Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My young black king is in shed process and refused his food. Although he is not now eating f/t I am still in the process of trying to acclimate him. Now the pinkies have been seperated from their mother for several hours and are thus weak, is it safe to freeze them for frozen food later? Also if the answer is yes, what is the humane way to go about doing so. I doubt you can snap a pinkies neck?

well try to give them back to the mother, if youre that humane lol. If not just freeze them live, or toss them against the floor. Or you can dab there noses with rubbing alcohol, puts them to sleep pretty quickly. I may be no expert with kingsnakes but I've raised mice since I was 6 years old. Mice can take back their children, and ive even had cases where different mothers may take other mothers offspring. You can put them in a small butter jar and put them in your freezer if nothing else works, make sure whatever container you put them in is sealed otherwise they may get freezer burned, and most snakes dont like freezer burned rodents, lol would you?

>>...just freeze them live, or toss them against the floor.

It's my understanding mammals fight cold by moving heat to the surface of the skin, lose it at the core, produces shivering, a potentially violent & unpleasant death. (although freezing reptiles might be fairly humane--as temps lower the animal's metabolism slows, they sort of go to sleep, and then later, after consciousness is lost, die)
I think for mammals the throw-them-at-the-floor or put them in a baggie and swing it hard against a counter top to kill them is far more humane, before putting them in the freezer.
Other opinions?
terry