A friend suggested lastnight....

[Danis-delectables]

To put the mice out of their misery to stick them in my foodsaver bag and vaccum them out. She said they die really quick. Whats your thoughts on this? I feel it is probley cruel.
Dani

[eddie]

And you would be correct

[JuliusSqueezer]

Suffocation is a horrible death as is freezing to death. Other than a CO2 Chamber, the most humane death is blunt force head trauma. A quick whack knocks an animal senseless and they feel no pain. Kinda like when someone is in a car wreck and sustains a massive head injury and they wake up in the hospital and they remember bright lights and screetching tires and then no other memory except waking up in the hospital with no idea how they got there. The only difference is, the mice don't wake up in the hospital. Pinks and fuzzies have a very soft skull. I just pinch their little heads real quick enough to mash the brain and then freeze them. Larger mice or rats, I swing by the tail and whap their heads on the edge of a table top. This may seem silly but I never let the ones awaiting excecution to watch me killing their friends nor do I let them see the bodies. I don't know if there is anything to this...I just don't want them to see. lol

[NicoleRussell]

what is the difference JS---I mean to the snake---between Fresh Killed and FT? Does a semi conscious rat hold more appeal?

[JuliusSqueezer]

They key difference is that most and usually all of the parasites inside the rodent die when they are frozen and don't infect the snake. Sometimes a semi conscious rodent that is still wiggling will entice a feeding response for those still too shy or insecure to eat in your presence but most don't seem to care if it's alive or dead and frankly, I don't think they have the thought process or the memory capacity to remember that they didin't kill it. Afterall, they will bully a dead rat away from another snake that the other snake killed if they have a chance and snakes in the wild will eat dead things they happen to find. It just so happens that in the wild, it is rare that they find it first already dead. Another risk that involves feeding stunned rodents is that sometimes the whack wasn't hard enough to kill them and they come to quite angry and attack back.

[natedoggSXE]

yeah that vacum method is horrible and dumb. It doesn't matter if it is "quicker", that doesnt mean its easier on the mice.

[NicoleRussell]

This guy who works for NYDS here in NYC said they just got a RTB as a pet at work. I'm going to print out the caresheet here for him---he said they feed stunned rats...because no one can be there after the drop to assure the rat isn't hurting the snake. I suggested FT.