To kill or not to kill!

calm down no ones killing any balls here :)

my question is should i kill the mice i have for the ball lol. here's the situation the reptile store i buy my food from is a decent drive so i usually buy a few mice hoppers for my little spider well shes finally at that point where i can giver her adult mice rather then hoppers and it was suggested to feed one live adult mouse and then try a frozen thawed, all my other balls are on frozen thawed so i really want her to be too, not thinking today and in a rush at the pet store i grabbed 6 LIVE mice ...... thats not gonna help me switch her at all .... dumbass. so im wondering IF and HOW i should kill the other 5 and freeze them ......... or should i just kill one and freeze it and see if she take it and if she does then kill the remaining 4?

i mean i guess i could just grab the tail and hit it against the wall is there a way thats easier on your conscience :P i have heard some mixed things about freezing living animals

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i have no Co2 or propane to do it holocaust style (euthanasia) tasteless i know .... but i know you laughed on the inside XD

Uh.... I'm not real experienced, but don't freeze them until they're dead. They're warm-blooded. You wouldn't enjoy freezing to death, would you? I know you joked about throwing them against the wall, but that actually would be more humane than freezing.... Someone with more experience might be able to give you a better idea than me.... I dunno' how much a CO2 chamber or something like that costs.

EDIT: Would gasoline in an enclosed container work?

Do not freeze. Cervical dislocation, if done correctly, is the most humane imo.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Do not freeze. Cervical dislocation, if done correctly, is the most humane imo.

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One way I've heard of is to place a straight, solid object (i.e. the edge of a hardcover book) against the back of their head and press down while pulling rapidly up on their tails to snap their necks and kill them instantly.

gasoline near anything im going to feed my snake sounds like a horrible idea propane does too now that i think about it. and the dislocation one thats the pencil on the neck and pull the tail right? i think if i was gonna do that id just wack em on the counter its just as bad on my conscience XD

A good whack against a wall is plenty humane aside from Co2. Personally I would rather be wrapped in a pillowcase and paralized that have a few seconds of terror not being able to breathe, though :/

You can purchase a tank of Co2 online and attach a tube to a tubberware container..there are some DIYs on youtube. I' guessing Co2 is kinda costly.

The easiest way to kill your rodents and what I do if I'm pre-killing is grip the rodent high up on the tail near it's body and place the dull side if the blade of a butter knife against the base of it's skull and then yank down firmly and swiftly on the tail while keeping the blade in place, this discovers their vertebrae and kills them about instantly.
This is cervical dislocation, like Mike said.

Be sure you hold the tail higher up though, I've heard if you do it too low the tail skin can come off.

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eh ill probably just grow some balls (pun intended) and give one a good whack against my counter .... o.O id have to do 5 of them .... this should be interesting

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Originally Posted by Coleslaw007

The easiest way to kill your rodents and what I do if I'm pre-killing is grip the rodent high up on the tail near it's body and place the dull side if the blade of a butter knife against the base of it's skull and then yank down firmly and swiftly on the tail while keeping the blade in place, this discovers their vertebrae and kills them about instantly.
This is cervical dislocation, like Mike said.

Be sure you hold the tail higher up though, I've heard if you do it too low the tail skin can come off.

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"about instantly" im liking the confidence XD i might give this a try or i might pitch it against the wall ... not very humane but atleast its not in my hands when it dies haha

Ok, so I will throw off the subject here! Why still feeding mice? Most of of mine start on rat pinks and move up rat sizes. Only the stubborn ones get mice for a while until I can get them eating rats.

reptile store near me has flat rates of mice $1 rats $2.50, regardless of the size of the mouse/rats so right now its way cheaper to feed mice.

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i did just find a guy near me who has connections to a breeder that will sell me mice for like 50 cents and rats anywhere from 75cents for pups to 3 bucks for jumbos small rats being 1.25 which id what i feed all my other balls so i was very excited but because of the shortage of mice in new england small food is hard to come by and when you do its jacked up in price like the guy that normally sells mice for 50 cents cant find one for under 1.50 each N.E.R.D. is taking a huge hurting right now because of it ... im sure you know who they are if not its New England Reptile Distributors .

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Originally Posted by jfaria1891

reptile store near me has flat rates of mice $1 rats $2.50, regardless of the size of the mouse/rats so right now its way cheaper to feed mice.

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I think in the long run its cheaper and easier with rats.

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Originally Posted by txcoker

I think in the long run its cheaper and easier with rats.

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i completely agree with you but at this size its cheaper to feed her mice then rat hoppers, ill switch her to rats when she can take a weaned rat, or if this dude ever finds some cheap rat hoppers

You can buy a block of dry ice at a grocery store and put it in a container with water to make a simple CO2 chamber. Just make sure the feeder isn't touching the ice. I find that's more humane than wacking, which is not so humane if you don't hit hard enough. Plus its easy on the conscious since its "hands free".

And I recommended cervical dislocation over wacking too.



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If you do anything consisting of banging the mice will bleed. Almost every time I've done it that way they have bled. Which won't help your conscience. And for your first time you won't know how much force to put in it, so they might not die the first time.

I use cervical dislocation. I use a screw driver cause it gives you a nice handle and a nice rounded off part to pin them down with. Just pin them down behind their head, and pull up at an angle. You'll feel/hear the crack. They will twitch a lot but they are dead, unless you did something wrong.

Not to gross everyone out, but I do cervical separation by hand. I grab them by the tail, pinch the neck right behind the head and in one movement I pinch down hard and pull the tail. I can feel the actual separation and know when the deed is done! I actually just got through doing about 30 rats that are now in the freezer, nothing to it! But keep in mind that I am an auto mechanic with hands of leather and I have a very strong pinch!

Meh, a swift hard wack works great, quick, easy. CO2, pretty cheap if you want to mess with it.

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just slam the heads on the floor, twitching and freeze them

Ok this is an easy way to do it, it is Co2 but Ive seen them gassed but they literally just fall asleep.

Take a tiny Mouse cage you can get from the store for 5 bucks. Get a cooler large enough for mice and small rat cage. Fill small rat cage with dry ice and a bit of water (be careful) place the fogging cage into cooler. Add rats and close cooler. Tada dead rats in about 3 mins.

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Originally Posted by Tfpets

Not to gross everyone out, but I do cervical separation by hand. I grab them by the tail, pinch the neck right behind the head and in one movement I pinch down hard and pull the tail. I can feel the actual separation and know when the deed is done! I actually just got through doing about 30 rats that are now in the freezer, nothing to it! But keep in mind that I am an auto mechanic with hands of leather and I have a very strong pinch!

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I just watched a video by a Biology school teacher about this. There have been studies on how to kill rats / mice in the most humane way possible for lab tests and feeding. Apparently this is the most humane way to do it. According to the study there is little to no adrenaline in the system when killed this way, as opposed to gassing, whacking and other methods. Which boils down to little to no stress when killing the animal. I suggest everyone watch the video, it's on YouTube. Just search cervical dislocation.