Humane

[marylyn101]

How humane is gassing. when i do it i always wonder. they go in such distress trying to get out and the twitching that goes on. i use CO2. i used to buy my mice but desided to breed. just wondering if i could get some insight or links to insights.

[Linds]

It is the only approved method (approved by who? labs or humane society or something or other, I forget exactly). They do not feel anything. Of course they are trying to get out, most rodents will when you stick em in a container, gas or not. It is comparable to when people die from carbon monoxide poisoning. You don't even know it is happening, since you can still physically breathe, you don't notice the lack of oxygen, just that you are getting dizzy and lose consiousness. You are already rendered unconscious so you do not feel yourself die.

[cpt_retic]

probably more humane then me . smacking a maglite flashlite over a rabbit or rats head.

[Slannesh]

http://personal.riverusers.com/~busybee/euthanasia.htm

Info from the site:
Of those methods for euthanasia approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) 1, the only method that could be used safely at home involves the use of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is heavier than air and nearly odorless. In low concentrations (7.5%) it is an analgesic (pain reliever), and at medium concentrations (30%-40%) it can be used as an anesthetic, causing rapid loss of consciousness without struggling, distress, or excitation. 3 At high concentrations (>80%) CO2 causes quick death. High concentrations, however, painfully irritate eyes and the respiratory tract, so it is important to first induce an analgesic effect, then bring about deep anesthesia (within 1 to 2 minutes) before exposing the animal to high concentrations.

If they're freaking out and twitching when you gas them it's probably because you're bringing the CO2 levels up much too quickly. Take a look at that site and it gives a pretty good idea how to bring the levels up gradually, inducing analgesic then anesthetic before a lethal dose of CO2 is delivered.

[daver676]

I've heard that using a high concentration of gas at the start can cause eye and lung irratation in rodents. Perhaps try using less gas at the start, then gradually increasing the concentration until the rodents are dead. On the other hand, like Linds said, they may also just want out.

[Lisa]

We use dry ice to create our carbon dioxide (CO2) and do the rodents in batches as we don't want to put the mice and rats in the same container at the same time. after the first batch (and each subsequent batch you can watch the rodents deal with the left over gas. what happens is they wander around like they are drunk (oxygen deprivation), fall over and go to sleep. I can't think of anything more humane then that.