Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am forced to travel a fairly long distance for my snake food(Rabbits and Chicks). I buy bulk and freeze what I don't feed that day. I'm looking for a better way to kill these animals in preperation for feeding or the freezer. I have heard co2 works. What equipment does this require and is it easily accessible? Thanks

Get aa large plastic sweater box or trash can with some litter on the floor and put in a piece of dry ice in a cup of water and allow the CO2 to fill up the container. Then you can place a few animals in there at a time and they will asphixiate in the CO2 within a few minutes.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

Call me crude but I thunk them.

Frank
-----
"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Same here. There are times when a stunned, but moving, prey is what the snake wants. Course there's thunk...and then there's THUNK.

Thunking is fine, if you are feeding mice. Small rats are pretty easy to thunk, but large male rats are a different story. It takes a very large blow to kill a rat and if you don't do it well, it can be very cruel.

Trying to kill a rabbit that way is paramount to torture! If you read the original post, the person wants to kill a number of animals at once for freezing, not stun them.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

Here Here to thunking!

I think the tanks are kinda expensive though, I just use my sons...stuff the tube in a hole inthe side of a container, I buy mine from dollar general, shoebox size with a lid, and thats all you need.
Of course be careful not to put the co2 on full blast or youll blow the top of the container off and all the rats will get out.I did this with a huge litter of young rats (16)and they were everywhere and the dog was chasing them and me and my son were trying to catch them as they ran all over the place tring to get away.Very Keystone Cops kind of thing..
-----
.........
)

I agree, CO2 is perhaps the most humane route to dispatch feeder rodents, and the paint ball gun canisters work great for this purpose.
Keep in mind, you can attach a small regulator valve and length of hose to the canister, which can be inserted into a small hole inserted into the bottom of the container being used to dispatch the feeder rodents.
Since CO2 is heavier than O2, you can insert small holes into the lid of the box, which will allow the CO2 to purge the O2 out of the container, without blowing the top off, as you fill the box with CO2.
I have also used plastic shopping bags and the CO2 canisters used for air guns, when dispatching a few small rodents...

Best regards,

Jeff
-----
Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947