Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just knocked out a small adult white mouse and put it in my young BP's aquarium, I turned out all the lights and left the room hoping he'll eat it! I think he is looking at it but so far he hasnt done anything... I just bought him 5 days ago and they said he last ate on thursday... which is exactly 1 week ago.

Crap! The little mouse woke up and started sniffing around... my bp just went up to it and flicked it with his tongue, then went away as if not interested! >_

Forgive me if you already know this, but whatever you do...DO NOT leave the live mouse in the snakes tank unattended.
As far as him not eating, many snakes may be reluctant to eat when new to an environment due to stress. I wouldnt be suprised if it takes him a bit longer if he refuses this one. Good luck

Well I clobbered the poor bugger about 3 or 4 times, he kept waking up a few minutes later, so I knocked him out a total of 3 times! But this last round I think hes got permanent brain damage... Now he just kinda fumbles around and stands still and sometimes it'll squeek. I feel so bad for it. No, not because I'm feeding it to the snake but because I'd hit it against the wall so much and he is still alive after what seems he looks like he is dead. The BP just goes up to it and flicks it with his tongue then takes off trying to climb up the glass as usual... Maybe he just needs some more time in his cage alone. It's been around 3 days though so thats why I went out and bought a mouse. The mouse is still alive after a severe beating against the wall. I put it back in its container.

Is there a less painful way to kill this poor thing!? Should I just put it in the freezer to kill it, or is that more painful than getting slammed around? *sniffle* Poor little mousie!

Again, I if you just got the BP, dont be suprised if it takes him a couple of weeks to get acclamated to his new environment before he feels comfortable enough to eat.
As far as dispatching of the mouse...freezing it is more torturous to it. I personally have had an issue with killing rodents myself...so I buy frozen. Which is what I would recommend in your case if you dont like killing them. However, if you really want to feed fresh killed, I will give you a few options/methods of doing so.
One way is the most practical easy way of doing it, which is whacking the mouse against a floor or wall *hard enough* to break its neck/bones. The other is placing a ruler behind its neck and yanking the tail, to snap its neck. The last "humane" method would be to use CO2. You can get a rubbermaid container, make a small hole on one end, and on the other end make a hole and run a small hose to it with the other end of the hose running to a CO2 bottle. It in essence creates a "gas chamber". This is supposed to knock them out immediatly and supposed to be painless. Fortunatly my BP and boa take thawed rodents so I dont have to resort to any of these methods listed above. Hope this helps!!

I put mine in a plastic grocery bag to whack, what are you using? You really do have to whack them hard. Pretend that your swinging at a baseball, lol. Some people say they can do it in one whack, but I've always had to whack twice. I then wait for them to stop twitching and offer to the snake. Although twitching will get a better feeding response from a Ball, the mouse can still sink his teeth into your snake. Some people also use the still twitching ones for a method of gradually switching stubborn snakes to FT. I've never had a mouse "awaken" from being knocked out/dead. I've heard of a method of firmly laying a pencil on the mouse's neck and yanking on the tail. It snaps his neck and he'll die. I've never tried this though, the bag method works fine for me. I will say the first time I did this I was like, OMG and felt practically traumatized. The more you do it, the better you'll learn how to do it and you'll really get used to doing it. The snakes seem to prefer PK over FT. Plus if you PK and they refuse, just stick it in the freezer and you still have a perfectly fine meal for another time. When you thaw a frozen and they refuse, the mice usually get nasty if you keep thawing and re-freezing. Plus, your snake sounds like he might be a shy one. Try feeding him when he's in his hide. Make sure he's awake first by rubbing him gently and put his hide back on him. Then, try feeding. I have a male, who's so shy, that he'll refuse to eat any other way than this method.These are my personal experiences. Hope it helps.
-Cathy

Ok I'll have to try a plastic grocery bag.. I was just swinging it by the tail into the wall, lol. I guess it would work better your way for sure! Maybe I'll try again on saturday or sunday.. Right now I have the mouse in a plastic container with air holes, bedding, and a bottle cap filled with water. So maybe I can keep it alive that long. Oh and what do I put the mouse in when I put it in the freezer? A ziplock bag? Thanks for the help!

I will never forget once, I had a rat snake and I was PK my mice. I used a grocery bag as well. I let a room mate "kill"
my mouse for me. He was odd and really wanted to. So I told him to slam the mouse hard enough to kill it, but not really hard. He slammed that thing harder than Babe Ruth hits a home run.. WOW what a bloody mess. Needless to say I did'nt let him do it again. So hit them hard, but remember its just a mouse..LOL Good luck!