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I have an 18 year old male burm that was a rescue. He had led a hard life with his previuos owner (who was afraid of him). When I took him in he was about 12' but only weighed 25lbs. He had several ribs that had been broken and healed . he is stiff in places where his vertebrae are fused and he shows signs of of being calcium deficient from being malnurished for so long. I have cared for him for two years now and thought he was on the road to recovery but he stopped eatting a few months ago and now has a tumor the size of a football about where his kidney is. The tumor grew quickly and the vet says there is no hope now that his last stool (which was months ago )is bloody. The vet did not know the correct procedure for euthanasia of such a big reptile. How can I do this as humanely as possible?

I am sorry that stinks. At least you gave him a good life for a couple of years.

As far as the question goes. I would call around to other vets and see who could do it.

And I always wondered this. I was told a long time ago to put them in a freezer or outside in the winter and their body would slowly drop, until they passed away. However I have never done this and would not recommend it without proper advise. I was wondering if someone had some insight on that. It sounded like yes but then again no.
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

We got an 11'5'' burm- that weighed 28 lbs. mites, ribs were sticking out, head to tail scale rot, a bit of mouth rot, horrible-infected, oozing- bloody nose rub. and a wicked URI. We've had him for 2 months now- we were on amikasin for a month and I am now going to swich to tylan/tylosin- the amikasin isnt working.
after he didn't eat for 3 weeks and the owners said he hadn't eaten in a while- we force fed him- no easy task- 4 days later- I walked through the room with a rabbit for someone else and he struck at the glass- i tossed the rabbit in and he went nuts!! the scale rot looks 1000 times better now that he's shed and he ate again yesterday.
now, when we first took him to the vet- she wanted to euthanize him- I'm big on giving them a chance- so long as they aren't hurting. The vet was just going to use the same type of injection that they give dogs/cats/ferrets/etc to euthanize him- I checked around and ended up with a vet from the list posted earlier to get a second opinion.... It was a bit of a drive to get him there- but well worth the anti-biotics and such- and they were even willing to give us a discount since he was a rescue.- another thing to think about and if there is another rescue in that area- they may be willing to meet you half way and pass off the snake and deliver it to the vet= we've done that a few times for our vet.
best of luck
Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

Dont Freeze the burm !! He is way to big... Its very painful to freeze any reptile over about a pound.. as the begin to freeze the develop Ice Crystals within the tissue of their bodies and it is a horrid pain... much like when one is becoming frost bitten ... The Vet will use Euthanasia
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Safari Tom
See'em Touch'em Save'em
www.SafariTom.com