I have to put him down . . .

Well tomorrow is cleaning day but I decided to do it early and I noticed one of my breeder rats testicles is chewed out! Either he had an infection and it rotted out or one of the females attacked him or something because now he only has one and I can see inside of him. Will a vet put him down for free because I dont feel like hooking up a CO2 chamber and everything , and definetly dont want to knock him on the head or anything because he is huge and it will only hurt him not kill him. I am very sad about this but atleast I have another male. I would post pics but I dont have a camera anymore. I feel so bad . . .


-Andre

Do you have a chamber Andre or did you mean you'd have to go put one together to euthanize this male? A vet isn't likely to do work for free unless you have a vet you use regularily and they might do it for you for a reduced rate. I hope you have this injured male by himself now. It's best if you can either put him down yourself humanely or have a vet do it as soon as possible as that's got to be a painful thing for a male animal and there's no use letting him suffer needlessly.

I do have a chamber but its not hooked up. any other advise is needed. I know he must be suffering but is still trying to get his job done with the ladies.

Andre get him out of the cage with those females! Why would you leave a badly injured animal in an active breeding environment? If how you are describing it is accurate he's got major testicular damage and shouldn't be allowed to attempt breeding. If you've got a chamber available to you then in my opinion, there's simply no excuse for leaving him to suffer if he's this damaged just because "you don't feel like" hooking up your chamber.

I dont know where to get more tubbing. Do you think a farm store would?

Amen Jo. :worship:

Unless you have plans on having him treated by a vet, please put that poor animal out of it's misery. You are responsible for this creature, and you need to do something asap.

how should I do it because I want to do it nopw but how with out tubing? He is a pretty big rat the biggest i have

You want me to tell you where to get tubing for your co2 chamber? Andre, if you have a chamber you either have tubing for it or you don't. If you don't then you should have long ago found out where to get the parts for it since your chamber won't work without all the parts it needs.

If you can't humanely euthanize this rat you're going to have to get your vet to do so. You cannot leave it to suffer. You cannot leave it in an active breeding environment even for one night, at least get it into a cage of it's own until it's put down.

I am just saying because i tried walmart and everything. I will see if my mom has some big enough from are old fish tank. If I find some I will put him down righ away. He is currently seperated from the females.

If you're just looking for airline tubing go down to your local pet shop the stuff is real cheap....put that poor rat out of his misery.

Air tubbing can be found in most stores. Usually walmart wil have it for aquariums, i seen it at all the pet stores, petco/petsmart also has them, try homedepot im sure they have it there as well.

this thread makes me sad... poor rattie :(

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

he's got major testicular damage

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im sorry if this is wrong but i just imagined doctors yelling that it was hilarious

Drop him in a pillow case and whack him up aganist a brick wall as hard as you can!

Get what you need, or take him to a vet.
Unless you are trolling for attention(which you are a memeber here from a while back so I would hope not) then you have a seriously wounded animal, that you are NOT treating, and not caring for properly.
If you have a source of CO2, then you can hook it directly to a larger garbage bag with his cage in it, or in a cardboard box with some holes. Then you can euthanize right away. Yes CO2 chambers are nice, but in a pinch, putting a rat down with the garbage bag put over the cardboard box and introducing CO2 is still a viable alternative. To say you CAN"T because of something like you lack tubing is irrresponsible.
NOTE: I am Not saying to suffacate it with a plastic bag, just use the bag to make a quick airtight chamber for euthanasia using CO2. If you were to suffacate him in a plastic bag, it would be batter to smash his head or something. At least quicker.
At any rate you need to deal with your responsibilty right away.
Wolfy

I euthanized him last night. I was looking for some big tubing not the skinny thing but all i could find was that but then I found some to use in are basement that is connected to our furnace and i cut some off. I feel bad for him. Do you think he could have gotten an infection?

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Originally Posted by Shadrach

Drop him in a pillow case and whack him up aganist a brick wall as hard as you can!

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That's really humane! :sweeet:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

That's really humane! :sweeet:

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Why wouldn't it be? If it's done correctly and hard, it's instant death and they don't feel it. That's how I prekill my rodents.

Just for future reference, the easiest way to euthanize a large rodent involves a sealed container, whether it be a cooler, sterilite tub, whatever, and a block of dry ice from the grocery store. Put the rat and the dry ice inside the cooler and close it. Check back 5 mins later and you've got a dispatched rat that got to take a trip to la-la land before he passed on. No need for all the extra equipment...

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Originally Posted by JenHarrison

Why wouldn't it be? If it's done correctly and hard, it's instant death and they don't feel it. That's how I prekill my rodents.

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Blunt force trauma is not considered a humane practice by any stretch.

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Originally Posted by JenHarrison

Why wouldn't it be? If it's done correctly and hard, it's instant death and they don't feel it. That's how I prekill my rodents.

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Lets not start this debate again. Feel free to see the other threads where HUMANE killing of rodents is discussed. This isn't one of the methods.

you asked if he could have gotten an infection...

well i would assume that's a great possibility... having an open would in a cage where others leave their fecal matter and pee... *nodding*

regardless it's mute now...

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

you asked if he could have gotten an infection...

well i would assume that's a great possibility... having an open would in a cage where others leave their fecal matter and pee... *nodding*

regardless it's mute now...

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Exactly....

also, I am sitting here wondering why you had not noticed this earlier on so it could have been treated perhaps saving his life, whatever has happened to this rat, most likely did not happen over night, cause had a female ripped out a testicle, he would have most likely bled to death before it would have gotten a chance to clot.

For the health and future of your current breeders and any others you acquire, it would be a good idea to assess the situation and figure out what happened if possible, and correct any husbandry issues you may have.

Well I check on the every day but I dont usually pick them up and when i picked him to clean his cage is when i noticed and at first it looked like poop matted in his fur because it was black and then i checked him again and it wasnt.

Andre if you haven't done so already go with Brad's suggestion if you can't find tubing.... Go tomorrow and buy some dry ice, get a cooler, put your rat in a sterlite tub with locking lid, put it in the cooler, and then close the cooler...and you're done. Don't let this poor rats life drag on because of procrastination.