CO2 chambers....... doing it today!!!

[PJ FF]

Hello, so iv heard one of the best ways for freezing mice is to put them in a CO2 chamber first. So, can I just put a mouse in a bag and then tape a CO2 cord into it and turn on the CO2..... I used to paintball so I think I have every thing

[Shelby]

I would not do it that way.. way too easy for it to leak oxygen back in and revive the mouse.

Go get a plastic container with a tight fitting lid (I used a big tub that had cheese balls in it originally) and drill a hole in the side of it near the bottom. Put the Co2 remote (cord) in there and seal it with something (I used hot glue.. caulk would probably work too)

Next drill a small hole in the lid of the container and run aquarium airline (the flexible clear plastic tubing used for bubblers) through the hole. Seal it like you sealed the remote line, and run the other end of the airline into a bucket of water. This is your exhaust line that keeps oxygen from getting back into the container.

Hope that made sense.

[PJ FF]

Ok, thanks Shelby.... your always the first to reply to my threads!!! thanks again

[Bdadawg]

Another simple way is to use dry ice.


Find a "rubbermaid" type container that will hold about 1 lb of dry ice (thats about 2 handfuls). Drill 10-12 1/4" holes in the lid of the container.



(this container helps so that the rats/mice do not touch the dry ice and lose limbs)

Next put this container into a 5 gallon bucket, garbage can, or something along those lines.



(this was an old 4 gallon laundry detergent bucket).

To activate this chamber put about 1 lb of ice into the rubbermaid ... then add about 1" of ice to the same container. This will immediately cause the dry ice to produce Co2. Quickly move the rubbermaid to the bucket and LOOSELY put on lid. Start dropping in the rats and mice. Once they dry ice stops producing large amounts of Co2 (usually 5-8 minutes) shake it around a bit.

I used this last night on some extra large rats (old breeder males). They had passed out within 30 seconds and were dead within 2 minutes.

The major difference between using dry ice and a Co2 canister is that under no circumstances do you want the outer container on dry ice to be air tight (thus putting the lid on loosely). If you do make it air tight the expanding gasses will blow the lid off or the container up.

Total cost for the above setup was $0.99. That was the cost of the dry ice.

Bryan

[PJ FF]

Thanks Bryan, by time I read this I had done Shelbys idea for the Co2 but sounds like a great idea. I dont know anything about dry ice but when its producing the Co2, does it get smaller and smaller?

[Bdadawg]

Thanks Bryan, by time I read this I had done Shelbys idea for the Co2 but sounds like a great idea. I dont know anything about dry ice but when its producing the Co2, does it get smaller and smaller?

Dry Ice is actually a frozen form of Co2 so the answer is yes the dry ice does reduce in size. It will normally shrink even being kept in the freezer ... however the water tends to make it shrink faster/ produce gas faster. I normally end up tossing about 3/4 lb of the origional 1lb ice chunk ... but thats basically because I dont want to store it. The 1lb chunk is what I found, through trial and error, to produce the amount of gas I want. I usually break the 1lb chunk into smaller pieces to produce more surface area.

Bryan