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My mice have slowed down a bit, colony #1 stopped producing altogether so I fed them off and am raising some of the babies as replacements. Colony #2 has one female who just gave birth to 3 babies, I think they're ready to feed off too. However, I noticed that in colony #3 there was one of the girls was huge! I mean, she looked like she had a tennis ball hanging from each side if you can imagine that! I can't believe she was still running around and jumping up on the screen and hanging upside down. I told my hubby that I bet she'd have 25 pinks by morning guessing from the size of her belly and even dragged him into my hobby room to see her. Of course he obliged

The next morning I checked on the small clutch of bairds rat snake eggs in the incubator and noticed that the first egg had pipped. I will really need pinks soon. Next stop was to check in on colony #3 and you guessed it, momma mouse was stretched out over a huge pile of pinks I reached in and did a head-count. There were 22 pinks under momma mouse and 2 half eaten pinks off to the side! I couldn't believe it, 2 dozen pinks from one mouse! Thank goodness there were a couple of other moms with hoppers that are still nursing.

So, now I have 3 baby bairdi, 2 have already eaten their first pink. The pinks and the 2 that have eaten are 3 days old. The third bairdi is 2 days old. I can't keep the pinks from growing and none of my mice look look like they're pregnant. I know this question has been raised many many times, but please, just once more....What is the best way to kill the pinks so I can freeze them? I know I have read that co2 isn't effective.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Marcia

The last time I had to kill a pinky, I just froze them. I made myself believe what I have read (I read that you can just freeze them).

What I have read is that they are cold blooded and freezing them does not give them too much suffering..

I have not confirmed this with anyone else. I was happy to believe it because I wanted to believe it.

.

What is my point? well, it may be gruesome for you to freeze them. However, from what i have read, it doesn't give them undue suffering because they are cold blooded. You will have to decide if freezing is the right choice for you.

sincerely. Longtang
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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.

If you mean the snakes are cold blooded and freezing is considered the humane method of putting them down...........

Well, thats correct........But I don't think she wants to put down the snakes, she wants to put down the pinks so they will stop outgrowing the snakes.

So~ In that case, your close. The pinks are NOT in fact cold blooded. They are warm blooded just like the adults. However, having no hair they are extremely vulnerable to the cold. So, if you put them in a room temperature tank filled with CO2 it will take the pinkies a very long time to die as they are naturally resistant to hypoxia. However, if you put them in the freezer, they will die relativly quickly because they are so vulnerable to cold.

So~ Most of us do not waste CO2 on pinkies. Just put them in the freezer uprotected, it is MUCH faster, and part of the consideration of the "Humanity" in euthanasia is in how long it takes and the relative pain of the procedure. It is much faster for a pinkie to freeze than to smother (the CO2) and not requiring as much air to fill their tiny lungs I seriously doubt the become "CO2 intoxicated" in short order as the older animals do.

Just my .02 cents, take it for what ever it's worth to you.

I hate the idea of freezing them but there doesn't seem to be a better method. Smacking them would be pretty destructive and would probably render them unfit for the freezer. I knew the co2 was out and I don't know that I could dislocate the vertebrae on 20 little pinks!

Thanks!

Marcia

>>I hate the idea of freezing them but there doesn't seem to be a better method. Smacking them would be pretty destructive and would probably render them unfit for the freezer. I knew the co2 was out and I don't know that I could dislocate the vertebrae on 20 little pinks!
>>
In order to appease the occasional twinge (even after all this time) from my conscience, when I freeze off pinks - rats or mice - I put them into ziplock-type bags and then knock them slightly against a metal shelf. Not enough to be destructive, but it does seem to render them at least "stunned." Then into the freezer they go.

Also - I'm not sure how other small-scale breeders actually store their frozen feeders, but I've discovered *tiny* ziplock-type bags at craft stores.... for me, they work great for individual pinks up through hoppers. Even though they're not particularly air tight, when placed into a tupperware-type container they really do the trick to keep the pinks separate, whole, and free from freezer burn.

Good luck!

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Rebecca
TSBabe66@hotmail.com
Honored to moderate at Snakefeeders, the place to buy/sell/trade feeder animals. Come check us out! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/snakefeeders/

Good suggestions. I have a vacuum seal bag system that works great, but with pink I have found that even if they are frozen first the vacuum seems to smash them filling the bag with fluid and it seals. I think I may give your method a try with the pinks!

Thanks,
Marcia

co2 works. i tryed it this moring i brought a piece of dry ice homr from work, put it in cool whip bowl with some water,waited about 10 seconds and put the mice in in the tank (not the water) about 20 seconds later they were done for. i bagged them up and put them in the frezzer. i did like 30 small to large mice.

You can whack them, it just doesn't take much. I use the handle of a butter knife and just tap them firmly on the head. That's usually all it takes, and there is NO mess. Then, you can freeze them however you'd like.
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1.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 corn snake
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish
1.2 cats
3.1 kids
1.0 husband