cranky rat - Page 3

Freakonaleash · 06-17-04, 01:15 PM

oh my god cake... thats horrible =/ , how do you figure it to be any better than thwacking it on something hard? UGH

Cake · 06-17-04, 01:26 PM

Its a perfectly acceptable way to kill a rodent, animal rights at the university of guelph dont have a problem with it so niether do I. Is just a question of weather or not you can stomach it. I personally think its less painfull then CO2. Once you seperate the spinal chord they are incapable of feeling pain, and the swift whack to the head knocks em out for the 2 secs it takes to do the dirty work.

Freakonaleash · 06-17-04, 02:42 PM

i can see how its a quick and efficient way to kill it... but damn... that just sounds harsh. not something i have the stomach for. like you said heh. infact, im thinking it may be worth a try to try and feed my snake thawed out rodents, so i dont have to kill it myself... i will try that this coming week, cause he just ate last night. but honestly i dont know if he will go for it. like i said, the previous owner i know for a fact now, fed almost strictly fresh killed gerbils to all his balls. i dont have a huge problem with the swinging-the-bag-to-the-conrete method, cause i never have to even touch the poor little thing. i will see how it goes though...

dave68 · 06-17-04, 03:13 PM

wow I think a lot of people should calm down and read through first at least before they so callously attack one another, come on let's grow up!!!!

Dave

Cake · 06-17-04, 03:17 PM

Its a case of whatever does the trick you you, I got a friend who kills em by grabbing em by the tail and throwing the mouse or rat into the bathtub.

Cake · 06-17-04, 03:23 PM

Do you call it a poor little thing while your winging it around above your head?....hahaha.

I dont meant to attack you I just think its funny that you call it a poor little thing and then smash it into concrete. I have this warped picture in my mind of you looking sad and then....splat

mykee · 06-17-04, 04:39 PM

Freak, as no on else has mentioned it, 97 degrees is way too hot for the hot spot. Try to keep it between 90-95 if you must. Also, 65% humidity is also a tad high, 50-60% is optimal when NOT in shed, and 80% when IN shed. Lastly, not ONCE did I mention that you should permanently change your enclosure to a rubbermaid, had you attempted to continue trying rats, a smaller enclosure might have helped you, but if you read over my last almost two years of posts, I always say that it is difficult to maintain the proper husbandry in an aquarium, BUT if you can keep the temps where they need to be, and the humidity up, then more power to you. I'm done.

sapphire_moon · 06-17-04, 06:11 PM

exactly, if you can keep the temps and humidity where they need to be (as I thought you were having trouble with it, so sorry to have "attacked" you on that!) then great.

As for cervical dislocation, it is one of the top "humane" ways of killing snake food. It's basicly Co2, cervical dislocation, whacking. If done properly (which it is hard to do on a grown rat) then results in a quick, painless death.

dave68 · 06-17-04, 08:50 PM

I'm not sure what all the heat about aquariums is coming from. I keep allmost my whole collection in aquariums and have never had any problems. They always eat, they breed regularily and produce vibrant healthy offspring. The only thing is, you need to select the appropriate size for each specimen. I am in no way putting down the idea of keeping in rubbermaids etc... It really is a preferance thing in my opinion. Nothing worthy of such a drawn out argument.To all do what works for you and be happy.

Dave

da_illest · 06-17-04, 09:11 PM

freak, my bad for speaking the way i did in my last post.. that wasn't the way you give advice.. i got mad because i had the whole WILD/CAPTIVE arguement with people in the past.. i don't like people comparing things in captivity to the wild... i still believe what i said was right, just said in the wrong manner, causing a problem...

balakoth · 06-17-04, 09:22 PM

Sapphire, none of my comments were directed towards you.

Quote : "If you want to ride in on your white horse and stick your nose in an ongoing discussion with ZERO prior history, then yes, your new label is deserved. "

Sorry, I thought I was browsing a public forum.

We are done.. moving on.

balakoth · 06-17-04, 09:29 PM

EDIT

Freakonaleash · 06-18-04, 12:00 AM

Cake, honestly i have a soft spot for rodents, they are incredibly cute and for about two years i had been just keeping them as pets, when they would have a litter id sell them to the pet store. so yea i do feel kind of bad when i have to kill a gerbil (gerbils are infintely more cute than a mouse any day) but when i stopped keeping mice as pets, that freed up room for something else, so thats why we got the snake. but i know that i cant feed the snake a live gerbil so i do kill it, but i kill it with a heavy heart... if that makes any kind of sense. as far as the whole swinging around thing, i like to think of it as one last thrill for the gerbil =) ... like when the ferris wheel reaches its peak velocity. but i have killed... 3 gerbils and a rat now with the old plastic bag against the ground technique, and it just seems the fastest and least painful... like i said i have never heard a single noise from the rodent after it struck. this also keeps me from having to touch or handle the gerbil at all... cause if i had to hold the poor thing, i could never kill it. so yea, i do feel bad about killing em... but i know i have to. which is why next week im going to try thawed prey ( i have my doubts though... i have talked to the previous owner, and he told me he had been feeding it fresh killed gerbils for years) but i figure its worth a try.
Mykee, actually... a while back, when i was having trouble with temps... i cant remember who, but someone told me that if i can keep the warm side temp below 100 F its fine... but very well obi wan /smile , i will do some more fine tuning with my set up, maybe add another CD case to the corners to try and get it down a few degrees (as i have still not been able to find an appropriate lamp dimmer or rheostat that doesnt require me to do any wiring and possibly ruining my 50 dollar UTH). Also , i was told on here that as long as the humidity stays above 50 percent at all times its fine, that it only has to be around 80 during shedding. but i cant think of anything to fix that... as since i have put in a new larger water bowl it has stuck around 65. other than maybe moving the bowl further from the UTH. that may lower it a bit. as far as the whole aquarium comment, im sorry, i havent been here two years (only about a month really) , and it seemed like everyone (you included) was completely dead set against my using an aquarium since i came here. But yes, the temps are relatively stable, will hopefully be lowered a couple degrees by tomorrow morning, along with a lower humidity. so until i can find the time to tackle a custom enclosure, i am really pretty happy with what i got.
sapphire, yes you are right, in the first week or two i had MUCH trouble with temps. but yes they are pretty stable now (though they need to come down a few degrees apparently) i do understand all the pushing and shoving to get me to move to a much more easily manipulated rubbermaid, but like i said, its just not something i want to do... im sure rubbermaids look awesome with you breed or collect on a larger scale, but to have a single solitary rubbermaid chillin on a coffee table with a 3.5 ft BP in it, is a little too ghetto for me. that is why i was so intent on getting the aquarium right. it is NOT like i just pissed away all the advice you have given me, it was you that inspired me to get a digi (which i have two of now, one for either side of the tank), the benefits of a UTH, to use newspaper, even the proper sized hides, hell , it was you that directed me to this website, which has been invaluable to me. and for all this i sincerely thank you. but when i said no thanks to the rubbermaid and rats suggestions, it was like i had immediately broken all 7 sins and pissed on the ten commandments in your eyes, suddenly i was mistreating my snake, not taking care of it, slowly killing it, thats just ridiculous. im doing the best i can, while trying to keep a nice looking set up, and a healthy one a week eating ball python... thats all.

mykee · 06-18-04, 04:02 PM

Freak, I know what you mean, I had the first three ball pythons I ever got set up in aquariums, ranging in size from a 33 gallon to a 75 gallon. Once I started to increase my collection, I found it easier to ditch the whole aquarium idea and go with the 'rubbermaids in a rack' plan. With 20+ balls, the time, space and energy it saved just made it the logical solution. The only problem that I have with aquariums is that 95% of aquarium setups are not maintaining proper husbandry; either temps are too cool, too hot, no gradient, too little humidity, not enough humidity and so on. If you personally have the husbandry close to dead-on with an aquarium, go for it. It's all about the snake.

Freakonaleash · 06-18-04, 07:42 PM

its nice knowing we have come to an understanding =)
but yes, the environment in the aquarium is near perfect... it still fluctuates, but it stays in the safe zones for temps and hum. so until i can build an enclosure it is a nice set up.