Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all, Im new the rat breeding process and was curious as to freezing the rats. It sounds dumb but I needed to make sure that if I just stick them in the freezer(in a box), or do I have to do something first to kill them, then freeze them. Thanks.

Kill them and then freeze them separately. You don't want to freeze a live animal because it is slow and painful. Like it will take an hour or more. If you don't separate them then you will get a big rat chunk because they will be stuck together and you won't be able to defrost them one at a time.

I vaccum seal mine for freshness.
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0.1 Rubber Boa
1.0 Eastern Hognose 2003 super red
0.2 Eastern Hognose Snakes
3.3 Western Hognose Snakes
1.0 Durango Mountain Kingsnake
1.1 Woma's (new!)
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata

1 Pleco
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.

I HAVE BEEN DOIN THIS FOR SOME TIME NOW AND I KILL ALL OF MINE. I PUT ABOUT 10 OR SO IN GALLON SIZE FREEZER BAGS. IF YOU BUY BULK FROM SOME ONE LIKE RODENTPRO THEY DO THE SAME. GOOD LUCK.

Deffinitely pre-kill your rats before freezing them. You can use CO2 tanks to humanely put them to sleep then freeze them. Putting them in the freezer alive only leaves them alive and suffering for a long time. Not to mention they may chew their way out of the bag and curl up together around your roast, maybe even get feces and urine all over everything. Even if they are in a container they can't chew out in time, they will huddle together for warmth, making it impossible to separate them for feeding.

Thanks for the input. How would I go about using the CO2 tanks now. Sorry about all the questions, but I guess thats what I need to do to learn. Thanks.

here is a link to a site that gives you pretty good instructions on how to set up a CO2 chamber to euthanize mice. It shouldn't be too difficult to set up using a larger tank for rats.

http://www.junglemistreptiles.com/co2.html