might be starting a rat colony

[snake_goth]

ime thinking of starting breeding a 1.1 rat colony to feed to my snakes (bps on pinky rats, corn snake is still on pinky mice, and i think the boa will be on rats of some sort) just whanted to know the easyst and humane way to kill a rat for feeding?

[sapphire_moon]

Your BP is on pinky rats! I think it can be on something bigger. The corn if it is still on pink mice then you will need a 1.1 mice to (if you want to breed ALL your snakes food) and if you have more than one bp, you will probably need more than 1.1. If you only have 1 bp and 1 corn, it is cheaper to just go buy them frozen.

The most humane way is to gas.
I personally don't have the know how nor access to be able to create a gas chamber. So the next one would be Cervical dislocation....

http://labanimals.stanford.edu/Guidelines/Cerv_Dis.html

and then the third method is whacking, get a good grip on the tail and whack it's head on a table edge, bookshelf ledge or stair (concrete, or hard wood) edge. put the rat in a plastic baggie or pillow case.

[Auskan]

I actually think whacking is about as humane as it gets. I put them in a small sack, then whack the sack against a hard surface as hard as I can. I doubt if they ever know what hit them and its instantaneous.

I agree with Sapphire on the size of food your BP can eat. Most can handle an adult mouse straight out of the egg. A rat equivalent would be a fuzzy of approximately 10 days to 2 weeks old. Depending on how old your BP is (and how big) you might want to go even bigger than that.

[snake_goth]

my mum gets the food for them (goes past the shop anny way) but this saterday ill go to the shop and take a look at the sizes, ime geting a bcc soon-ish so i think rats would be a bit beter?

[Jayson]

any BP iv ever had would take small adult mice at birth, and for small corns, if all you have is rat pinks try slicing one down the middle length way (while its frozen) then thaw it and feed. I do this for all my small snakes

I whack the feeders, unless you want to do a wole bunch at once then constructing a gas chamber seems a little much.

[sapphire_moon]

snake_goth didn't ask which would be better for a small amount of live food, only what was the most humane way to do it. If you have a small amount to do then cervical dislocation is the most humane way to do it, and the last one is whacking.

Isn't that messy? Slicing a f/t rat pink and letting it thaw? You would think it would be????

[Jayson]

cervical dislocation works well if someone has experience doing so. But if it is done wrong it is a very painful way to die.

Actually thawing a sliced pinky is less messy then even i had thought it would be. But works great if thats all you have.

Much better then raising two rodent colonies for two or three snakes

[mykee]

I'm all for whacking. Imagine being thrown off a building and hitting the concrete at 80 km/h. Quick, and from only 3 feet off the ground, not a whole lot of time to expect anything really.