I have been in the same boat. I have not been able to find a good source for frozen feeders as of yet. So the two methods I think are humane and simple are:

Dry Ice: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...and-Humane-too

Cervical Dislocation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opwXJ7MgjPE

Don't just stun them they need to be dispatched completely. That's my 2 cents worth.

How much do your bps weigh?
Just personal experience but I wouldn't go larger even if pk. It could end up regurged or cause other problems. When was the last time your snakes ate? They don't have to have a meal once a week like clockwork. If waiting a few days will mean your normal feeding size is available, they will be fine.

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So many people here will have better responces that me...but...long time ago i too was out of options with a corn snake that was slightly ill and had become super picky with his meals. I had to kill a few mice at one point;

1. place one rat in a plastic grocery bag
2. firmly grab the bag by the openning and close your hand around it
3. swing the bag with the rat in it against the groud, or a hard counter top

I know this still sounds somewhat 'barbaric' but it will kill the rat immedietly with no mess.

The two ways agreed as most humane are Cervical Dislocation and CO2 (gas) Chamber.

There are older threads here that you can find through the search function and there is plenty of information on the Internet and YouTube.

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Originally Posted by SmoothScales

How much do your bps weigh?
Just personal experience but I wouldn't go larger even if pk. It could end up regurged or cause other problems. When was the last time your snakes ate? They don't have to have a meal once a week like clockwork. If waiting a few days will mean your normal feeding size is available, they will be fine.

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Both of them are already feeding on small rats. I attempted a couple adult mice but they wanted nothing to do with them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mainer12

Both of them are already feeding on small rats. I attempted a couple adult mice but they wanted nothing to do with them.

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Okay I miss understood the problem. I thought the issue was size, not f/t vs live.

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No problem, just went to the local pet store and they happened to have 're-stocked so there's no need for pk.

Get some dry ice and put the rat in a sealed environment, it creates a gas chamber, that's the most humane way imo. You can feed live safely, just monitor the feeding until the rat passes away.

I always pre-kill my stuff (if I have to do it myself) through cervical dislocation. This can be accomplished by pinning the rat's neck right behind the head (where the spine goes into the skull) with something like hemostats then yanking the tail as hard as you can. Alternatively, if you don't trust your skills to do that - and don't try if you're uncertain - you can use the bag method or hold the rodent by the tail and swing it onto your wrists or kneecap.
Also, CO2 gassing has to be done a certain way to keep it humane as well. For one, contrary to what's commonly believed, one should not just throw a rat into a plastic container with dry ice as this instills panic since the rat feels its lungs suddenly flood with carbon dioxide. (People respond similarly when we do something such as holding our breathe too long - our diaphragms, like the rat's diaphragms, are responding to the lungs being overloaded with too much carbon dioxide in such a short time period; this instinctual response is not specifically caused by a lack of oxygen but is initiated by carbon dioxide) The introduction of CO2 must be gradual. If you're unable to employ a proper CO2 method though, then just refer to the first method.