mice killing

[Weather1]

I know many people use CO2 to kill there mice. What is another easy way of killing them before freezing them of feeding them already warm .

Thanks

[Matt]

IMO, cervical dislocation is the quickest and most human, other than CO2

[Linds]

I just put them in a pillowcase (one at a time) and wack them off the cement wall. If done correctly (this means HARD and FAST) they die instantly, no suffering at all.

[J.J.]

Linds, how do you do that? I mean, i think that you have guts to, cuz i cant! When you started were you scared/sad? I dont care that you kill your mice this way, im not complaining or anything, i just want to know how you got used to it, cuz i know some day I may have to do it. I love rats, i had pet rats, so its hard for me to feed rats, unless they are pre-killed. BUT I HATE MICE! THEY ARE SICK LIL B@$t3rds! lol, sorry, but i think they are mean freaks. lol :D

[sophia]

We do the same thing with the pillow case... it's even a black one... ye' olde pillah case o' death... don't feel bad J.J... I have to do all the rats. Tay will not bat an eyelash at the mice... but she has a special affinity to the rats. I don't relish in it myself... but my babies have to eat and when it comes to snakes or rats - it's not a hard decision for me...

Jon

[Edwin]

I used to get really grossed out when I first started killing rats using the pillowcase method.. the twitching and blood. Now I am used to it and dont even flinch at the thump when the pillowcase hits the wall.

It is a little unnerving in the beginning, but you will get used to it.

[Linds]

Well, I used to breed Berkshire rats for a chain of stores when I was younger to make some extra money - not as feeders... they were pets producing pets. I get attached to rats quite easily, and in the beginning it was AWFUL. But I just kicked myself in the butt and told myself to get over it! I stil have trouble to this day, and whenever I feel myself hesitant to pick up one of the ones that I started to form an attachment to I just do it really fast before I even have time to think about it. I've never found myself getting attached to mice - and I didn't feel bad for them since many times when I was picking them up to put them in the pillowcase they would give me a good bite - but even they took a while to get used to. I can't even kill an ant or housefly, but this isn't killing something in vain, I'm just keeping the cycle of life going, and I'm doing it in a humane manner which makes it ok. :)

[sophia]

Hey look at it this way... they live the lives of the sacrificed god - they are fed and pampered and every need is taken care of - then they are sacrificed for the greater good.

Jon

PS Mice bite the h*ll out of me too...

[Lisa]

you could try a hammer.

[Pixie]

I use the pillow case method as well and it was tough at first, I felt bad for being the "bringer of death" to the mouse. Funny, I never had a problem with my snake killing mice, as long as I didn't have to get my hands "dirty"!

After my bp got bit a couple of times, that's when I decided to prekill the mice. I gathered up my nerves and did it. One good whack against the toilet bowl and the deed is done. At first I didn't always whack them hard enough, they were stunned when given to my snake and that worked too.

The times I felt really bad was when I was trying to convert my bp to young rats and she refused them. I hated killing a rat for nothing...

[Kurzix]

just don;t swing so hard you crush their ribs...did that once and it sucked!! Mover muscles lol

[V.aw]

Originally posted by Linds
I just put them in a pillowcase (one at a time) and wack them off the cement wall. If done correctly (this means HARD and FAST) they die instantly, no suffering at all.


Not to start an arguement (because i know everyone here likes to yell and complain when someone has a different opinion)

but how do you accuractly assume you do this painlessly? People fall out of planes and live, others shoot themselves in the head point blank and live, but they do expieriance pain before they die. If i put you in a big bag and slammed you against a wall i think it would hurt wouldnt it?

(again, not to start an arguement, i just felt that was innaccurate.)

[V.aw]

Originally posted by Linds
and I'm doing it in a humane manner which makes it ok. :)

Once again...... "humanely" isn't slamming something against the cement (who's to say you dont get their rear end, and not their head?).. thats inhumane.. Humane would be spending investing in c02 gas. (yeah that suffocates, but thats alot more painless than a hammer, or a cement surface)

(don't post that iam some hippy just complaining, because iam not. I just disagree with your logic. (if thats what you call it) I also use mice as feeders, multiple mice in every feed. (i have probably as many monitors are you do snakes, oh and some of which like to tear their food apart, my feeders are adult mice killed with c02 gas)

PS
iam sure a mouse with severe head trauma will die instantly, but what if it doesnt? c02 kills them right away.

[tai_pan1]

whats with the over use of parenthesis?

[Tim_Cranwill]

That's some good ol' sarcasm!

[tai_pan1]

LOL! Not really, I just got tired of trying to keep track of the open and closed parenthesis.

[V.aw]

Yes, the use of brackets is a very important subject to bring up. Thank you for pointing out my over use of parenthesis. I very much appriciate it. Thank you.

[snakekeeper]

When it comes to feeding off small animals. Just think of it like this
Which is the closest to extinction herps or small animals. I would rather feed off small animals then watch another fantastic species become extinct. Thats just the way i see it....

[Cidah]

Hmm, I don't even think about it that much. If the rodents aren't prekilled already I just hold them by the tail and smack them pretty hard with a drumstick or dowel. Sometimes they kick a bit but they die quicker than they would if the snakes constricted them.

I don't consider this cruel or inhumane..

[Alicewave]

I would like to add that while fresh killing is important to prevent bites to the snake, and there fore safer than feeding live, freezing is an important step to kill any parasites a mouse could be carrying.

[Scotty Allen]

Holy smokes, the feeding of live rodents, or killing of same always seems to stir up such controversy. The operative here folks is that snakes eat rodents. Live with it. If you buy them frozen, you have to thaw them, if you buy them live, you either kill them or feed them live. Personally, I can't begin to imagine how many live rodents I've fed to snakes over the years and have never had a snake injured by one. Key here is to simply watch that the snake has grabbed the rodent securely and then move on to the next one. It is not very often that a healthy, hungry snake is harmed by a live, appropriately sized rodent.

"Cidah" and others I'm sure, I have to agree with you. A quick whack on the head is the simplest and most humane method of dispatching a food item if you don't want to let your snake do what they've been doing for many, many years.

[V.aw]

it isnt stirring up anything, go ahead feed it live, all i said was how is the quote i added painless.


I really dont think anyone reads posts properly they'd rather attack the person who goes against it

[V.aw]

This post was actually more of an experiment to see how many people read it wrong. I use pre-killed rodents, but frozen, and if i have to live sometimes. I just dont find that using a hammer or cement is painless, and thats all i asked is how can someone prove that it is.

[Scotty Allen]

Is someone "attacking" someone here? I certainly did not intend to.

[Pythonian]

(whats wrong with using parenthesis) ? (nothing at all) (how about you not kill the rats, and let ur snakes die?) (rather than analyze how linds or anybody else kills their rats) (you kill them your way, its MUCH better to be slammed against the wall FAST and HARD then chocked to death by a giant snake.) (i don't know from experiance but hey .. seems logical)..

Mike
president- North American Parenthesis Association

[Dom]

Interesting thread .. GREAT POST V aw.

First off .. I willl have to side completly with everything V. aw said .. I completly agree .. how do you know its painless.. the truth is you don't ..

My personal opinion is either CO2 or cervical snapping .. to me that is humane and painless and - yes painless

on an other note:

No one here was attacking no one .. but the whole sarcasm by some posters and the parenthesis joke to me is stirring up the pot though. Re-read V. aw posts and you will realize V.aw posted in a civilized and proper manner and I aplaude him for it - others did not though and to be honest, I think some ppl here do this almost purposly.

Before something starts, please do not post unless u want to voice an opinion. If you must attack someones oppinion - wich u may, thats what a discusion is - there are ways of doing in a civalized manner ..

Thanks everyone

Dom

[tai_pan1]

I wasn't trying to stir anything up. My apologies if it was taken that way. I was just commenting that the overuse of parenthesis was confusing and made the post hard to read and I figured my post might add some levity to the whole situation. As far as this whole thread goes, I say to each his own. In real life, these mice are going to have the life squeezed out of them slowly by snakes. This is a slow death in comparison to anything mentioned here. I myself have modified a store bought mouse trap to break their necks quickly.

I again, I apologize if I offended anyone.

Mike

[V.aw]

I wasn't offended at all Tai Pan. It was just fun to respond to that.


I find it funny how much people are like sheep. Follow the herd!
(figure that one out for yourselves :) )

thanks for the support dom.

[Quakezombie]

Who's a Lemming?!!? hehe

[hip]

Well I dont have need for mice at the present, but when I have had to kill mice in the past to feed neonate boas (no source for rat pups) I do the following I pinch the mouse behind the skull with my thumb and forefinger thusly breaking their neck and causing swift death.then off to the freezer with the mice.

happy new year

Hip

[AymKing]

I've just read everything above, all I can say is it can't tickle when the snake grabs its prey and suffocates it, either way a hit on a wall or by the snake or co2 it all comes down to: eating, you have to, obviously. How do you think the cows and pigs and chickens die that we eat?? It's a part of life. I believe that mice and such are made for that purpose and sometimes since we have brought snakes in our homes as pets we have to help them out, because those little rodents can do some damage to your snakes if you don't watch it!
Just thought I'd add my two cents, eat carefully. =o)

[Them and Us]

Well I'm vegetarian so i don't eat the cows and pigs and chickens. i turned veggie for health reasons long ago though. so no attack on my beliefs because its not my beliefs. its my diet. but your right. its our responsibility to feed the snake and pre-kill if need be so as to prevent damage to our own pet. i used to feed my Grey Rat live when i first acquired him and he was never hurt but I switched over to f/t as a pecaution to disease.