I'm a picky feeder..

[PopGoesAli]

I mean really!.
I'm really picky on how my feeder mice are killed!
Just the quick snap of the neck and its dead is what i prefer.

When I had my Ball python, I had went to the pet store that we
had bough my birds from. I asked for a adult mouse, And the lady
threw it in a baggy tied it up and handed it to me. The whole ride home
it was moving and twitching and making these noises. It was inhumane.

When i got home it was still alive, i didn't know how to react to it. I didn't want to open it because i didn't want my girl eating live food! (I had tried two, and they had scratched her, So from then on it was dead!) So i left it on top of the dresser and i left the room for a while. When i came back I opened the bag and fed her.

Well the other day i bought a feeder mouse (The already frozen ones.)
And I could tell they just put it in the bag and sealed it up!. it was covered in feces and pee, And blood was coming out of its nose. Good god!
So i went and cleaned it off before feeding it to Necia (My Boa)


SO! Question for all of you guys! Are you guys picky about how the
feeder mice/rats are killed? Do you do it yourself, Or buy them pre-killed?

[iBaman]

one of the more 'humane' ways to kill a mouse is to stick it in the freezer. It's cheaper than buying dry ice and putting them in the cooler. it's just one of the facts of having a snake...the food can be adorable at times xD

[Grim]

Oh, no :c

I don't have a snake yet, but I will in the near future. Good god, I hope I don't have to deal with that. I've kept rats as pets for years and it would break my heart if that happened. Then again, I could never kill it myself. I will definitely be a picky feeder.

[MoreliAddict]

one of the more 'humane' ways to kill a mouse is to stick it in the freezer. It's cheaper than buying dry ice and putting them in the cooler. it's just one of the facts of having a snake...the food can be adorable at times xD
Large rodent suppliers gas their mice to death with CO2 or something, before throwing them in the freezer.

[iBaman]

Yeah, usually they do the dry ice thing. It's faster for them...I know a lot of feeder breeders who just toss them in the freezer...

[Lankyrob]

Breeders of prey in the UK are regularly inspected to ensure that they kill the prey items humanely, i wouldnt buy from a small breeder unless i was damn sure they also killed the mice/rats humanely.

[PopGoesAli]

Lol the food can be super cute xD and I love all animals, I used to own a rat myself. So it's hard to see/hear them suffer

Putting them in the freezer is a smart idea just pop it in and boom! Done xD

@Grim it is sad but I just think of it as food ("it's just food ali FOOD FOOD FOOD!) Lol.
I hate when people just hand me a bag with a suffocating mouse.. And they didnt even take out any if the air to make it die faster. They tired it up with a big air bubble. Took it 20-30 minutes to die. Poor thing -.-

[SnakeyJay]

There's no way I'd throw a live prey in the freezer.. How is that more humane?? Have you thought about how it feels for your organs to shut down from extreme cold?

Just snap the neck or use co2.

[rmfsnakes32]

Its an unfortunate fact when you buy frozen feeders you run the risk of inhumane things buy from rodent pro they have standards they have to follow

[Platinumxero]

When I first bought my baby corn snake she was so tiny she had to eat itty bitty pinkies, they could not have been older than a day. We were buying them frozen, but they looked smashed and gross. So we began buying them live and just freezing them ourselves in individual bags. It would be hard to try and kill them before putting them in the freezer so we just wrapped them up two at a time in little sandwich bags and placed them in the freezer.

I tried feeding my snake live pinkies at the time as well since they are harmless, but for some reason my snake doesn't and has never coiled around them to kill them. Needless to say they squeaked all the way down... I felt horrible. So no more live pinkies for my Squiggles! Lol. I will just keep putting them in the freezer.

[PopGoesAli]

Its an unfortunate fact when you buy frozen feeders you run the risk of inhumane things buy from rodent pro they have standards they have to follow

Thank you for the tip :P
I will start buying them from there! ^^

[Gungirl]

Freezing to death is not humane :angry: ...

When I was breeding mice/rats for my group I was using co2 to do the job. Now that I am not breeding I have had to buy live a few times. Those times I simple snap the necks with one fast motion. They feel nothing at all and it is far more humane than freezing it to death.

[PopGoesAli]

When I first bought my baby corn snake she was so tiny she had to eat itty bitty pinkies, they could not have been older than a day. We were buying them frozen, but they looked smashed and gross. So we began buying them live and just freezing them ourselves in individual bags. It would be hard to try and kill them before putting them in the freezer so we just wrapped them up two at a time in little sandwich bags and placed them in the freezer.

I tried feeding my snake live pinkies at the time as well since they are harmless, but for some reason my snake doesn't and has never coiled around them to kill them. Needless to say they squeaked all the way down... I felt horrible. So no more live pinkies for my Squiggles! Lol. I will just keep putting them in the freezer.

Oh gosh i wouldn't know how to handle that lol.
But i agree with the smashed thing. I've bough some and they where crushed as well.. It is really gross.

[PopGoesAli]

There's no way I'd throw a live prey in the freezer.. How is that more humane?? Have you thought about how it feels for your organs to shut down from extreme cold?

Just snap the neck or use co2.

o-o'' ermm. Maybe your right..
Haha :sorry:

[PopGoesAli]

Freezing to death is not humane :angry: ...

When I was breeding mice/rats for my group I was using co2 to do the job. Now that I am not breeding I have had to buy live a few times. Those times I simple snap the necks with one fast motion. They feel nothing at all and it is far more humane than freezing it to death.

It is how i prefer mine to be killed anyways. I bring one home pop it in her cage, and pop the rest in the freezer. Idk. I guess i wasn't thinking.. I wouldn't wanna freeze to death x_x''
..What is co2? (HAH Ali you silly girl ;p)

[Gungirl]

Co2... mix vinegar and baking soda. Its a gas.. Puts them to sleep then they die in their sleep.

[iBaman]

I would rather freeze to death than drown or burn ;P And snapping the neck is something that doesn't always work...what if you just paralyze it? Or do you like...twist it all the way around?

[Gungirl]

Grab right behind the head with Hemostats and then grab the tail. Pinch the hemostats and pull the tail in one hard tug. You can feel the spine break and and the neck crushes. They are done with in a split second of doing that.

It only sucks when you pull to hard and you pull the tail off... :sorry:

[iBaman]

Ewwwwwwwwww. I would be horrified if i pulled a tail off xD it's bad enough when pajamas hits so hard i'm left with half a tail..

[PopGoesAli]

Grab right behind the head with Hemostats and then grab the tail. Pinch the hemostats and pull the tail in one hard tug. You can feel the spine break and and the neck crushes. They are done with in a split second of doing that.

It only sucks when you pull to hard and you pull the tail off... :sorry:

I have seen it done with people putting there fingers behind the neck and do a quick pinch and pull. And then its done o;

[Gungirl]

I have been bitten a few times. I prefer my hands not be on the head end of the food item.

[PopGoesAli]

Co2... mix vinegar and baking soda. Its a gas.. Puts them to sleep then they die in their sleep.

So you just slip them into a container and put that in there? o;

[PopGoesAli]

I have been bitten a few times. I prefer my hands not be on the head end of the food item.

Yeahh i wouldn't wanna be bit either.. LOL

[Gungirl]

So you just slip them into a container and put that in there? o;


No.. I use a tote with a hole cut in the top. I place the food items in there and then attach the lid tightly. I place a tube into the hole in the top of the lid then the tube goes into another container. In the second container I mix the baking soda and vinegar. This allows for the gas to get to the food Items but not for them to get into the mixture.

Here something like this..
DE-Co2 chamber - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dobFvV2HZc)

[PopGoesAli]

one of the more 'humane' ways to kill a mouse is to stick it in the freezer. It's cheaper than buying dry ice and putting them in the cooler. it's just one of the facts of having a snake...the food can be adorable at times xD

No.. I use a tote with a hole cut in the top. I place the food items in there and then attach the lid tightly. I place a tube into the hole in the top of the lid then the tube goes into another container. In the second container I mix the baking soda and vinegar. This allows for the gas to get to the food Items but not for them to get into the mixture.

Here something like this..
DE-Co2 chamber - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dobFvV2HZc)

Thank you for telling me that :) now I can do it myself! And it won't be a guessing game anymore

[Wildside]

one of the more 'humane' ways to kill a mouse is to stick it in the freezer. It's cheaper than buying dry ice and putting them in the cooler. it's just one of the facts of having a snake...the food can be adorable at times xD

Frankly I prefer not to have my hands in the cage when my snakes eat and the issue of freezing to death has already been covered. When ice crystals begin to form in the muscle it's an excruciating feeling.

[Revenant]

One more for freezing being far, far from humane or "boom!" and done.

I used to be a neck snapper, but my husband researched a bit and found good recommendations for Co2 chambers. It's actually a lot more convenient, anyway. Easier to do batches and he can have a bucket ready to go for me in minutes. He says that studies have shown when you do just enough to put them to sleep, then follow up with a larger dose to kill them when they are unconscious, it is considered the most humane method because animals killed in the 2-stage method don't register stress hormone spikes. Otherwise doing it quickly can feel like drowning.
I just know he's super tender-hearted towards rodents and it makes him feel good to help. A home C02 chamber is quick, easy and cheap to build and run and is good for fresh killed or freezing your own rodents.

[PopGoesAli]

Yeah, I want rally thinking when I posted.
And all I want is you do it humanly.

So how much would you use? (measures)

[Revenant]

I'd have to ask my husband if he uses exact measurements, when he gets home. Depends on the size of your chamber and they amount and size of the feeders, I am sure. If I guessed based on what I've seen, maybe a quarter cup of baking soda and a few cups of vinegar total. I've heard you could use a canister from a paintball store, but we use vinegar and baking soda since we buy a lot of it for cleaning anyway.

[PopGoesAli]

Ohh okay,
Thank you :")

[exwizard]

There's so much I want to say, being an ex-rat breeder myself but there's only so much my "smart" phone can do. I guess I will wait until after I get home and on my computer.

[exwizard]

Yeah, usually they do the dry ice thing. It's faster for them...I know a lot of feeder breeders who just toss them in the freezer...Tossing in the freezer alive is inhumane. There's no question about that.

Lol the food can be super cute xD and I love all animals, I used to own a rat myself. So it's hard to see/hear them suffer

Putting them in the freezer is a smart idea just pop it in and boom! Done xD

@Grim it is sad but I just think of it as food ("it's just food ali FOOD FOOD FOOD!) Lol.
I hate when people just hand me a bag with a suffocating mouse.. And they didnt even take out any if the air to make it die faster. They tired it up with a big air bubble. Took it 20-30 minutes to die. Poor thing -.-
I used to keep pet rats myself before, long before I ever got into snakes. That being said, later when we bred rats primarily for snake food, even though we played with them to keep them pet tame, they were never pets. They were livestock and if any of them ever escaped, they were vermin. Thats just the way it was.

Freezing to death is not humane :angry: ...

When I was breeding mice/rats for my group I was using co2 to do the job. Now that I am not breeding I have had to buy live a few times. Those times I simple snap the necks with one fast motion. They feel nothing at all and it is far more humane than freezing it to death.

Co2... mix vinegar and baking soda. Its a gas.. Puts them to sleep then they die in their sleep.

I agree with this although Ive never had to snap the neck. When we euthanized the larger rats, we used dry ice and poured water over it to create the CO2 gas and sealed all this up in a bucket with a lid. It knocked them out fast and they went right to sleep. Of course we had top dry them off afterward before freezing them because they were always so wet. For the smaller rats and for the mice, we used "foodsaver" vacuum seal bags and sealed them up. They were done in no time and this came in handy for those who chose to use hot water to thaw them out as the rodents never got wet.

There's so much I want to say, being an ex-rat breeder myself but there's only so much my "smart" phone can do. I guess I will wait until after I get home and on my computer.

The following is just my opinion so dont take this personally....

Rats and mice are what we primarily use as snake food. That is a fact. While I believe that when euthanizing rodents is necessary it is always best to be done in as humane a method as possible, we cant let that interfere with our snakes' well being. All things in its right perspective. If one is squemish about feeding off rodents to feed his/her snakes them maybe snake ownership should be reconsidered.

One day I will breed rats and mice again should the circumstances present that opportunity for me and I will use the same methods I used before our split, when we operated jointly in this venture. Keep the rats pet tame, euthanize humanely when necessary and above all, make sure we have enough rodents to feed our snakes when its time for them to eat.

[alessia55]

The store I buy from snaps the necks on the spot for me, then puts them in a big bag, and I freeze them when I get home.

[Wyldrose]

I CO2 my rodents(vinegar and baking soda, air line tubing and an ice cream bucket). I only have one snake who doesnt like frozen but he will eat prekilled dwarf hamsters. Any tips on breaking the necks of the little buggers? They dont have more then 0.5 inch of a tail. Seems pointless to gas one hamster every week. When I gas mice it's usually a group of them.

[Jay]

I CO2 my rodents(vinegar and baking soda, air line tubing and an ice cream bucket). I only have one snake who doesnt like frozen but he will eat prekilled dwarf hamsters. Any tips on breaking the necks of the little buggers? They dont have more then 0.5 inch of a tail. Seems pointless to gas one hamster every week. When I gas mice it's usually a group of them.

Really... Just switch your snake to rats, you obviously didn't try hard enough.

[Wyldrose]

Live rats are illegal here(Alberta Canada is a rat free zone), if I could have them here I would. I have frozen rats and he wont touch them, warmed up, over night, zombie dance, brained etc. He eats the dwarf hamsters within a couple minutes of me putting one in with him.

[Aaron_S]

Gas chambers for rats you say?

Best one ever. CO2 Chamber (http://www.strictlyballs.ca/co2chamber.htm)

On the topic of the original poster. I have NEVER heard or done what you described. I can't believe someone would be so lazy as to suffocate a mouse. That takes awhile and it's severely inhumane.

I just broke necks when a customer wanted a pre-killed mouse for their snake. It's rather simple and easy to do on one or two animals. CO2 is a way better option for mass amounts.

[PopGoesAli]

Sadly people do it alot over here :/
It gets to me alot.
I never had a problem feeding live because
She was eating it. But when a person suffocates it, it's just so sad.
It really gets to me : T

[Wildside]

Sadly people do it alot over here :/
It gets to me alot.
I never had a problem feeding live because
She was eating it. But when a person suffocates it, it's just so sad.
It really gets to me : T


That's a lot of work when you could just let the snake do it :rolleyes:

[KORBIN5895]

Buy a paint scraper.

Place paint scraper at the base of the head and push against a hard surface.

CO² is not very humane as most people don't use it properly.

[RandyRhoads]

I feed live mice. And for rabbits I drop a 30 pounds weight on their head. Messy but effective.

[KORBIN5895]

You know what? I missed you Randy. That is the best answer yet.

[RandyRhoads]

Missed me, where'd I go??