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RE: killing rabbits

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Posted by: BrianSmith at Thu Jul 10 16:31:16 2003   [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by BrianSmith ]  
   

I don't do this as it causes undue pain, stress, terror and abuse to the animal. I either gas with c02 or do my very experienced "triple-whack" method. This involves one firm blow to the base of the back of the skull where it meets the neck, with a heavy club of moderate width (like a large hammer handle or small axe handle). This first blow is more to 'knock the rabbit unconscious than to kill it, but it often serves both purposes. This is so that it doesn't have to experience the pain and suffering of the resulting two blows. The second blow is further down from the skull, right on the neck, very swiftly to cause the neck to break. Make sure you do not hit the skull with this second blow. Most often a second blow to the skull will rupture vessels and bone and will cause a tremendous amount of blood to flow from the rabbits' ears and nose. After the second blow breaks the neck, the rabbits' body begins to automatically spasm and kick furiously. The third and last blow is brought down on the rabbits' back and spine to break the back and stop the kicking. 20 to 30 seconds later the rabbit is dead. But fortunately it has been unconscious the entire time (I have this down to about 3 or 4 seconds now) so no undue suffering takes place.



I also wet down my rabbits to give my pythons an easier swallow. And here's why: One time I found one of my albino granite females dead with a rabbit in her throat. Her body was twisted with the obvious efforts to throw it up. I concluded that the fur of the rabbit was so dense that it required more saliva than she could produce and it was not lubed enough for her to either get it down all the way, or to throw it up when the weight of it began to compress her heart and/or airway. So she died in the attempt. Fortunately I acted very fast and pulled the rabbit out (with great difficulty, I might add) and revived her in about 6 or 7 minutes. It took a while before she was able to breathe on her own, and even after that her movement and motor skills were very abnormal and retarted for 2 days. I was SO worried that she had permanent brain damage from a lack of oxygen. But eventually she regained her normal movement completely and she is a big normal girl today.



This is not the first time I revived a dead snake, but it is the first time that the snake regained 100% of its physical abilities and mental prowess and lived on to have a normal life. She wouldn't touch a rabbit for about 3 months after that and would even hiss loudly and flee at the smell of them. So I had to fill the gap with numerous jumbo rats for a few months and that was no fun. So in short,.. after that I began wetting down the rabbits' fur to help prevent this from EVER happening again.





>>how much do you have to twist a rabbits neck to actually kill it
-----
It isn't "Ideas" that fail or succeed,... it is the "Systems" which are instilled to launch and sustain the idea that either fail or succeed.>[Me.]


   

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>> Next topic:  Question for Brian Smith - SNAKESTRIKE, Thu Jul 10 13:20:09 2003
<< Previous topic:  Quick question: - Antegy, Thu Jul 10 10:25:56 2003

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