Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My mother breeds designer rats and called me up the other day to say that she had a litter of rat pups from regular parents. She has no interest in keeping this litter so she told me I could have them as feeders if I wanted them. I certainly can't pass up free feeders . I have a problem though, I buy all my feeders frozen so how would I go about euthanizing a litter of rat pups to then be frozen? I havn't had to do it before so I certainly don't have my own CO2 eqiupment. Just throwing them in the freezer alive seems a little inhumane . Any suggestions?

i throw them in the freezer alive if they have not yet opened their eyes or ears. They just kind of go into hibernation and then go to sleep. If they are running around and old enought to eat on their own, i snap their necks first, then freeze them. A bit brutal i guess, but it is quick. If you are concrened i would invest in a CO2 tank, but it is expensive.
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"i wasn't born with enough middle fingers"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 partial stripe ghost corn- Raven
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.1 russian tortoise- Manja
0.1.1 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.0.2 Red american toadlets with 0.0.7 legs total (er, i have one w/3....)
0.0.1 gray tree frog toadlet
0.0.6 land snails
0.0.2 millipedes of unknown species from TN
0.0.1 spotted slug
5.3 bettas
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.3 ratties Rizzo, Bounce, Bree, Blitzkreig, and Zelda

they've opened they're eyes and have started running around a bit. I was going to let them get a little bit bigger before euthanizing them. At this size he'll eat 5 of them like nothing. I'll have to think about the snapping they're necks thing...not sure if I can do that. When I first got him he was eating pre killed adult mice. To kill them, I'd just put them in a sock and smack them on the floor or table, worked pretty good. I tried this when I started switching him over to rats and it didn't work so good. Rats don't die as easily with this method .

you can always just get the little CO2 cartridges... I know they sell them at sports supply stores and such, and get something to release it into a bag, just a thought
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

I, too, breed fancy rats (or at least am trying to) and use the unwanted babies as food. It sounds brutal and awful, and it's kind of hard to do (emotionally), but I found the best thing to do is just grab them by the tail and thwack their heads against something very hard, like concrete. A blunt head trauma will typically knock an animal unconcious, even if it doesn't immediately kill it, so the animal shouldn't really feel any pain.

I would think that trying to kill them with CO2 would be dangerous to you and whatever else lived in your house. Snapping their necks (cervical-spine dislocation, the quickest, most painless way to kill a small rodent) can theoretically be done by grabbing the tail and the head and pulling, but I haven't been able to do that very successfully.

As for freezing to death, I've heard that, at least in humans, there is a small period of euphoria right before death; however, I don't know if that applies to rodents as well, and I'd be worried that the little buggers would chew their way out of whatever container they were in and start eating whatever else is in your freezer.

Man, discussions like this sure make you hope no PETA members troll these boards . . . I really do like rats; I have three of them as pets! . . . Just that snakes have to eat, too. And there is no such thing as vegan snake food.
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Kitt

I havn't been able to just grab them by the tail and smack them against concrete or a table, so when I was feeding pre killed I'd put them in a sock and do it that way. The mice would die right away, but the rats didn't seem to die no matter how hard I did it. They did seem to go unconscious a little though, so I suppose I could do that and then freeze them? It is an emotional job when they're parents are pets

I think that freezing them while unconcious (as long as they're good and knocked out) would probably be OK. I did about twenty rats over the past couple of weeks (two litters) and I don't think that all of them were 100% dead when they went into the freezer. (However, I also don't think that any of them were made to suffer, which of course is the other thing to try and avoid.)

It is a pretty crappy job to do, especially when you have to do whole litters at a time. Just think, though -- someone had to kill the feeders we buy frozen.
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Kitt

carbon dioxide is fine. You won't be releasing enough to cause suffacation to yourself - there's already quite a bit in the air anyway. You must be thinking CO.

>>I would think that trying to kill them with CO2 would be dangerous to you and whatever else lived in your house.

Of course you're right -- we EXHALE CO2, so there's plenty in the air and a tiny bit won't kill you (like carbon monoxide will).

I guess I just couldn't really figure out how to do it with a little CO2 cartrige.
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Kitt

lol I'm waiting for pet rat enthusiasts to see this thread and start protesting

J
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2.2 Solomen Island ground boas
0.1 Solomen Island tree boa
1.0 green tree python
1.0 jungle carpet python
1.0 coastal carpet python
1.0 Boa constrictor imperator
0.1 Borneo short-tailed (blood) python
1.0 CB sunbeam snake

I used to breed rats for food/pets to pet shops. Don't try to freeze adult rats all you end up with is a scared cold pissed rat' I am sure eventually they would die but it must take along time. I usually do the hold tail and crack method this when swinging lines the head up hense the reason putting them in a sock won't work as well, the impact is absorbed by the entire body.Its that whole surface area thing... any way another method is to hold tail and allow them to grab the edge of somthing then quickly snap down with a blunt object. Anoother is to put a rat trap in a tank and leave room come back to dead rat clean trap well and continue. be sure to clean trap well rats are smart and catch on to the smell of other dead rats. Last method I know of is to just put them in a coffee can and leave them they will sufficate though this one seems inhumane. quick death is better in my book
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Kevin
I am lost w/o spell check
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."-unknown

Ooh . . . I don't like that coffee can one.

Suffocation is a CRAPPY way to die.
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Kitt

...it's all about balance & respecting the prey as much as the predator. I'm not big on the freezer or slamming a rodent against something hard (as in just smashing it, not breaking the neck) methods...same with the coffee can. Just too disrespectful in my book. Making a CO2 chamber is easy & relatively inexpensive - paintball supply places & eBay make it easy - , and learning proper cervical dislocation isn't hard either if you're not squeamish, but have someone who's very good at it show you how to do it.

I have a drawer full of dumbo & hooded rats that will not be fed off until they're just past the point of no return with old age. Rats make AWESOME pets, and no matter what type of feeder animal, they should ALL be given due respect. Some methods of dispatching feeder rodents are downright inhumane. Learn how to do it right, folks.

Just my (passionate) $.02!

K

P.S. Here's me & one of my favorite Dumbos last December. Isn't he a cutie? He LOVES to hide in my hair...such a silly ratty-roo!

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Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean

I just had to learn to know the difference between something that has been loved and something that has been bred for snake food.

oh ya, and as for the whole holding the tail and cracking the head on something trick. You probably wont do that again after pulling the tail off a rat...::shudders::...i put my rats in a pillow case and crack em on something.
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"i wasn't born with enough middle fingers"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 partial stripe ghost corn- Raven
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.1 russian tortoise- Manja
0.1.1 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.0.2 Red american toadlets with 0.0.7 legs total (er, i have one w/3....)
0.0.1 gray tree frog toadlet
0.0.6 land snails
0.0.2 millipedes of unknown species from TN
0.0.1 spotted slug
5.3 bettas
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.3 ratties Rizzo, Bounce, Bree, Blitzkreig, and Zelda

lol I love rats, I have quite a few as pets....but hey, a snake's gotta eat! As soon as they start making tofu rats that he'll eat I'll be the first in line to buy 'em!

Geez you guys can get pretty gruesome LOL You should be able to find small CO2 canisters or even dry ice which is frozen CO2 put the rats to be euthanized in a sealable container with the CO2 or dry ice. They will be dead with their first breath.

Trying to freeze them alive is rather a painful way to go. It takes quite a while even for rat pinks to get cold enough to actually freeze and they suffer from frost bite before dying.
Thumping is effective and quick but to often you get bloody noses and can be quite messy.

If you have a home beer making store in your area you may be able to get small CO2 cartridges from them.
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Hope this helps.

BigT

Here is what I do I grab the rat by the tail and find something with a edge like a table or and whack the back of their neck towards the table edge that will snap thier necks and kill them and dont be fooled with their body jittering because thats thier nerves not becuase they are alive. it doesnt sound too pleasing but you gotta do it to protect your animal

>>Here is what I do I grab the rat by the tail and find something with a edge like a table or and whack the back of their neck towards the table edge that will snap thier necks and kill them and dont be fooled with their body jittering because thats thier nerves not becuase they are alive. it doesnt sound too pleasing but you gotta do it to protect your animal

That's how I usually do it too. Doesn't work well on the very small or very large, but it's quick. They usually don't move after I do this though. The quicker, the better. I think of some of my rats as pets too, but the snakes have to eat...