How to humanely kill feeder mice

[Reptiman]

Hey all, I been hanging around here for a little while reading and learning. My wife and I decided it would be easier and more cost effective for us to breed our own mice for our 6 snakes. We don't really care for on-line transactions so we chose this route. Now on to the question, how can we humanely and (more importantly) cleanly kill the little boogers to freeze them? I have tried the pillow case bashed into something hard and just ends up being too messy (actually disgusting) and I have heard about breaking their necks but have not figured out how to do this without getting bitten. Do they suffocate rather quickly in a sealed container? Any help would be apprieciated.

[Karnis]

Quick and easy neck breakin. grab rodent by tail, place hard heavy thing against the neck, lift tail, listen for snap. Quick dead mouse (I resorted to mass murder then up to just building my own CO2 chamber)

[haroldo359]

co2 is prolly the most humane, but put a screwdriver behind the neck and snatch up on the tail.

[pandora1985]

i wouldn't suffocate them...it would take a few minutes and i don't think thats very humane. your options are basically the quick methods of bashing them or breaking their necks...or the slow but painless method of CO2 which puts them to sleep first.

[StevenLeeAugust]

With 6 snakes to feed I think you could save $$$ ordering large amounts frozen. There are several places online that would allow you to send a check rather then online purchase.

I have phoned in my order with a credit card to The Gourmet Rodent for years and years with no problems if that is any help.

[spinrb8]

If youve got a hard floor just grab it by the tail and sling hard as you can on the floor. Quick Kill!

[strictcontour]

I started breeding mice for my corns, but when it came to it I just couldn't kill them and ended up giving them away to the pet shop.

[pythonpower]

i agree with spinrb8 just grab it by the tail and smack on floor till its dead

[Shadrach]

CO2 Chamber is your best bet for doing a large quanity of mice. As far as making one pretty easy. Get you a cooler and some dry ice. Add dry ice to the cooler for around 5 minutes or so with lid on then add mice after that closing lid back check back after 10 min or so they will be in La la land.

[Reptiman]

We appreciate all the replies. The CO2 option sounds like the way to go. We have previously bought frozens from pet store in our area and the quality was marginal at best. I really don't mind bashing them on the head or throwing them on the floor but I have a hard time putting bloodied baggies full of mice in our freezer Maybe I don't give them enough time to expire after bashing them one time. If they are still twitching or breathing I bash 'em again.

[LdyDrgn]

LINK to building your own gas chamber.

[challenger]

I like this chamber and wish someone made one for sale. I plan on starting on mine soon-w-a few design changes for ease of use/storage.
I cannot beleive all the talk about bashing mice or snapping the necks etc.. When something like this chamber is available it seems silly. Rodents are my least favorite animals and as humans I strongly beleive we have the God given right to take animals from nature for specific uses ie food but to smash an animal against a wall to kill it seems nuts. This is just my opinion so please take no offense if this is your "thing" cause really I couln't care less about the animal-except when it is cuased to suffer unnecessary pain. Just IMO.
Personally I was hit by a car and suffered serious injury. I would hate to have been stood up and hit again because the first shot didn't kill me like it should have. All just for the sake of discussion. "Don't be hatin"

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

[Reptiman]

Originally Posted by LdyDrgn

LINK to building your own gas chamber.

Thanks for the link! I will probably build the chamber in the next couple of weeks before we have another set of litters.

[thatchicklisa]

Okay, I've been following this thread and have two questions.....One, can Co2 hurt you if you are around it too much? Like, if you were using it to euthanize feeders and got too much into your lungs, could you pass out? And, once the feeder is dead can you immediately feed your pet (In my case 2 RTB) and will any Co2 remaining in the feeders tissue affect your pet?

[pandora1985]

CO2 would not hurt you unless you stuck that bag for the CO2 chamber around your own head...or something dumb like that.

oh and it will not hurt your pet either. they arent breathing it.