Culling mutated hatchlings:

[nevohraalnavnoj]

If I ever need to do this myself with any of my reptiles, I will be taking it to the vet to be put down. My vet has decades of experience with reptiles, and I trust him completely.

Freezing, as WingedWolfPsion said, is inhumane, as are most other "home" methods, including CO2. Besides, it's not like euthanasia is horribly expensive. (It's only $11 here; I've had to put down a couple geckos.)

I took a large lizard to be euthanized by a vet. The vet was unable to find the blood vessel when injecting the chemical, so then had to do it orally. The animal took several minutes to die, I will never do that again.

JonV

[mainbutter]

Destroying brain tissue is the best way to euthanize any highly developed animal organism, if your concern is to limit both intensity and time elapsed for any suffering.

Anything else is solely for the benefit of the executioner.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

DB, I wasn't judging your action, merely giving you the info. Even vets used to recommend freezing for reptile euthanasia. Further study on it showed that reptiles do not simply go to sleep in the freezer, but very likely suffer. This fact isn't widely known in the herp community yet.

I would guess they are unable to process this suffering due to slowed body processes, including the capacity for handling information. This is only my conjecture.

JonV

[2kdime]

Only thing I don't like about vet euthanasia is that they inject the heart with a heavy sedative.

My vet told me that it's kind of hit and miss sometimes as to it's effectiveness.

I'd want something that was bulletproof, yet humane.

[Eventide]

Only thing I don't like about vet euthanasia is that they inject the heart with a heavy sedative.

My vet told me that it's kind of hit and miss sometimes as to it's effectiveness.

I'd want something that was bulletproof, yet humane.

Quite frankly, if the vet doesn't know how to properly euthanize a reptile, then I'd be kinda hesitant to go to that vet....

No, sometimes the sedative isn't quite strong enough...so you give them more. This is what my reptile vet does. Reptiles are quite sensitive to sedatives; too much and they die. If the reptile just goes unconscious, then it wasn't given enough, and the vet gives it more. Once the reptile is sedated, it's not going to feel anything anymore.

[cerastesruber]

what about feeding them to canibalistic snakes? i.e. kings, milks, king cobras?

[Mike Schultz]

what about feeding them to canibalistic snakes? i.e. kings, milks, king cobras?

I've known a few hot keeper who feed less-than-perfect ball pythons to king cobras. I dont think of it any differently than feeding off rodents.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Feeding it to another snake is not humane, but it is (in my opinion) acceptable--the animal's life is going to feed another in that case. But what is acceptable to some people will not be acceptable to others.

[Vader6]

Its NEVER a good idea to release any reptile in the wild! Its ideas like this that might cause us to lose our reptiles

If it's going to die anywhere then there is no reason that it will become an invasive species to the area around it. Further more a BP will never be an issue even if they were released they are purely rodent eaters and don't get big enough to cause any issues to begin with. BP's might be taken away b/c of it's larger counter part snake brothers. BP's don't get big enough not to have a predator. Back on point I said to release it b/c if it had a illness that will cause it to die anyway might as well let it live out it's very short life exploring. Personal opinion.

[tina_t]

If it's going to die anywhere then there is no reason that it will become an invasive species to the area around it. Further more a BP will never be an issue even if they were released they are purely rodent eaters and don't get big enough to cause any issues to begin with. BP's might be taken away b/c of it's larger counter part snake brothers. BP's don't get big enough not to have a predator. Back on point I said to release it b/c if it had a illness that will cause it to die anyway might as well let it live out it's very short life exploring. Personal opinion.

Except that's not the point.

The fact is that most people who are making laws to ban snakes don't see anything beyond the 'PYTHON' and immediately have flashbacks to films like Anaconda... They are usually uneducated in terms of snake behaviour and species characteristics... and honestly, its been shown that they really don't care. Hence the random,vague and obscure conditions of snake bans in both Canada and the USA

Even if a snake only gets 4-5 feet, its still a threat to the natural environment. There are little FROGS and small insects that have caused HUGE issues... maybe a BP will not, but lets not give lawmakers the opportunity to nix owning ball pythons too!

NO Reptile Keeper or Exotic keeper should EVER be advocating the release of non-native species... Especially in the political environment that exists around Reptiles, Snakes and their breeding and ownership.

Just my opinion also....