Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The only way I can get pre-killed mice and rats is for me to order from the net, and my mother wont let me store frozen rats in our freezer. I was just wondering if there were any humane ways of killing mice and rats my self? The closest place to me that has prekilled is forty five minutes from me, so it's not reasonable for me to drive that far whenever I need to feed my burm. Thanks.
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My blood is workin', but my, my heart is...DEAD!

The only real humane way to pre kill is with co2 but I'm doubting that you have a large tank of co2 sitting around. I mean I've done it other ways but it's seriously not right to do like banging them against a wall or you could even sufficate them. It isn't a hard task but it is if you are a serious animal lover, it all depends on how you feel about killing the rats.

I am here in CT, and pretty much every pet store will ask if you want them killed first.
Ask your pet shop if they'll pre-kill for you.If they sell reptiles, especially burms, and boas they will probably do it for you.
May I ask what you will do once your burm is on rabbits?
Pet shop rabbits run about $25, farms here can even be quite pricey.And I doubt if the local pet shop will pre kill rabbits for you. Farms will though.
Better talk to mom about using the freezer. A pet shop rat runs about $5. When you have a burm eating 2 every week. WOW!
Pre-killing will be the last of your worries.
Good Luck

By the time my burm is on rabbits, I will have my own freezer. I'm just worried about the immediate future.
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My blood is workin', but my, my heart is...DEAD!

Grab them by the tail, and thunk em on the head.

This may sound a little brutish, and I wouldnt advise doing this over your mother's carpet. Just make sure you dont hesitate, cause that will make it inhumane.

Some may say this is inhumane, but if you do it good enough, it will be instantaneous.

Good luck
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

I've heard of doing that, and I guess it looks like my only choice, unless I can convince mother, which I can't. I'm a little scared to do it, I don't want to break it's skull open or something. How hard is too hard?
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My blood is workin', but my, my heart is...DEAD!

as hard as you can isnt too hard. rats will take a pretty good whack to kill them, so just do it as hard as you can. Do it outside on the concrete or something. Dont worry about breaking the skull, you actually kinda want to do that. The more damage you can inflict, the quicker the death will be. Its a little morebid, but oh well.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

I my opinion breaking the skull is good becasue you have killed it succesfully. I use the handle end of my 24" hemostats to smack them in the back of the head (make sure it is the back of the head). I hit them with a good wack. the harder the better. They ususaly bleed, but that is why I like o put the prey item in a plastic box and do it. Glad you are not feeding live. Just do not fear hitting it to hard, bcasue you can't unless you are Superman. A cracked skull will not effect the feeding response. Well for me it has not. I do not know how strong you are so I can't realy say how hard to hit it. I usualy use about half of my arm strenth. I guess? I can't remember what size you said you use, but if it is a small rat you can use the tweezers or hemos or whatever and grab around the neck with them and grabt the tail with your hand and just do a hard jurk by pulling the tail it willbe faster than anything else I know. I use this with mice and small rats ONLY. If you do this with big rats you will cause them great pain becasue It won't kill them fast ad they are tougher and all.
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Justin

Thanks for all the replies. I'm a little scared to do it, but I have to do what I have to do. I'm sure after doing it a few times it'll become easier. Thanks.

PS.

My burm is only about three months old right now, so he's on adult mice.
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My blood is workin', but my, my heart is...DEAD!

you can also try dry ice
take a container like a small cooler or something and put the dry ice in there close the lid let the gas build up and put the rat in there and close the lid
dry ice gives off c02

That's a really good idea. I'll try that first.
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My blood is workin', but my, my heart is...DEAD!

Ya, dont use a 3 pound steel pipe to kill fuzzies, i learned that the hard way just get a nice piece of wood, like a wooden handle off a hammer,not big one. Once you hit the first few, its pretty easy , you develop a good aim, and can get them perfect everytime and kill em instantly

yea, lol. don't use something like that to kill fuzzies. A fuzzy is hard to kill without a mess because they hav not developed good bone structure so freezing for about 20 minutes would be best. But you are not feeding fuzzies so do not worry with what I just said. I have found the 100% best way to do it is to use your tweezers and grab right behind the head and use your other hand to grab the tail. Right before you are ready to jurk you tighten your grip on the neck and tail and just jurk with a lot of force. I do not even think the mouse feels a thing except the pressure right before you jurk from tightening up. Thye usualy do not bleed this way either. Or you can just knock them in the head. I like the other way better it is more.....creative.
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Justin

I do the wack on the head but they never almost never bleed. If you get them right on the back of the head where it meets the neck. They have bleed on me but only when the hit is more around the between the eyes region. I use a tack hammer for the job, and its a pretty instant death. I've gotten very efficiant at it.
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1.0 Ball Python
1.0 Burmese Python

Honestly, I'd recommend having a heart to heart with your mom. Ask for a bottom shelf or the door of the freezer, offer to place them in a box or a rubbermaid container...last resort, buying a tiny fridge ($50, maybe?) will be worth the extra $$ because you'll be saving it by buying frozen instead of live. On the flip side, some mothers can't eat dinner without thinking of dead animals in their freezer. If this is your mother, this is how I kill rats (when I can't get them f/t): get two pillowcases that you don't particularly want anymore. Double them (one inside the other). The second bag is for blood cover, sometimes they bleed...dont want that all over the place. Either hold VERY firmly or form a seal at the open end (tie it, rubber band it, whatever...) find a nice, flat surface (oh, Mom's counter would be great for this ) and insert rat. What you'll do is bring the pillowcase over your head and right down onto the counter...very quickly...as hard as you can. They will almost always have nose bleeds...so watch out. At this point, if you are faint hearted...you might wanna drop the pillowcases and leave for about 2 minutes. If you have not hit hard enough, they'll have seizures and die (if you're lucky, otherwise you get to try again). If you have, they should be dead already.

I never suggest this to anyone...and found this out purely by accident. I will never do it again, but I know that it is a sure way to kill rats. I live in a hot state, heat stroke is a horrible way to die but if you accidently put a rat in a small box and in the sun. 10 minutes flat.

Thanks for all the replies. I tried killing a mouse last night for my burm, to my horror it survived. I had held it by the tail, and smacked the back of it's head againsted a table. It was twitching. I felt so bad I did it again, it was still twitching! It took about four hits as hard as I could to make it stop twitching. I felt extremely bad. In fact, I cannot even try doing it myself again. I had some of it's blood on my hands. I told my mom what happened, and she said that if I got a tupperware thing I could put them in the bottom shelf. Reading this post was pretty surprising, as your suggestion was exactly my moms suggestion. I think she's only letting me do this because she knows I love this snake, but also that I don't have the heart to ever try that again.
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My blood is workin', but my, my heart is...DEAD!