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What methods do you use for pre-killing mice and rats. What do you feel are the most humane methods. Time to switch from live to f/t and I need to pre-kill for the intermediate step between the two.

Thanks

Hmm, a expensive way is to get co2, (at any paintball store) get a regulator and stick it up to a rubbermaid. The mouse will soon die from lack of oxygen (pretty obvious).

Another way is to stick them in a pillow case and give them one hard smack on any hard surface.

You can smack them on the head with a wooden mallot.

You can drown them.

Stick them in a small container without any airholes.

Yea so there are hundreds of ways to kill a mouse. I think the most humane way is to whack it. Its fast and you don't have to see it drowning or anything.

Good luck killing your mice/rats

-Owen
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Just scare the #$%^ outta it...

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cervical dislocation is considered humane, and is very quick. Put mouse/rat down of rough surface of some kind. (Your lawn will work, on a towel, whatever, can be done on a smooth surface but I find it easier on a rough surface.) Place a pencil (Or the blade of a screwdriver) lengthwise on the back of the rodents neck while holding the rodents tail with your other hand. Push down firmly on the pencil(Rodent will object, do this quickly) and pull very firmly on the tail. You will hear a snap. The rodent will twitch, but if you pulled hard enough you dislocated it's spine from it's brain, and the twitching is just nerves.
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Gee..

I do it the old way.

Mice get the blunt end of the screwdriver to the head.

Large rats how ever get head to the croncreat.

They are both instant!

I dont like slow methods...
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i have found that the best way to kill things is to put a 1 lb piece of dry ice in an open tuperware container, then put that in a cooler. pour a little hot water on the dry ice and close the cooler lid almost all the way. it will soon fil with CO2abd push out all the oxygen, toss in the prey to be and close the lid but dont lock it shut or it could blow off due to increase in pressure. i could knock down several lg rabbits with a 1 LB block.i am in south florida and our groceriestore and bait shops have it all the time. it ranges from 1$/ lb to 2$/ lb. you may find a bait store that will sell you smaller quantities or may even give you some broken pieces or chips. the animals never seemd to struggle when i used this method. hope this helps and sorry for the length of writting.

joe

Couldnt you ask the place you buy your mice from to kill it for you? I work in a petstore and we do kill mice and rats for customers if they ask us to,and we also kill and put a few in the freezer for customers as well,for convenience. But to be honest with you, we usually just pick them up by the tail,and slam them down on the floor,and it does the trick,sometimes with a little blood(which most snakes like,well mine anyways). Never in front of customers of course.

My boyfriend used to just stick them in a bag and slam them against the counter. This works well, but through discussion at our main reptile store the quickest way that is easier on the mouse/rat is to simply pick it up from the tail, and with some force hit it's back against a slim pole or whatever you have around. This breaks their back and within seconds kills the animal. Whenever I have watched them do this, it seems very simple and as painless as it gets for the creature being killed.

Just make sure to whack it right the first time, it would suck to be a mouse/rat being smacked against a hard object a few times! I havent done any f/k mice/rats yet, but when I do, hopefully I smack it hard enough so it doesnt suffer.
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Sal
Geckos "R" Us

www.geckosrus.com

I got tired of writing it all out over and over, so I posted what I do on my web site. There should be a direct link to the CO2 page just under the pic.

Hope that helps!

Pre-killing with CO2

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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

I have pulled the skin off the tail of almost every rat I've tried this method on....makes for a bit of a mess, and one helluva pissed off rat! Looks very painful....

A better method is to just put the rat in a pillow case and slam it on the wall etc. If you do it this way, be sure to get a good hard shot....the goal is to kill it the first time. I've had 99% 1st whack kill percentage since I switched to this method about a year ago....that's about 123 out of 125 rats I've put down this way, first whack, this year. The other 2 took an additional whack.

If your just doing mice or rat pups....cervical dislocation is actually the better method. You shouldn't be skinning any tails with those critters....

you just have to grasp and pull on their bodies, not their tails! --and make sure their heads are secure! (I hold their tails until I have their heads secure, then release the tail and grasp their bodies instead.) You don't want their heads to "slip out" either, because you do have to pull a bit harder, and they will be pissed if you let this happen.

Rodney