Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought dry ice to put some pinkies to sleep so that I could freeze them, I drove 20 min to get the dry ice and spent $5 on it. I needed it a couple days later, but it had all sublimated! I only have a dozen or less mice to freeze at a time, and so dry ice apparaently isn't going to be cost efficient. How else can I kill my mice(with them feeling as little pain as possible) and do it without a lot of money? I suppose that with adults I could get a mouse trap, but those don't always kill them right away and can get messy, but what about pinkies? I need ideas! Some people use a gas chamber, how do I make one?
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"Let us step out into the night and pursue that mighty temptress, adventure." (Albus Dumbledore)

My menagerie
2.1 Ball Pythons 1.0 Amazon Tree Boa 1.0 Corn Snake 1.0 Dumeril's Boa 1.2 Bearded Dragons(and 11 eggs!) 2.1 Crested Geckos 1.2 Sudan Plated Lizards 0.0.5 Eastern Painted Turtles 1.1.5 Eastern Box Turtles 1.1 Eastern Red-spotted Newts 1.0 Northern Mockingbird 0.3 Chickens 2.0 Cats 1.1 Ferrets 1.4.14 mice 0.0.34 London Shubunkin goldfish

Well here is what i do whether or not you think they feel pain or not. The pinkies go into a vaccuum bag and freezed, the fuzzies to weaned get thumped on the floor, and the adults do to. You could also hold the base of the tail and with the back end of a knife blade, press down on their neck, it's quick and no mess. Rats work good this way as well.
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1.4 various boas(Flicka,Felony,Nova,Alias,Alibi,confessa,custody,Ms.Demeanor)
0.1 BRB Abalone; ABBI
1.0 Rott X (OSO)
2.0 cats (Simba, Morris)
fish & feeders

CO2 typically doesn't work for pups. Cervical disloacation or freezing works well with pinkies.

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Shannon in Reno
2.3 dogs
1.0 cat
Bunch O fancy rats and mice
50 something chickens
0.1 Black rat snake
0.2 Albino corn snakes
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
0.1 Rosy Boa
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Amazing Boyfriend

Put them in a zip loc freezer bag, being sure to press as much air out as you can. When they run out of oxygen they will simply go to sleep. You can place them in the freezer then. They won't wake up and will never know what happened. I do this with young rats from pinks to weanlings. To me this is as humane as it gets and your only cost is freezer bags.

Quig

Thanks for all your posts, and for e-mailing me that link. Can you describe a little bit more how I would kill them by breaking their cervical vertebrae? How hard do I push down?
My mom had another idea, leave them in a closed container with a lit candle and it would use up the oxygen quickly, but do you think that it would leave the pinks smelling like smoke(to the snake)?
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"Let us step out into the night and pursue that mighty temptress, adventure." (Albus Dumbledore)

My menagerie
2.1 Ball Pythons 1.0 Amazon Tree Boa 1.0 Corn Snake 1.0 Dumeril's Boa 1.2 Bearded Dragons(and 11 eggs!) 2.1 Crested Geckos 1.2 Sudan Plated Lizards 0.0.4 Eastern Painted Turtles 1.1.5 Eastern Box Turtles 1.1 Eastern Red-spotted Newts 1.0 Northern Mockingbird 0.3 Chickens 2.0 Cats 1.1 Ferrets 1.4.28 mice 0.0.34 London Shubunkin goldfish

The idea your mom had is basically the same as mine only mine doesn't use a candle . When put in the zip loc and sealed they will simply run out of oxygen, fairly quickly, and go to sleep and die in their sleep. They don't struggle and I really believe there's no pain involved. Just a thought.

Quig

To cervically dislocate:
Hold rosent by head, right behind jaw
hold base of tail.
pull really hard
you will feel/hear cracks and pops
look at animal and check if it is still moving, breathing, has heart beat.
Doing it this way for everything smaller then a 2 month old rat works well for me.
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Shannon in Reno
2.3 dogs
1.0 cat
Bunch O fancy rats and mice
50 something chickens
0.1 Black rat snake
0.2 Albino corn snakes
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
0.1 Rosy Boa
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Amazing Boyfriend

The problem with cervical dislocation with pinkies and even fuzzies is that it requires a delicate touch or you will pull their head off. I'd rather not see that.

Freezing works really well with pinkies and fuzzies.
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Wade's Weptiles & Wodents

if you are only doing one or 2 at a time you can use baking soda and vinagar. the products are cheap and produce co2 that puts them down humane and fast.

i rase my own feeders and it is the easyest way i found co2 the best way to put down feeders and any unwanted rodents. i personaly use a co2 tank and a remote. no bloody mess and no wacking them multiple times and hope that they are dead.

http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/index.html