drowning?

[AnniesMom]

I don't know what it feels like to drown, but it sucks to have be the one doing the drowning. I NEED a better way to pre-kill my rats. I have been buying them live, drowning them, then freezing them. Long, painful process, one I would rather do without.

[Slannesh]

Found this on another thread on the forum

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

While I have my ball python on F/T It is definately an interesting article. I've done whacking and cervical dislocation on mice, neither is really my favorite thing to do. My girlfriend used to work in a lab where they used rats in research. The used either cervical dislocation or CO2 to euthanize the rats they were working with.

[RepTylE]

- 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.


I don't know about anyone else but to me it seems like a humane way to kill a few mice or rats

[Lisa]

I have to agree retyle, CO2 has got to be the most humane way to kill rodents.

[RepTylE]

actually it was lifted from the post that slannesh had just put up. I just wanted to stick it in there. I'm kind of hoping that the topic can go to bed now it has had a busy week

[Lisa]

this is a topic that will never go away. like feeding live, wc, and keeping multiple snakes in one container.

[RepTylE]

I guess that people have some beliefs that they defend . I just hope that no one uses a method of dispatching feeder animals that is unneccessarily cruel. I hate the idea of any animal suffering even for a minute.

[Lisa]

if anyone wants to get an idea of what it's like to drown, fill up your bath tub, climb in, get your head under the water and try breathing. now immagine the panic you would have with some one holding you down.

[RepTylE]

I think that given the choice of which method I would want done to me that I'd go with the CO2

[Fangs]

Have been culling a lot of rats and mice now for quite a while.
Have also tried various methods for dispatching them.
C02 for mine takes way too long.Watching them gasp for air is not very pleasant to watch,even more unpleasant for the animals I would assume.
Grabbing by the tail and flicking then over head first onto a brick or similar hard surface is the best way to go in my opinion.
Recently we started using chloroform to knock them out before crushing their spines at the base of the skull while asleep.This method now is our prefered way of doing it.

cheers

[Lisa]

you don't worry about the cloraform in their system being hazardous to the snakes?

as for gasping for breath with c02 i haven't noticed the animals do this... they usually just fall over and go to sleep when i gas them

[eyespy]

They will sometimes gasp for breath if too much CO2 is given suddenly. Chloraform is very toxic and stays in lung and liver tissue so I woudn't recommend using that.

[Fangs]

Initially I had concerns about the residual effects of chloroform in the Rodents system but was told that this would be negligable.
Apparently it breaks down very rapidly under normal circumstances,more so when you stick the rodents in the freezer.
However I Would appreciate any info on the use of chloroform,everything I have read on it is about the long term effects of exposure over long periods.

As far as CO2 is concerned I tried it in the form of dry ice and then used one of those small CO2 canisters(the ones that are used for making softdrink)but as I said had bad experiences with it.

I would be interested to know how you administer the CO2 accurately enough to enable the rodents not to gasp for breath or panic ie:use it to sedate before administering a fatal dose.

cheers Fangs.......

[eyespy]

I use the regulator from my old oxygen tanks on a cannister, but I guess only my fellow asthmatics have that luxury.

Using the dry ice method you just use less of it.

Chloraform is found in the liver tissue of dead snakes. It doesn't completely break down even when frozen. Each rodent might offer a negligable dose but over time it can accumulate.