freezing a live rat?

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Originally Posted by AdamF

Before you resort to rodent-cide, couple points:

1) What do you mean by anorexia? How long since last meal?
2) Have you always fed live prey?
3) If #2 is yes, it is not likely to accept FT if not accepting now

Just sayin...

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its only been about 2 months. the anorexia comment anorexia was a joke. not too worried yet. he normally accepts frozen but figured i would try a live to see if it would stimulate him.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Cervical dislocation is very clean. Bashing a rat on the head is a bloody mess.
Dislocating the neck is just that. The whole point is to sever the brain connection to the rest of the body. It's ethically considered one of the more humane form of rodent euthanasia by the IACUC. So unless your rat has an open would, there should be no blood. Otherwise, you're doing it incorrectly........
And the skin of the tail will come off if you don't grip the the base of the tail. Basic Rat Handling 101: hold by the base of the tail.

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cervical dislocation was the method of choice. quick, easy, no mess.

my husbandry hasn't ever changed. temps in high 80s, hot spot 90-92. cool side 76-78. hides are good. he is a 2010 pastel about 800something grams last weight---2 months ago. i think he is just being a ball python.

live mouse is my next go to but i was hoping to not come off rats. figured i'll freeze this one, give him one more shot at it then try a mouse.

2 months doesnt scare me. he is healthy in all other aspects. i've had one of my snakes go on a 6 or 7 month hunger strike then go right back to eating like a champ.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Cervical dislocation is very clean. Bashing a rat on the head is a bloody mess.
Dislocating the neck is just that. The whole point is to sever the brain connection to the rest of the body. It's ethically considered one of the more humane form of rodent euthanasia by the IACUC. So unless your rat has an open would, there should be no blood. Otherwise, you're doing it incorrectly........
And the skin of the tail will come off if you don't grip the the base of the tail. Basic Rat Handling 101: hold by the base of the tail.

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Thanks for the tip. The first time I did it, then entire tail came right off and started bleeding all over my desk. I'll try this method again!