Quote:
Originally Posted by k0ss
My wife is not fond of my buying live and then killing/stunning them. She prefers I let nature do it. I tried it and almost had to sleep on the floor for a few days. She is one of those people, it isn't as bad as it sounds but ya know.
As for frozen rats at petco or a pet store all I have been able to find were jumbo rats or large mice. Kenabig is about 5 ft long now and is on to large medium rats, if that makes sense. I was for a while feeding him 2-3 large f/t mice but that became a hassle.
I am going to do more research and find either a place locally where I can get them or I think BigCheese is going to work out perfectly. Honestly I should have posted here months ago when I ran into the problem and this whole issue could have been avoided.
I hope nothing bad happens from this but none the less it is a hard lesson to learn.
Thanks again for all the help and comments.
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Nature is cruel sometimes and the killing can go the wrong way.
I raise my own rodents for my snakes and the following is what I made for killing them humanely with no risk to the snake of risk of just mutilating the rodent.
CO2 Chamber for Dummies
written by the king of dummies John E Dove
1. Get one of those tall plastic 5 – 7 gallon buckets, the type with the removable lid. The one I use is about 18 inches high and contained motor oil at one time long ago.
2. Slit the provided slots around the sides of the lid so you can take the lid off and wash out the interior of the bucket.
3. Now get a 39oz Coffee can also with a plastic lid.
4. Place the coffee can on top of the plastic bucket lid and draw a circle around the coffee can on the plastic lid.
5. With a very sharp knife cut out the marked circle. You will want the coffee can to fit fairly tight into this hole so cut on the inside of the circle line you have drawn. You can always trim it larger if needed but you cannot put the plastic back once you have cut it away.
6. Drill two holes just large enough to screw in a sheet metal screw about 1 inch down from the top of the can in opposite sides in the coffee can.
7. Drill large holes in the side coffee can about 3 inches down from the top all the way around. This will be where the gas escapes into the chamber. I made my holes ½ inch in diameter and spaced them one inch apart.
8. Insert two sheet metal screws ½ way into the pre drilled holes 1 inch from the top of the coffee can.
9. Insert the coffee can into the hole made for it in the plastic bucket lid until the screws come into contact with the plastic lid.
10. Get some dry ice.
11. Line the bottom of the bucket with some paper towels to absorb any urine the rodents will leave when they are dieing.
12. Put rodents in the bucket.
13. Place plastic lid, with the coffee can inserted, on the bucket.
14. Pour about ½ - 1 cup of water into the coffee can. I am not sure if this is needed but it hastens the CO2 reaction.
15. With a pair of tongs place about ¼ - ½ pound of dry ice in the water in the can.
16. Place the lid on the coffee can and wait.
Give it till the dry ice is gone or 10 minutes whichever is greater and the rodents will be dead.
It actually takes about 5 minutes for a large rat to die but they lose consciousness much sooner. For some reason the younger the rat the longer it takes but don’t ask me why.
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