Gas chamber for rodents

So, a while back I decided to look into making a gas chamber for the rodents I would be feeding to my snakes. I have no room to keep frozen rats and feeding live, although my snakes ate no problem, could get annoying sometimes when they don't go after the rats for an extended time.

I was doing cervical dislocations and that was working alright, until the rats I started feeding were getting bigger, and harder to pin down to do the dislocation correctly. I even got bit by a rat once so that's when I decided to figure something else out. I learned about making a gas chamber. Most of the links I found were helpful but I was still lost after looking at a few of them.

So I have decided to post how I do this. I know a lot of people feed live but might not like to but don't know what else to do. The gas chamber is in my opinion the most humane way to kill the rodents, they essentially fall "asleep" within seconds.

The first thing you need is two tubs. One to put the rats in and another smaller tub to put over the rats. The smaller tub should have a hole, about the size of a quarter on top.
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The next item you need is the gas, or CO2. You can get one of these at a Sporting goods store or a paintball store.

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The next item you need is a universal fill adapter. This is basically the hose you will thread on to the CO2 cannister to administer the gas. You can find this at the paintball store or online if there is no store like that around you. The guy at the place I go to knew exactly what I needed and told me I wasn't the first person in there looking for this in order to make a gas chamber.
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The hose attaches right to the top of the cannister and has a valve to turn the gas on or off.

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So the first step is to put the rats into the larger tub and place the smaller tub right over top of them so that they can't get out.
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Take the end of the hosr and place it in the hole on the top of the smaller tub and turn the valve on. You can adjust the flow and increase or decrease as needed.
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The rats will start to lay down. Keep the gas on until they are still and then turn the gas off. You should see them stop breathing before you take the tub off of them.

I did try to take a video for this but it was harder than I thought it would be to hold a phone and the hose at the same time, but if anyone is still interested and really wants to see, I can video next feed day and upload it.

Now you have fresh, humanely killed rodents. Some snakes might not take fresh killed right away, like my older male, so it might take a few times of offering for them to take it. My younger female never had an issue switching.

DISCLAIMER: I will still perform a cervical dislocation to the rats even after I gas them. This basically ensures I won't have a zombie rat wake back up without me knowing. You can look up cervical dislocations, there are good videos on YouTube, and they are WAY easier on a rodent that is already dead.



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Nice job, very clean. Did you see the Sticky on this? I use a $6.99 cooler and a CO2 filler cap $5.99 off ebay but it all works the same. I too use a smaller box inside my cooler with a paper towel for urine as i dont like to waste gas filling a large space when im only killing 3 rodents each week.. So i use a plastic box my dishwasher tablets came in with a hole down load that lines up with the house. 10 sec and theyre out.
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Did not see that but that is nice! I wish I saw that when I was originally looking for info because a lot of the sites I ended up at weren't explained as well lol

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Yeah I looked at this Sticky from 2007 when I made mine. I was wasting to much gas though using the whole cooler thats why i decided on a 5"x10" tupperware container to put inside like your doing i use silicone to seal the hose to stay permanently.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...Y-CO2-chamber)

Yeah I somehow never found that sticky. I use the tubs well one because I already had them also it's an easy clean up. I keep the cannister and hose in the small tub and that inside the large tub. Makes for easier storage for me.

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Good job but it is a big tank considering the size and the small amount of feeders, I would recommend a much smaller tank, otherwise not only will it take a long time to euthanize the rat but you will go through a lot of CO2, I use a 7 quarts tub it allows me to do 3 retired breeder rat at the time, 20/25 mice or rat pups in no time and with less CO2, I do have a 5 lbs CO2 cylinder with a regulating gauge as well.

I could get a smaller tub. I haven't felt like I've been having to refill co2 too often, but I'll try a smaller tub and see what happens. At most, the rats are out within ten seconds and I shut it off and do the CD.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by SKO

I could get a smaller tub. I haven't felt like I've been having to refill co2 too often, but I'll try a smaller tub and see what happens. At most, the rats are out within ten seconds and I shut it off and do the CD.

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How many sessions can you use the 20oz CO2 without a refill? I have the 29oz bottle

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

How many sessions can you use the 20oz CO2 without a refill? I have the 29oz bottle

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I haven't had to refill for I believe two months now or maybe a little over. So that's at least 8 unless they are in the middle of a shed cycle. The place I get refills from is pretty close to where I live so it's not a real hassle to get it.

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my first thought was you Nazi lol but that's just my dark humor lol but have you considered a giant cooler? or maybe even a deep freezer? Or mini fridge/wine fridge? I'm thinking anything that's already air tight and takes little to nothing to setup

retro gaming pokemon for gbc/gba p.s. I've never played go nor shall i !!!!!