Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I read somewhere about plans to make a gas chamber for rats, I can't remember if it was here or on the boa forum. Anyway, the plans said to use a seperate container filled with a little water and run a line inside so the excess co2 gets passed through the water. My question is, what is the purpose of the water? does it make the co2 break down faster so it doesn't fill the room? Any help is appriciated. Thanks.

The water keeps outside air from going into the gas chamber, so the gas chamber can vent "out" (when you ad the CO2 gas) but not "in". instead of water I use a check valve used for aquarium air pumps. I made my gas chamber without any plans and got a 5 LB CO2 tank and regulator from a beer supply place and some hose and bulkhead fitting from the harware store. The actual "gas chamber" is an airtight Rubbermaid container.
The whole thing cost me about $125 or so, with the gas tank being the most expensive item. A local welding supply place will take your empty CO2 tank and sell you a full one. I can take some photos to post if you'd like to see it.

Hope this helps,

Rob Reiding.
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Is that how they do it at big rodent supply companies. If your feeding dead rodents why not use frozen?

The reason why I'm trying fresh killed rather than frozen is because non of my snakes will touch frozen, couldn't tell you why. But fresh killed they take without a problem. Whatever works you know?

1 rat 1 pillow case 1 hard surface no suffering = 1 dead rat and a very happy snake

Ya sometimes I think that is the reason they have tails......to swing'em by!!!!

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I love the tail except for when it occasionally seperates. the pillowcase is a 1 shot 1 kill performance

That might work if you are feeding the prey at the time of kill but not when you plan on freezing them for later. Did you ever thaw out a rat that was killed that way? its a mess lots of blood after thawing. The co2 is the easiest and quickest and not to mention the most humane way to kill rodents. Get yourself a ten gallon aquarium and buy a piece of plexiglass to fit on the inside lip. drill a hole through both ends and attach the fittings onto both holes( you can get the fittings at your locale hardware store the ones with threads on one side and a nipple that your airling will fit on) you hook one line to your co2 bottle and the other line goes into a jar of water but to tell you the truth you really dont need to do the jar of water because the co2 is heavier than air. I have gased hundereds of mice with a single shot of co2 it stays in the aquarium even when the lid is off

Her is a photo of the one I made and use. The chamber itself is pretty small so It does not use a lot of gas.

Rob Reiding.

Link

I only use a 5g bucket. Like someone else said co2 is heavier than air and stays in the bucket, I use a lid though. My tank doesn't even have a regulator, just a short piece of garden hose. If there are a lot of rats, they will sweat. I just lay them out to dry before freezing. I saw a 55g drum used for the same purpose only with rabbits, They had metal grate a little off the bottom for the urine to go through.
Mike