euthanizing rats, how i kill mine

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Originally Posted by Gto_402

I wasn't meaning that any way of killing the rodents is ok. I should have better explained myself. I'm not ok at all with unnecessary suffering in any animal. When I said " just a rat" I meant it doesn't have to be an elaborate method just as long as the job is done. Lord I've caused a haywire mess lol.

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Thanks for clarifying.

We have to watch phrasing esp when non-reptile people could easily take something the wong way. It's a lot like people joking they'd feed their friend's cat to a python... WE know it's a joke, but non-reptile people are just as liable to run off and use it as a "quote right from their own mouth!" to prove we feed free kittens to all of our animals, probably right down to a leo.

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Originally Posted by Gto_402

I wasn't meaning that any way of killing the rodents is ok. I should have better explained myself. I'm not ok at all with unnecessary suffering in any animal. When I said " just a rat" I meant it doesn't have to be an elaborate method just as long as the job is done. Lord I've caused a haywire mess lol.

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As far as I have seen you are going to get a lot of support on this forum for Cervical Dislocation. Its a quick method and as or more human than any other. Certainly no complaints from me. I have tried cervical dislocation once with instruction from someone skilled at it. I failed and had to have the expert step in. That experience pretty much soured me on CD. That being said I wish it hadn't. It would be far easier than CO2 to dispatch a single mouse (My California King is the worst hunter I have ever seen, an average of 5 or more missed strikes before finally catching a foot or tail.) So for what its worth I am a big fan of CD when done correctly. I wish I could do it correctly. Until then a tank of CO2 purchased from my local welding supply store has served me well.

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Originally Posted by Egapal

As far as I have seen you are going to get a lot of support on this forum for Cervical Dislocation. Its a quick method and as or more human than any other. Certainly no complaints from me. I have tried cervical dislocation once with instruction from someone skilled at it. I failed and had to have the expert step in. That experience pretty much soured me on CD. That being said I wish it hadn't. It would be far easier than CO2 to dispatch a single mouse (My California King is the worst hunter I have ever seen, an average of 5 or more missed strikes before finally catching a foot or tail.) So for what its worth I am a big fan of CD when done correctly. I wish I could do it correctly. Until then a tank of CO2 purchased from my local welding supply store has served me well.

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I wasn't too great at it at first either. Maybe you could practice on dead rats? It really is super easy and quick once you learn what you're doing.

When I first tried CD started on a mouse. I really didn't like the technique that was explained on several different walk throughs that I had read. I tried the same method with a large rat and nearly lost a finger. I immediately went to my shop and make a "fork" out of 1/4" mild steel. It has a handle and two prongs on the end. Each prong sits on each side of the rodents skull and a hoop supports the base of the skull. This way no matter what as long as you have pressure on the fork the rodent can't run or turn. After it's pinned I grab them by the haunches, pull up and back. I should add the "fork" doesn't penetrate the animal in anyway. It's perfectly humane as long as it's done correctly. Where I think a lot of people fail is they don't/won't pull fast or hard enough. I will be sure to link a picture in this thread. After reading over my previous post I should add I do occasionally gas off large quanities of rodents. But if it's fewer than ten I'll CD. Sorry for the long post!

Here's the pictures of the fork I built. http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...l/ef0079f4.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...l/fbeb8132.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...l/1626cd63.jpg

I'm going to make one at work, what a great idea. It takes away my fear of performing CD #

I will make mine like a 4 way tire iron with 4 different sizes and maybe sell them for 25 bucks lol out of stainless steel

I use my feeding thongs behind the cranium for a cervical dislocation.

Suffocating in a bag is not humane IMHO. CO2 does more than just suffocate, they lose consciousness much more quickly and basically go to sleep. Suffocating in a plastic bag = no go.

I don't Euthanize many rats but when I do I use co2
It cost me less than $50 to set up a chamber

Aluminum tank off of craiglist $35 ~ tub $3.50 ~ air hose and fittings $10
http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a...r/PICT6862.jpg

No CD for me ty

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Originally Posted by karls-snakes

I will make mine like a 4 way tire iron with 4 different sizes and maybe sell them for 25 bucks lol out of stainless steel

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I plan on making a few more that vary in size. Stainless would be nice but I used what was handy. Maybe I'll get around to it some day.