For me the way to do the smaller rats and most all mice is this:
A quick but not overly hard thump to the skull, the idea is to stun it momentarily or at least slow it down a bit. Then you grasp the tail firmly near the base, NOT the tip. Place your thumb and forefinger on each side of the neck just behind the head. Once you have a good grip on the neck, yank the tail away from the hand holding the neck really quickly. It will be a small, faint pop, and it's all over.
I tried using a pencil or something and doing it, but it never seemed to work like everyone said. I'd end up with squealing rats or mice flopping around half paralyzed. It almost killed me. But, once I learned to do it by holding the neck between my fingers and then pulling with the other hand, I almost never have that happen. Maybe once out of every 30, as opposed to one out of every 4 or 5 when i was trying the pencil trick. However, this method will also get you bitten if you fail to do a little head thump, so if you can't manage that, then go with CO2.
I can do this with mice from fuzzy to adult. And rats from fuzzy to weanling. I'm not to comfortable trying it over weanling size, but I'm sure it could be done.
Gale
Reply With Quote