in one of my more evil feeling days i decided to put some of the major animal rights organizations on the spot, I called the National humane society, PETA, and the ASPCA, gave them a sob story about a neighbor/friend who had a bunch of mice that they could not take care of and knowing that i kept snakes, gave them to me. as a "concerned citizen against animal cruelty" I needed advice on how best to put down the mice that I had been given, painlessly and quickly. the ASPCA told me to just drop the LIVE mouse in and let "nature take its course" the National Humane Society (just another arm of PETA) suggested cervical dislocation (breaking necks). i called a few vets and they were equally divided between cervical dislocation and controlled atmosphere killing (CAK) basically a small amount of dry ice in a container with holes punched in it. place it and the mice in a larger container and in about a minute the mice will just fall asleep and expire from hypoxia. no stress, no pain, no suffering. PETA wouldn't give me a straight answer no matter what. they understood my dilemma but they only approved of euthanizing mice by lethal injection even though it would render then unfit for snake consumption. I dealt with this young girl who was completely unprepared for this ethical dilemma, poor little freak, I told her about cervical dislocation, and CAK but she insisted those were not PETA approved options. i let her of the hook after about a week, and stopped calling. Ironically PETA sent out a press release claiming a major victory at KFC in canada forcing them to use CAK in all their chicken processing plants.
Even more ironically someone answered my ad in craigslist about "adopting" unwanted mice, she was a "show mouse" breeder and had many many mice that were just not show quality. I explained to her that I really wanted the mice for food, she had no problem with it and brought over about 30 mice.....
I searched in vain for a place to buy dry ice but couldn't find any so had to go with my second preference, not pleasant by any means, but by using a pair of 14" hemostats at the neck, and simultaneously twisting the hemostats backward, and pulling the tail forward, i was able to put down 30 mice in about 15 min. by all indications death was instant. and man some of these mice are HUGE, i have at least 5 that weigh in at around 42 grams. the smallest are 22 grams, most are about 33 or so. considering an "adult" mouse at petco weighs in at 19 grams, my snakes are going to eat very well.
anyway, thought I'd share that with you.
I may have to go on "vacation" again, so if you don't hear from me for a while you'll know why.
mike
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..1 Jayne "The Hero of Canton", Ball Python
..1 Edmund Slackbladder, Mexican Kingsnake
..1 El Diablo "They haven't built a cage I can't get out of" Pueblan Milksnake
(Currently serving 25 to life in a Maryland Supermax
______________________________________________________

Me; And finally monsieur a wafer thin pinkie
El Diablo: blaggh
Me: ah sir its only 1 leetle pink one
ED: ahh, sod off! I'm full
Me: ah sir hmm? its only wafer thin?
ED: bah! i couldn't eat another thing I'm absolutely stuffed. bugger off!
Me: ah sir, sir just ...just one......?
ED: ok just one
Me just the one.
Me: voila!
Me: bon appetite!.......

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