I consulted with my mother who worked in a pharmaceutical lab with rats for 20 years and my sister who is a vet and they both gave me the same list in roughly the same order from most humane to least:
Vets and Scientists are under the highest scrutiny in terms of their requirement to act humanely towards these animals:
1. Phenobarbitol or Pheno + additives (sp?) shot
2. Guillotine (which isn't possible for us obviously)
3. Breaking the neck by pinning 2 fingers on the back of the neck at the base of the skull with the animal flat on a surface and giving a quick firm tug to the base of the tail
4. CO2 gas... this is how they euthanize many individuals
According to them, there aren't really any other ways that are 'humane.' They both had a VERY big problem with drowning. It's actually pretty horrifying to think that someone would have no moral issue with that while also being a pet owner himself.
Here's my 2 cents on bludgeoning them (putting them in a sack and wacking it). If you have the ability to kill the rat using this method, be humane and buy yourself a thick pair of leather gloves (if you're worried about getting bit?) and use the method listed at #3. It's significantly more humane and less messy/drawn out. If you're insistent on using this method, HIT IT VERY, VERY HARD - AS HARD AS YOU CAN WITHOUT MAKING IT EXPLODE (that's what she said).
As far as killing more than 1 at a time, it looks like CO2 is the ONLY method that is accepted by people who put a LOT more time looking into this issue than any of us ever will.
EDIT: My mom just called me back to make it clear that it's important to gas them for a while. If you CO2 them for too brief a period and they wake up in the freezer, this is probably the least humane of any of the methods in this thread.
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