Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jeremy78
Doesn't dust off have a bitterant in it? Won't that make em yucky to the snake?
You are correct. They add a bitterant to try & discourage idiots from inhaling it I guess to try to get high. Must do some brain damage as mice & rats don't do to well with it.:) I don't think the snakes taste it or even smell it as I have had no problems. After freezing them I soak them in hot tap water to thaw & then blow dry with heat. By that time if anything got on the rodent I'm sure it is gone. I think I only did a pre-kill once & the snake hammered and ate pretty fast also so I don't think by them being exposed & breathing it in would have a problem with the snake.
Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
I feed live. I'm getting ready to switch to p/k. I've tried f/t and my snakes just won't do it. probably becuase they've been on live for so long. I'm going to do the dry ice thing, or CO2.
I tried cervical dislocation. I totally sucked at it, becuase it was no quick death. I cried all night, and the rat now lives in my basement becuase I don't have the heart to put it through any more. I use a butter knife, put it behind his head, and pulled on his tail as hard as I could. I tried it three times. By the third time I was so shaken that I was torturing this poor animal, I couldn't do it any more. Lol. Never again. Unless I get someone with experience to physically show me how.
Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
FYI to any1 using CO2 to make it more humane. it really isnt its like drowning ever breath in right before u take a sip of soda u lose ur breath hard to breath like drowning ,and it sucks most people seem to think that co2 doesnt hurt but they mistake it with CO thats the stuff that puts u to sleep and u sufficate, CO2 is nasty stuff
Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
stratus_020202
I feed live. I'm getting ready to switch to p/k. I've tried f/t and my snakes just won't do it. probably becuase they've been on live for so long. I'm going to do the dry ice thing, or CO2.
I tried cervical dislocation. I totally sucked at it, becuase it was no quick death. I cried all night, and the rat now lives in my basement becuase I don't have the heart to put it through any more. I use a butter knife, put it behind his head, and pulled on his tail as hard as I could. I tried it three times. By the third time I was so shaken that I was torturing this poor animal, I couldn't do it any more. Lol. Never again. Unless I get someone with experience to physically show me how.
I have always found the cervical dislocation to be the fastest/easiest/most humane way of dispatching with feeders. It just takes a slightly different approach they what you were using. Instead of a butter knife, if you can use your thumb I find it to be easier. Here is what I do...
-grab feeder by base of tail and dangle over a towel. make sure the towel is heavy or otherwise fixed in place so it won't go anywhere
-lower feeder until it grabs onto the towel with its *front* paws only, so that it is at an angle. They should hold onto the towel and stop squirming for a minute
-place either your thumb (held perpendicular to the feeder's spine) or your thumb and index finger (pinched together to make a v shape cupping the base of the feeder's skull) in position
-quickly press firmly *down* and sharply *forward* at the base of the head. simultaneously pull sharply *back* and *up* on the tail.
Think of this way more as cracking a whip than pulling something apart, and consider your angles. Once I got this down pat I have found it to be the best way for me. And by the way, I actually had a friend teach me this who is a PhD in genetics and has dispatched thousands of mice in her career - it is tried and true. Don't worry if they twitch afterwards a bit, that is common.
Good luck!
Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
I only have one prekilled eater so I will just take one of the live ones (usually the one that tries to bite me) and throw it as hard as I can against a brick wall. May sound gruesome but actually i have made a mess yet and it dieds instantly. I used to use a hammer but that didnt always work with the first whack. The wall is quicker.
Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
Dry Ice c02 setup is what I use. I only have to do every so often when I breed rodents otherwise I buy f/t.
Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
Right now I find it cost-effective to buy frozen feeders from a local supplier, they use C02. Once I reach a point where I can cut costs by breeding my own feeders, I will be making a homemade C02 tank to do it myself.
Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
mice just flip them in the back of the head with my finger for rats i use a pencil or pen to smack them in the head.
Re: How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?
stratus_020202 i had that problem with my burm for a bit. warm them up a Lil warmer then usual and use some tongs to keep the dead prey moving a Lil or even tie a string around the tail (tie it so it comes off easily but tight enough so you can make the mouse dance around more or less)
or could switch them over to f/t by using fresh killed(by fresh killed i mean it is still kicking) and drop it right on the snake so he feels the movement. do that for a few feedings then move the prey a lil farther away (make sure he is out of his hide before offering food. then after a few feeding of him having to move to get it. then start with a f/t drop it right on the snake
or just keep offering only f/t and he will take it before he lets himself starve to death
my green tree pythons got a food drive like no others i have seen.(even my burm who takes a few minute before she starts looking for it) they come off perches in search of the food they smell f/t, pre-killed, live it don't matter they smell it they go looking for it till they find it and it only takes them a minute at most till they find it no-matter where in the cage i put it
