As cruel as it sounds and as hard as it may be at first, stunning might be best for you for now.

The object with stunning is to hit the rat hard enough to subdue but not kill it.

I've had to do it a few times and it isn't easy, but when it come to the safety and happiness of my babies I do what I have to.

I found that a quick sharp rap to the head with my feeding tongs does the trick, the rat goes stiff for a few seconds, then goes limp. It will still be breathing, and may twitch a little, most of my snakes will snap a stunned rat in seconds.

If you don't think you can deal with stunning, try P/K. If the rats are small enough you can do this by cervical dislocation. Lay the rat on a hard surface and grip the tail. Place a pencil or screwdriver on the neck just behind the head. Then simultaneously push down with the pencil and give the tail a sharp yank. This usually results in instant death. Be aware however, on rats that are much beyond the wean stage, or roughly 1 1/2 times the size of a mouse, this method does NOT work well and I don't recommend you try it. For rats that are larger your best bet is CO2.

Gale