I feel sick...

Isn't bludgeoning/stunning pretty inhumane? Anyways I couldn't even throw away the f/t rat pup that my snake didn't eat... I had to bury it! I just couldn't imagine throwing an animal into a trash can or just flushing them :P

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Originally Posted by barbie.dragon

Isn't bludgeoning/stunning pretty inhumane? Anyways I couldn't even throw away the f/t rat pup that my snake didn't eat... I had to bury it! I just couldn't imagine throwing an animal into a trash can or just flushing them :P

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Well, the way I see it is such; I would rather be hit in the head and knocked out, or killed, than freeze to death slowly. I wasn't trying to say what I did was humane, just more humane than sticking them straight in the freezer.


Kristen, there is a repticon that comes every 4 months or so about 45mins from me. I got some rats there last time they came. I plan on getting more in December. My girl grew a lot faster than I anticipated lol also, picked up 3 more bps since then...oops ;)
Honestly I'm not sure I want to buy from them on a regular basis though. The quality was subpar in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by barbie.dragon

Isn't bludgeoning/stunning pretty inhumane? Anyways I couldn't even throw away the f/t rat pup that my snake didn't eat... I had to bury it! I just couldn't imagine throwing an animal into a trash can or just flushing them :P

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Not at all if you do it right.

Freezing is DEFINETLY not a humane method.

I know how your are feeling. When I first got started with BPs, I had to do something similar. HATED it! Now we raise our own rats for those that still eat live and use CO2 for the rest of our rats. I was able to get through it a lot easier when I realized it is just the circle of life thing and that this was strictly to feed my BPs. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by RoseyReps

Kristen, there is a repticon that comes every 4 months or so about 45mins from me. I got some rats there last time they came. I plan on getting more in December. My girl grew a lot faster than I anticipated lol also, picked up 3 more bps since then...oops ;)
Honestly I'm not sure I want to buy from them on a regular basis though. The quality was subpar in my opinion.

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:( Awww, then you really are kinda stuck. I keep hoping to find someone local who raises their own and has a surplus :D Wishful thinking....

For me the way to do the smaller rats and most all mice is this:

A quick but not overly hard thump to the skull, the idea is to stun it momentarily or at least slow it down a bit. Then you grasp the tail firmly near the base, NOT the tip. Place your thumb and forefinger on each side of the neck just behind the head. Once you have a good grip on the neck, yank the tail away from the hand holding the neck really quickly. It will be a small, faint pop, and it's all over.

I tried using a pencil or something and doing it, but it never seemed to work like everyone said. I'd end up with squealing rats or mice flopping around half paralyzed. It almost killed me. But, once I learned to do it by holding the neck between my fingers and then pulling with the other hand, I almost never have that happen. Maybe once out of every 30, as opposed to one out of every 4 or 5 when i was trying the pencil trick. However, this method will also get you bitten if you fail to do a little head thump, so if you can't manage that, then go with CO2.

I can do this with mice from fuzzy to adult. And rats from fuzzy to weanling. I'm not to comfortable trying it over weanling size, but I'm sure it could be done.

Gale

Never feel badly about taking a life it shouldn't be easy. The concern about doing it right and humanely is noble and my hats off to you for being so concerned about this. How we treat feeders (animals in general) describes us as people. A person capable of planned cruelty to an animal makes me wonder what else they are able to do as well. Not a person I want to know.

I would suggest that you may find it easier to order in rodents, I believe anyone feeding rodents should euthanize some at one point so they understand what they are responsible for. That said if you can find frozen it will likely make your life easier. I would suggest looking on Kijiji or craigs list for snake people and either message directly asking about frozen feeders or post an inquiry of your own. It is likely that there is a small local person whom has or brings in feeders that you can buy from or piggyback on an order.

Talk to the rodent vendor at the next show. Maybe they are close enough to pick up orders between shows.

My guy will deliver any size rodent order for $15 every Friday. Plus they are fresh killed the day before.

They supply the zoo, some local pet stores, the raptor rehab. Try calling around to see if you can find a breeder.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Never feel badly about taking a life it shouldn't be easy. The concern about doing it right and humanely is noble and my hats off to you for being so concerned about this. How we treat feeders (animals in general) describes us as people. A person capable of planned cruelty to an animal makes me wonder what else they are able to do as well. Not a person I want to know.

I would suggest that you may find it easier to order in rodents, I believe anyone feeding rodents should euthanize some at one point so they understand what they are responsible for. That said if you can find frozen it will likely make your life easier. I would suggest looking on Kijiji or craigs list for snake people and either message directly asking about frozen feeders or post an inquiry of your own. It is likely that there is a small local person whom has or brings in feeders that you can buy from or piggyback on an order.

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I could not have said this better myself. There is nothing wrong with feeling badly about killing a feeder animal and I'd think you cruel and unusual if you DIDN'T feel bad. I also give you a lot of credit for trying to be as humane as possible. A life is a life no matter how small.

I buy f/t rodents from Layne Labs - www.laynelabs.com. I can order in nearly any amount and in any sizes I want (and they are excellent quality!). I rebag the rodents when I recieve them into groupls of 5-10 in small but sturdy freezer bags. I put those bags into a gallon sized freezer bag. The biggest enemy to f/t rodents is air. Continually opening and closing the bag allows them to be exposed to too much air and they'll freezer burn. Bagging them this way allows me to keep them up to 8-12 months! That makes it well worth the shipping costs since I can buy a 6-8 month supply. I use a spare freezer to keep them - a small apartment-sized freezer works really well and is relatively inexpensive. :gj:

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Originally Posted by RoseyReps

Well, the way I see it is such; I would rather be hit in the head and knocked out, or killed, than freeze to death slowly. I wasn't trying to say what I did was humane, just more humane than sticking them straight in the freezer.


Kristen, there is a repticon that comes every 4 months or so about 45mins from me. I got some rats there last time they came. I plan on getting more in December. My girl grew a lot faster than I anticipated lol also, picked up 3 more bps since then...oops ;)
Honestly I'm not sure I want to buy from them on a regular basis though. The quality was subpar in my opinion.

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I wasn't saying you we're doing anything bad (you didn't insinuate this but I'm just clarifying just in case :))
But the others touched up on this, cervical dislocation is the best if done right. But I can't do it ever. Layne labs allows smaller orders, but try to find a local breeder. They will most likely have rats they'll sell you. I have a nice local breeder and the breeder I bought my snake from is an hour and a half away but he gave me about 3-4 months supply of f/t for $20. Which was way cheaper than buying from anywhere!