Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey i've been thinking about starting my own colony of feeder mice and i want to know what the best method of euthanasia is. I know that throwing them against the wall or hitting them with a blunt object works, but its too much work to kill large numbers of mice at one time like that.
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Judge me all you want...just don't share the verdict

>>hey i've been thinking about starting my own colony of feeder mice and i want to know what the best method of euthanasia is. I know that throwing them against the wall or hitting them with a blunt object works, but its too much work to kill large numbers of mice at one time like that.
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>>Judge me all you want...just don't share the verdict

Gassing them is what most people do.It's painless and they die very fast...Paul
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Taste like chicken

I never Euth. more than a couple of rats at a time so a smaller container works great..Put a small pinhole in the top and put a hole in the side for the hose and go to it...works in minutes with minimal stress on the animals.
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number of mice.....

mayonaise jar close lid...or if you are doing alot....a gallon jar /wide mouthed.........if you are doing thousands.I have filled a 5 gallon bucket and put the lid on...by the time you fill it the whole bottom layer is dead already.....fast as CO2

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1)while it has no analgesic effects, carbon dioxide actually has anesthetic properties
2)crowded conditions maximize the panic during death... mearly filling a jar with mice until they die (if I read correctly)is considered inhumane. They actually pass out due to lack of oxygen as opposed to carbon dioxide intake.

The proper way to euthanize using this method is by using a prefilled chamber (either with dry ice, or gas cylinder); or equally well, filling the chamber while the animals are inside. The container should not be filled so as there is no room for movement, and especially they should not be stacked on top of each other.

My sources are the textbooks from CALAS (Canadian Association for Lab Animal Science)

Ian

Can i just buy a co2 canister from a home depot or lowes or do i have to buy them online or something like that? Also how much do they cost usually?
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Judge me all you want...just don't share the verdict

Freeze them, there brain will fall asleep and they will die.............

Do not freeze them.
It is a long painful cruel death.
Just because they are feeders does not mean they should be treated cruelly.
Gas is very fast and the best way.

hiya, im just curious.

is it legal in the us to euthanase mice/rats to feed to snakes/ reptiles?

over here in the UK, you can be prosecuted for owning both mice/rats and snakes in the same house as there is the possibility that you will either try to feed live, of kill them to feed.

keeping mice/rats to use either dead or alive is completley illegal and you can be imprisoned upto 12 months if caught euthanising animals without a veterinary licence.

is this no illegal in the states?

sorry laralyon, but i have to disagree with you. I know many herp keepers from the uk and several of them have there own colonies of feeder mice/rats.
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Judge me all you want...just don't share the verdict

non that ive found / met, from what ive read and found, the RSPCA pounce on anyone that they believe is culling/slaughtering/killing any animals at all. for what ever reason.

so i cant see how siad people get away with it

So what do people in the UK feed their snakes?

i can assure you that it is not illegal in the UK to keep feeder mice. Check it out on this UK herp forum that i belong to.

www.reptilecrazy.co.uk
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Judge me all you want...just don't share the verdict

we obviously feed them mice.
but we have to buy them properly farmed.
i work in a petshop, and were not even allowed to breed mice ourselves for our snakes, we have to buy frozen from a proper registered breeder farm.

I'm sure this law you're talkin about is just a local think for your city.
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Judge me all you want...just don't share the verdict

What I do know is that in the UK it is illegal to feed live prey to a pet. (I wonder if this implies invertabrates as well, or just rodents)

I was unaware that people were getting charged with euthanasia of rodents BUT, here is something that may be interesting to everyone here...

In many countries, the UK, USA, and Canada among them, it is illegal to euthanize or otherwise practice veterinary medicine without a DVM liscence or adequate training and supervision from a DVM (a vet tech would be an example). Contact the AVMA, CVMA, or British version of such if you'd like verification of my statement. The word euthanize is actually euthanitize, and is latin for humane death. Being a veterinarian gives you the background, expertise, and proffesionalism to legally judge what is humane.

Now, are all rodent breeders under veterinary supervision? Perhaps some, but the vast majority probably not. Do I foresee a crack down on this practice anytime soon? No. Will you be convicted on animal cruelty if found to not do it properly? Yes.

The UK is much more stringent on animal cruelty laws than in North America, which is a little ironic in my opinion, as their veterinary practice is in many points far behind what occurs in Canada and the USA.