Killing mice?

I have so many baby mice its not even funny, and I am going to switch over to frozen thawed and am looking for an ethical and easy way to kill my mice that is not cruel in any way. So i can vacuum seal them and freeze them. Any ideas on how to do this>? Someone told me to soak a sponge in ether starter fluid and stick it in a box with the mice and they will die instantly, but will this harm my snake when she consumes them? any ideas will be helpful. And no, I am not slapping 38 mice on my counter top.

This is what I've heard...I've never tried it myself:

Put a chunk of dry ice in a small container. Set that small container inside a bigger container that you can put a lid on. Put the mice into the bigger container around the one with the dry ice. Seal the top container and the carbon dioxide that the dry ice gives off will suffocate the mice. You may need to pour a little cold water over the ice to get it going before you seal it...I'm not sure.

Ditto what Judy said, including the water. Also, the smaller the container, the quicker the gas will fill it and the faster the mice will die, which is more humane. be sure to label the mice with a date when you freeze them so you can leave them in a minimum of 30 days to allow the gases to dissipate and to kill off any internal parasites.

Grab them by the tail, and throw them very hard into the ground. Thats how I kill mice. If done hard enough it's instant, and as long as they don't hit their nose there is almost never any blood.

the most humane way would be to gas them
Probably the above dry ice method
Rusty

i just put them in aplastic bag and smack them hard on my counter but i know what u mean by not wanting to smack 40 mice or whatever the number was. but their idea with the dry ice sounds like the best one.

ok, so now the question is....I found some dry ice at a local store and am about to go buy. Whats the best way to store them in the freezer?

Vacuum-sealed if you have one of those Euro-sealers or something similar. If not, use freezer bags with 4mm or better thickness.

No, it needs to be used immediatly. I had dry ice and stored it in the freezer only to find it had evaporated. Dry ice goes right back to carbon dioxide unless kept at like -20 degrees. Buy a big chunk, only a piece the size of a ping pong ball is needed.

Find an unventilated box, like a rubbermaid. Get a cup and fill it 3/4 full of water. Place it in the small rubbermaid and drop in the dry ice. Thick white smoke will fill it instantly, when it's filled to the brim trow in all the mice and close the top. Come back in a few minuts. I suggest letting them sit for 10 minutes so they don't wake up.

Make sure the cover isn't sealed completely, cause the gas expands a lot. It'd blow the top off if sealed completely.

Then use the rest of your dry ice for fun.

I thought he meant to store the mice.

I feel dumb, he probly did mean mice. Yeah plastic bags work. I buy mine already frozen, and when I get them I put them in these things called clear cans. I got big ones, stores like 7 adult mice. Wouldn't hold many rats at all. I dunno if freezing rats in them would cause them to latch together.
http://www.crownbolt.com/assets/images/ClearCan_5.jpg

where do u get those things?

yeah where can i get those?

nevermind, its done... dry ice worked perfect even though a few of the little dummies climbed in to the wtaer with the ice and froze themselves its ok. I put them in freeezer bags, sealed them and put the m in a small rubbermaid in my freezer...

but seriously Godfather... where can i get those cans? haha

I would like to know as well.

Thanks in advance.
Thump

Jonah, just for the record, that is an amazing movie! This is what happens when you F#@k a stranger in the A$$!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The_Godfather

Grab them by the tail, and throw them very hard into the ground. Thats how I kill mice. If done hard enough it's instant, and as long as they don't hit their nose there is almost never any blood.

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Uh, don't make the Godfather mad.

OK, for those who have a hard time finding dry ice, I've found another way to get the CO2 to gas them with: CO2 canisters are sold for use with paintball guns in just about every WalMart and sports shop in the country. Easy to find and no messing with dry ice! :)

Sounds like a good alternative. How much do those canisters cost and how would you go about getting the gas out of the canister and into their little lungs?

(Now I've got these Shrek-like images of using the CO2 containers like helium and blowing them up like balloons! LOL)

very good point marla, I never even thought of that. You can personal "crackers" so they call them to crack the canisters open. These can be found anywhere that sells these types of canisters. I had fun with the dry ice though because i just invited the neighbor kids over and they had fun with what i didn't use.

LOL Judy, what an image! :) I don't know pricing for the canisters, sorry, but I think Freak covered how to get the gas out. Maybe the next one of us to pass the paintball section in the store could get us a price estimate.

The "cracker" is like two pieces that screw together with a pin inside. You put the canister in and screw it all the way closed which pops the canister. There is a whole on the actual canister its self where the gas come out of. Easily, a rubber tube can be placed over the end and ran into a mini rubbermaid or other holding device that is rubber (so that the opening where tube goes in is sealed) that holds your mice. "The mice chamber".

this is funny because when i created this topic, i didn't know the first thing about killing mice. Now I am a Professional.

The Army's secret weapon: Rodent Assassin. :)

LMAO....

Better watch out, you never know where you could be posted with a skill like that! ;)

Just thought I'd post an update, I saw those containers at Home Depot yesterday. In the Nuts & Bolts second, pretty cheap too. Looks like they'd be good for all sorts of things...

--Maarken

wow, thanks a lot

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I would correct it a little bit.

The humane way to use dry ice is to put the mice in the container FIRST, and then add the dry ice, that way the container slowly fills with the gas and they pass out and then die while "asleep"

If you fill the container with gas first and then add mice, it suffocates them to death, which is, not so humane.

Just a tip, dry ice doesn't suffocate the mice. They can still breath, they just don't inhale enough oxygen, and eventually fall unconscious, then die from oxygen deprivation. It's actually rather peaceful. I've heard of people dying from this before, in Africa there was a huge CO2 leak from an earthquake, that killed hundreds of people, and thousands of other animals in one night, and nobody even woke up, and people that were awake at the time, just fell down dead without any signs of struggle, or discomfort. They would walk right into the dangerous area, and not even know it until they were already on the ground unconscious.

I think that's a good enough reason to believe, that CO2 gassing is a fairly humane method of culling rodents.

To prevent the horrifying death by freezing, next time put your dry ice in a sealed container with holes in the top. Small Kritter Keepers work well for this. And try to keep the container out of the reach of the rodents, because it is extremely painful to touch dry ice. Don't try that at home!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I would correct it a little bit.

The humane way to use dry ice is to put the mice in the container FIRST, and then add the dry ice, that way the container slowly fills with the gas and they pass out and then die while "asleep"

If you fill the container with gas first and then add mice, it suffocates them to death, which is, not so humane.

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True, but not. They don't suffocate, but putting the gas in first, will cause pain when breathing in the gas, and cause the mice to panic and be in pain before death. You are correct that the mice should be put in first, or at the same time as the dry ice. :gj:

I use this dry ice method all the time with great success. I have never been told that I have to keep the frozen mice for more than 30 days to releases gases from the rodent though - can someone explain this comment.

Thanks

L.West, that's nonsense, you can feed as soon as you cull with CO2 gas. :P