How to? Kill?

[Joe balls]

How do you kill a rat? painlessly as possible
My big girl eats big rats but is getting lazy about it. Tonight she bit the live rats butt and coiled his back legs not constricting his vital organs but more just making a big rat angry. I was unable to break up the fight and to stop the rats biting and clawing I had to manually strangle the rat while she just held its legs for me to do her dirty work. It was horrible and heart braking to do but she was gonna get tore up if I didn't do something right then. So if this stubborn girl will only eat it if it's alive how do you stop the rat from doing any damage
please not frozen or dead ideas. all my other guys will take these options but ever sence I got her she ignores it unless it has a heart beat. I have tried and she wants to stalk her prey or she's just not interested
thank you

[CloudtheBoa]

The most humane, quickest way to kill a rat is cervical dislocation. Grab the neck at the base of the skull with one hand and the base of the tail with the other, and give a steady, firm pull. If done right, the rat will die instantly, and in my experience will have little to no twitching.

The only way you'll stop your snake from getting injured is by offering fresh-killed or f/t, even stunned prey can injure/kill your snake. The key to switching is persistence. It took me 1.5 years to switch my ball python to f/t from live, which he ate live for ~6 years of his life, so I was very late to the game, and he has changed how he prefers to be offered f/t several times (he used to get scared when I dangled the rat/mouse, now he gladly takes them from the tongs). Just keep at it and try many different ways and you'll eventually get her to eat f/t, if you want to switch her. Ball pythons can be supremely picky in how they eat, especially when trying to get them to switch from live.

[DVirginiana]

There is no humane way that I'm aware of to kill a rat after it's already been constricted that is safe for both you and the snake. You need to keep your tongs with you ready to put them in the rat's mouth if something like that happens. Putting your hand near a dying rat is going to eventually end with you needing stitches.

The only way you'll stop your snake from getting injured is by offering fresh-killed or f/t, even stunned prey can injure/kill your snake.

Not true... Stunning is actually more dangerous for the snake and cruel to the rat, and shouldn't be considered as an option... And some snakes simply will not make the switch to f/t without compromising their health.

There is a seven page thread about this exact argument going on right now if you haven't already seen it lol.

Edit: Cervical dislocation would be a good idea like Cloudtheboa said if you can find someone to teach you how. But were you saying the snake won't take freshly pre-killed or just won't take f/t?

[tbowman]

Not true... Stunning is actually more dangerous for the snake and cruel to the rat, and shouldn't be considered as an option... And some snakes simply will not make the switch to f/t without compromising their health.

Nobody recommended it.

[Eric Alan]

My big girl eats big rats ... just making a big rat angry.

How big of a rat are you talking about?

[DVirginiana]

Nobody recommended it.

It looked to me like it was listed as a 'no go' option along with feeding live. I was saying that one is a legitimately bad idea while the other is not. Sorry if I misinterpreted that.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

If you don't want to feed live and would rather feed f/t the efficient human ways to dispatch a feeders are as followed

Cervical dislocation if you have a small number to dispatch and if you are efficient at it.

CO2 chamber for larger numbers, must be done properly.

If you buy your feeder from a store some will pre-kill it for you as well.

Now the stunning issue not only is is inhumane but very dangerous for your snake, a rat coming out of a daze (and it can happen) when stunned is not gonna be the feeder you want stuck in a cage with your snake, that fall in the irresponsible live feeding category, so if you want to feed something with a heartbeat it will have to be live and here are the tricks.

First it starts with the feeder itself, make sure it is well fed and well hydrated especially if you buy it from a store.

Do not stress the feeder, no dangling by it's tail as you feed it etc.

Than scent the room

Feed an appropriate size rat, BP do not need large rats, I have a 4000 grams females she eats 150 grams rats at the very most, keep in mind that because they can eat large prey does not mean they need or should, BP are overfed in captivity as it is.

Remove rat after 10 min

Etc

If you cannot feed live successfully than you gonna need to use tough love and convert it, even if it takes months.

[tbowman]

It looked to me like it was listed as a 'no go' option along with feeding live. I was saying that one is a legitimately bad idea while the other is not. Sorry if I misinterpreted that.

I see what you mean now. The wording just confused me. I thought you took that as her recommending stunned prey.

I think that post was just meant to imply that f/t is the only way to completely eliminate all risk of a bite. 100% of the time. That is something that I don't think many would argue.

[DVirginiana]

I see what you mean now. The wording just confused me. I thought you took that as her recommending stunned prey.

I think that post was just meant to imply that f/t is the only way to completely eliminate all risk of a bite. 100% of the time. That is something that I don't think many would argue.

I just finished reading that other thread, so maybe that influenced how I read it. But yeah, I agree with that. I'd actually feed f/t if I could, but my BP isn't as keen on that idea as I am.

[Sonny1318]

I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think you mean "daze".