How Do You Pre-Kill Rodents?

I've tried a lot of methods...

At first I just threw them in a baggie and in the freezer. Then I learned that was very painful so I tried finding better ways to euthanize.

I then tried the "whacking" method. Worked very well for me at first. I just had them by the tail, found a tile floor, and threw them head first. They were gone pretty instantly. Only thing is when I did this I only had to do it once in a blue moon. The rats got bloody noses and it just wasn't pretty when I had more then a few to do..

So, I made a C02 Chamber. Liked it.. at first. The rats looked to be suffering and they took a few minutes to die. It was probably me not doing it right but still.

Then I finally tried the dislocation method. I had 16 rats to euthenize so I decided to try this. I put a screwdriver on the neck and pulled on the tail.. They were gone instantly. No pain, nothing. And it was fast. I had all 16 done within a few minutes.

So my conclusion? Dislocation is definitely IMO the easiest, fastest, and most humane way to euthenize feeder rodents. You just have to have the guts to do so.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sarin

IThen I finally tried the dislocation method. I had 16 rats to euthenize so I decided to try this. I put a screwdriver on the neck and pulled on the tail.. They were gone instantly. No pain, nothing. And it was fast. I had all 16 done within a few minutes.

So my conclusion? Dislocation is definitely IMO the easiest, fastest, and most humane way to euthenize feeder rodents. You just have to have the guts to do so.

---

Same experience here.

One you go dislocation, you never go.... back? It may not be a rhyming saying, but it's amazing how quick and simple it is.

Cervical Dislocation. Smack the rat in the head with pliers and then take the pliers and grab the rat by the neck and pull up with the tail.

Smack them on my wrist!

Today was my first time pre-killing. Tried a CO2 chamber, it was taking a long time for them to die. I felt a little bad about it, so I went with the screwdriver-dislocation method. That was definitely quicker. I'm sticking with that way from now on.
And my Rosy struck immediately, and a lot harder to boot. I've never seen her strike that fast before.

I feed live but sometimes I CO2 the mice/rats/asf's. I just do the cooler and dry ice CO2 chamber. Its easy and really cheap:gj:

I feed live and let my Ball python do the work,she is a quick killer.I watch closely and make sure the mouse don't bite her, ounce it is dead i turn off the lights and let her eat in privacy.

I tried a home made C02 chamber last week, and i must say i found my self feeling sorry for the mice. It took like 10min, so i find it faster to let my snake kill them and if anything i would just give them one good wack on the head,

I made my "Co2 chamber" Following this video it was cheap and easy, just took a while to be effective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKjrSKDG69A