Humane way to euthanize rats?

[Inarikins]

I'm trying to let the snake kill and eat it, but thats not happened so far. I don't want to take care of rats-sorry, I just don't like them. So I wanted a good way of killing them that wouldn't make me feel sick...

I had done the bash them on the head method, but I hate doing it, 'cause I do agree that it is animal abuse... I dunno who gets it instantly, maybe I just can't swing that hard, but they always kick for a few minutes and it's pretty sad...

Good news is, the kicking is probably just nerves firing after death. It happens quite commonly because it's the nerves firing sporadically after death that makes muscles twitch until all the oxygen in the cells runs out. They're clinically dead, they just keep... moving.

Still, gassing is the only humane way to kill any rodent. Despite the fact that they're not humans and they're not the smartest creature (mice anyways, rats are pretty smart) they don't deserve a traumatic, violent death any more than a human or cat or dog does. CO2 gassing is how veterinarians tend to euthanize hamsters or other small animals if the need for euthanization is there. Just as you don't hit your dog in the head with a rock to put it down if it's sick or old, you shouldn't bash a feeder animal against a table just because you can't afford dry ice (which is really cheap, by the way) and a tub. I'd feed a live rodent to a snake any day over a rodent I had to bash over the head (especially because I doubt my ability to kill a rodent in a single strike versus putting it in a CO2 chamber and waiting it out).