Whacking/Live feeding/etc. - Page 4

likeal0stchild · 05-27-04, 03:32 PM

anywhere from a mouse to a jumbo rat i just grab by the tail and fastball tehm directly into the cement in the driveway................never takes more than one throw

ChristinaM · 05-28-04, 08:43 PM

Ok, yah, I'm bumping this back up....but I have to post. Some may think badly of me but....here goes anyways.

I've been practicing.....and some tries are better ( quicker ) than others. I tried to break the neck, as I thought that would be best. But I can't do it. So I went with whacking. It has gotten easier to take on my part. But I'm still having probs figuring out the right strength to use. I'm leary of being too hard and having a bloody mess all over.

I fed one of my snakes a live rat.
I have to honestly say, the rat's sufferring was over way way quicker than when I attempt to euthanise them.

But, the rat scratched my snake....which I'm not fond of.

So I will continue to practice my whacking, and hopefully sooner rather than later, I will become better at it.

I just wanted to share, because I know its helped me to read others first attempts at euthanising the prey.

asphyxia · 05-28-04, 08:57 PM

If you where a guy you would have way more pratice at it.

But hey keep it up...pratice makes perfect as the say
..
B

ChristinaM · 05-28-04, 09:00 PM

I will

dave68 · 05-28-04, 09:58 PM

wow you guys and gals really like to type, honestly when you get a puppy is it hard to feed it it's food? maybe the squeemish should just stick to cats and dogs for pets

ChristinaM · 05-28-04, 10:03 PM

sorry Dave, some of us are human and need to learn how to murder our snakes food. It's not just instinct.

dave68 · 05-28-04, 10:17 PM

Sorry if I offended you Christina, I am human by the way and I wouldn't consider myself a murderer. It's just that there are two alternatives, buy pre-killed or kill them yourself, but if that really bothers you then I think you should stick to pre-killed. I tried again last year to raise my own food and found it took more time to keep them clean and fed than it was worth. I now buy frozen in bulk. Again I apolagise but four pages wow!

ChristinaM · 05-28-04, 10:49 PM

LOL, yah I know, 4 pages and over 500 views....but alot of decent info has been provided. Unfortunately rodents don't come with a how to euthanise me for dummies book

I've learned alot in this thread.

I think it would bother anyone the first time they euthanised the prey.....moreso if it were a bad experience....but as I have found, it does get easier, especially with people around to share their experiences.

Peace Dave, twas just the way you said it......no biggie

Thanks for posting again to explain what you meant. Cheers.

for the record.....if I had to euthanise everything that goes into my dogs food, I'd have a hard time with that too. LOL.

and on that note, me thinks its time for another drink

Dani33 · 05-30-04, 10:55 PM

Good thread. I killed my first mice tonight. I had Brian aka Aphyxia show me recently (thanks again). I took them in my hand, with their backs pointing towards the floor and threw it against the cement floor in the basement. Sort of aiming with for the head. All six died instantly. No blood, nothing. Easier than I thought actually. I was actually surprised that it didn't take more force.

I have dreaded this ever since I started the colonies. I actually put it off for a few days. To prepare myself, I tried to think of them as food only(not cute little gaphers). I haven't a problem with feeding bugs, so I tried to look at them the same way. It actually helped. I have to admit though, I kept the cuter mice back.

latazyo · 05-31-04, 01:02 AM

I, too, killed my first rat tonight

I held it's tail and hit it in the head with the back of a screwdriver

I didn't know that it had died instantly (I mistook the twitches for life) but I came to realise it had died since it was not making any noise

ChristinaM · 05-31-04, 07:18 AM

That's what I think I need Dani......find someone to show me how to do it. Especially now with needing larger rats ( I found pinkie and peach fuzz rats easy to do ) but whacking my first fuzzy ( aka 40-50gr rat ) was a not nice experience. As it took me about 10mins to do. I'm ok with doing it, I just lack the skill to judge where to hit, how hard to hit, etc. I'm not out to torture the food.

Anyone in the London vacinity willing to show me how to whack a rat?

Cruciform · 05-31-04, 10:42 AM

Sure Christina

Maybe I can get it on video for ya.

Have you seen the video where Chuck (I think it was Chuck) was knocking the pieces out of the clay pots for hides? It's pretty much the same thing, except it's a rat in your hand, not a hammer

I've been trying the different methods...

Gassing - haven't gotten that perfect mix and it either drowns them and they suffer, or it takes too long and they suffer.

Cervical Dislocation - much easier with mice. I crippled the rat but didn't kill it outright. The snake finished it off.

Whacking - Mixed bag. I've had one appear dead, then wake up after lying in the cage for a minute. I still wouldn't walk away from a "dead" rat that had been freshly killed, just for that reason.

Pixie · 06-01-04, 11:51 AM

I too whack my rats to kill them, anything older than a week gets the whack bag. 1 week and younger, they go straight to the freezer.

Killing prey has never been easy and although it's not as hard as it was in the beginning, I still hate doing it and don't feel too hot after I killed something.

I had been explained a couple years back the technique on cervical dislocation. I tried it on a couple of already dead mice to practice and eventually to a live one. It was a complete disaster and I couldn't even attempt it again. That's when I turned to whacking.

It's fast easy and the margin for error is much lower. My whack bag is like a small pillow case, 12"W x 18"H. What I do is put my hand at the bottom of the bag and grab the rats tail with that hand. With the other, I bring the bag (inside out) over the rat so he's at the bottom.

With the bag closed, I get ready and shake the rat down one last time before the big swing. This usually gets the rat at the bottom of the bag lengthwise so when it's whacked, it's across it's entire body.

The force of the swing is relative to the size of the rat. Fuzzies and hoppers take almost no force whereas small adults and bigger take a good swing. It's rarely messy for me, if anything there is a bit of blood coming out of the rat's nose. That was, until last night!

Had my first rat open up on me being whacked. There was a split of about 1" on it's belly and the liver and some intestines were hanging out. I was SO GROSSED OUT! Not a pleasant sight...

Now my cute albino boa looks like the snake of death as it's covered in blood from that meal! I can't wait to give him a bath but I can't disturb him now that he's just eaten! Argh!

Even with this happenstance, I will still continue to whack my rats. With all the rats that I've whacked (well in the hundreds) this is the first time one has split on me.

Pixie

Lisa · 06-01-04, 10:21 PM

Last night I did in about 200 rats using dry ice (basicly killed anything in the colony that wasn't a breeder)... way easier then wacking them one by one... I don't think I could have handled that. With dry ice I just add a handful of cubes to a container of hot water and put it in the large rubbermaid that i have the rats in, close the lid and come back in 15 minutes. Now I need a bigger freezer so we have a place to keep PEOPLE food.

I picked up about 2 pounds of dry ice during my lunch break and had plenty for when i got home about 5 hours later. I even had enough dry ice to toss in the freezer to help with keeping the freezer cold (all those rats are pretty warm).

Dani33 · 06-02-04, 08:58 AM

Lisa, where did you buy dry ice and how much was it?

Thanks