Question about rats..

I just whack the rat against a rock, and it dies instantly. I cannot believe that people out there freeze the poor things to death! That in my opinion is torturous. :(
If I were squeamish or reluctant to whack them, I would definately rig up some sort of gas chamber, but never freeze them.

Since we are talking about the best way to do away with a rat befor feeding them to our babies, I was trying to think of a way to do that this weekend. Has anyone thought of or tried using a regular rat trap. I was thinking if you load the trap with food, place it in a cage with the rat, then bam it's history. The thing I don't kow about is will the broken bones of the rat harm your snake when he is eating it? Any thoughts on this or should I go back to the drawing board.

i personally wouldn't use that method. you aren't guaranteed that the trap is going to actually kill the rat. i had to set a trap for a rat in one of my old apts and the rat got out of the trap still alive, and ran all over my apartment freaking out until it finally bled to death. not something i ever want to experience again. i thought the trap would kill it instantly, but obviously that doesn't always work. if i had to kill a rat for my snake i would definitely go with the co2 gas in the cooler method. cheap, quick and humane.

If you're still feeding live right now, carefully observe how it hunts for the rat... that in my opinion is one of the most important factors in making the switch. Some snakes are perfectly content just coming up to a dead rodent on the ground. Some do respond well to having a rodent dangled in its face, as if it it was doing it out of defense. Others prefer to ambush it from their hide, or sneak up from it from behind. However your snake usually does it, try to emulate that as closely as possible with prekilled and then frozen/thawed. Also make certain when using frozen/thawed that the rodent is sufficiently warm, and thorougly so.