Question about rats..

ouch, 4 times as hard as you can?? I know for a 200 pound man 4 times as hard as he can would explode that thing. (when i was feeding mice) i just gave it one nice hard whack and that sucker was DEAD i think four times might be a little too much.

i felt bad becuase this time when i whacked the rat i think i did it too hard becuase some blood came outta its ears. kinda gross

Yeah...My BP is really headshy. He jerks away if anything comes near his head. So I guess I'll dangle it away from his face. Thanks for the pointers on killing the rat. I do NOT want a big mess. Ick..>.<

The advice that was given to me by a few people was to make sure the rat or mouse is not wet, they tend not to like the wet taste.

What about...Suffocation? Like in an air tight container or something?

In my eyes that's a cruel way to put down a mouse. I'm pretty disgusted at the petshop up town where I get my mice(not for much longer..). He throws a live mouse in a baggy, staples it shut, and throws it in a freezer to suffocate/freeze to death. Poor things. I'd get a frozen mouse, and it'd have little mouse droppings froze to it from being so scared and losing control of it's bodily functions...and the eyes wide open...with a look of fear stricken on their faces...poooor things. :cry:

So yeah...I'm all for the quick, pain-free death.

That is pretty cruel...but..I wouldn't want to beat it against the ground..And not kill it in the first shot. I don't know which is less painful for the rat...But today, my cousin just ended up throwing it in a jar and letting it suffocate. Didn't take long for it to pass out. I felt kinda bad...But when my snake ate it, I felt all better. >_>;

Yeah, that's why I'm glad I can just get f/t and not have to worry about killing a rodent myself. I don't think I'd have the heart to kill one myself. I'd be afraid it wouldn't die the first whack too. But I guess you can think of it this way...even if it doesn't die on the first whack, it'll probably be so knocked silly, it wouldn't know what hit it. By then, you could give it a second whack to finish it. It'd never know what hit it....quick and no suffering. I'd think that even if they don't die with the first whack though, it'd atleast be knocked unconcious. Then if it's still breathing, you know it's not done, so you give'er another whack, and it's done. And the rodent will never know what hit'em. It's definitely less painful and cruel than freezing or suffocating.

That's what I thought. And probably what I'll try next time. This was his first rat, pre-killed. I was surprised he took it at all. I feel sorry for the rats, and would probably feel terrible if I didn't kill it on the first try. But I need to try different methods.

Basically you have to break its neck. Take the rat and put in a paper bag and roll it up. (Sort of like a burrito). Next grab the rat by the head while it is still in the bag and give it a nice jerk on the air. That snaps the neck and kills the rat or mouse.

Whoa. Never heard of that method. Maybe I'll try it. I've heard of the spoon method..But I don't really know how to do it...So I haven't tried.