FNQ_Snake
Very Well-Known Member
Hello all, well it has been a while since I started a thread on this board; however, I have been reading quite a few posts. Firstly let me say welcome to all our new members. Wow, you turn your back for a minute and a heap of new guys turn up. That is excellent not only for APS, but for herpetology as a whole.
Now into the nitty gritty of this post. I have read a number of posts recently on APS regarding culling rats and mice and questions are normally "How do I kill my rats?" or "What method do you use?". Firstly let me say that if you intend to breed rats/mice for the consumption of your animals then please remember YOU WILL HAVE TO KILL THE BABIES!!! Too many people purchase rats/mice with the intention of feeding the offspring to their animals and then when the day comes to culling the baby rats/mice many people opt out and then they have just scored themselves 14 new "pets".
Anyway, I'll probably cop a flame or four hundred for that last paragraph, but if you do not have the stomach for manually culling baby rats/mice then please forgo purchasing rats/mice as "food factories". I have researched many methods of culling rats/mice in the most humane way possible, but it wasn't until I had to go away for a few weeks, with a dwindling supply in the "morgue" as my wife calls the freezer, that I realised she would have to cull some rats/mice for my ever growing collection while I was away. I also had babies growing but at the wrong size for what I needed them for so culling before I went was out of the question.
Now I used to use the pinch and push method (placing the
rat/mouse in my hand - like holding a candle with the
rat/mouse facing away fom me. I then pushed forward on the back of the head until I felt the seperation of the spinal cord/column with the base of the skull). This method proved messy as most
rats/mice had cases of bowel evacuation occur so urine and faeces covered hands meant the
rat/mouse had to be washed in water thoroughly before freezing.
Another method that is used is the knock method (I for one do not employ, advocate or like this method). This method entails grasping the rat/mouse by the back legs and swinging the rat/mouse onto a hard surface with the hope that the force behind the swing is enough to cause death by fracturing the skull and forcing massive trauma into the brain (alternatively a hammer or other heavy object can be used). This method has its negatives in that a miss means scaring the animal, a slight hit means a broken bone causing the rat/mouse a lot of unnecessary pain, and a proper hit against a hard surface may not be sufficient to cause the death of the rat/mouse.
A third method is the sack method. This is pretty self-explanatory, but I will explain it for you. This method involves the placing of the rats/mice into a sock, old pillow case, shopping bag, etc. The person holding the sack then swings the sack with force onto the ground. Now, in my opinion, this method is similar to the knock method with its negative aspects, so I will not go into them again.
Now, my preferred method now-a-days is the CO2 Gas Method. I find this method to be the most humane method when culling my rats/mice. I simply use a soda stream machine for the ease of use. This is mainly due to the fact that I don't have to try and make a messy bi-carb soda and vinegar CO2 bag and hose setup. I simply connect some windscreen washer hose (purchased from an automotive shop for about 70c a meter) to the CO2 "injecter" of the Soda Stream machine.
I then run that hose into a T-Piece I have positioned and siliconed in place in the one litre Sistema (or equivalent) plastic container. That my friends is how quick and easy it is to make the CO2 Gas Chamber. The One Litre container allows up to 10 to 15 fuzzy rats and 20-25 fuzzy mice comfortably. Ensure this container is air tight.
In order to operate the CO2 Gas Chamber, simply depress the button twice. This will allow sufficient gas to enter the chamber and put the rats/mice to sleep and therefore allow them a "peaceful" death. If you use more than two depressions this will cause the rats/mice to instantly start suffocating. This is cruel and unnecessary. Once two depressions are done, the rats/mice will usually start going to sleep after a minute or so. I then leave them in the container for 10 minutes after this to avoid any accidental "recoveries". I can talk quite freely about this as I have done this many times and believe I have come up with the most pain-free and humane way in which to cull my rats/mice.
After all your rats/mice are dead, I usually give them a quick wash in clean water to get rid of any contaminants from the enclosure. They are then placed straight into a sandwich bag and popped into the freezer. By deep freezing the rats/mice, you are ensuring bacteria is destroyed by the sustained minus temperatures. As well as ensuring they kept fresh. For no other reason that paranoia and the love of my herps, any rat/mouse that is left after three months I throw out.
If you do not have a Soda Stream at home, go and get a new one (you can still make drinks with it) or check out your local Pawn Brokers.
I have included some pictures for your viewing in order to better understand the setup method.
Please, if you are going to provide negative feedback, then PM me instead.
Complete Setup
Hose Connection to Soda Stream
Hose T-Piece Connection
Lockable Air Tight Container
Sandwich Bags
Nicely Packaged Food
Thanks for looking.
Cheers
Kris J. Parker
Now into the nitty gritty of this post. I have read a number of posts recently on APS regarding culling rats and mice and questions are normally "How do I kill my rats?" or "What method do you use?". Firstly let me say that if you intend to breed rats/mice for the consumption of your animals then please remember YOU WILL HAVE TO KILL THE BABIES!!! Too many people purchase rats/mice with the intention of feeding the offspring to their animals and then when the day comes to culling the baby rats/mice many people opt out and then they have just scored themselves 14 new "pets".
Anyway, I'll probably cop a flame or four hundred for that last paragraph, but if you do not have the stomach for manually culling baby rats/mice then please forgo purchasing rats/mice as "food factories". I have researched many methods of culling rats/mice in the most humane way possible, but it wasn't until I had to go away for a few weeks, with a dwindling supply in the "morgue" as my wife calls the freezer, that I realised she would have to cull some rats/mice for my ever growing collection while I was away. I also had babies growing but at the wrong size for what I needed them for so culling before I went was out of the question.
Now I used to use the pinch and push method (placing the
Another method that is used is the knock method (I for one do not employ, advocate or like this method). This method entails grasping the rat/mouse by the back legs and swinging the rat/mouse onto a hard surface with the hope that the force behind the swing is enough to cause death by fracturing the skull and forcing massive trauma into the brain (alternatively a hammer or other heavy object can be used). This method has its negatives in that a miss means scaring the animal, a slight hit means a broken bone causing the rat/mouse a lot of unnecessary pain, and a proper hit against a hard surface may not be sufficient to cause the death of the rat/mouse.
A third method is the sack method. This is pretty self-explanatory, but I will explain it for you. This method involves the placing of the rats/mice into a sock, old pillow case, shopping bag, etc. The person holding the sack then swings the sack with force onto the ground. Now, in my opinion, this method is similar to the knock method with its negative aspects, so I will not go into them again.
Now, my preferred method now-a-days is the CO2 Gas Method. I find this method to be the most humane method when culling my rats/mice. I simply use a soda stream machine for the ease of use. This is mainly due to the fact that I don't have to try and make a messy bi-carb soda and vinegar CO2 bag and hose setup. I simply connect some windscreen washer hose (purchased from an automotive shop for about 70c a meter) to the CO2 "injecter" of the Soda Stream machine.
I then run that hose into a T-Piece I have positioned and siliconed in place in the one litre Sistema (or equivalent) plastic container. That my friends is how quick and easy it is to make the CO2 Gas Chamber. The One Litre container allows up to 10 to 15 fuzzy rats and 20-25 fuzzy mice comfortably. Ensure this container is air tight.
In order to operate the CO2 Gas Chamber, simply depress the button twice. This will allow sufficient gas to enter the chamber and put the rats/mice to sleep and therefore allow them a "peaceful" death. If you use more than two depressions this will cause the rats/mice to instantly start suffocating. This is cruel and unnecessary. Once two depressions are done, the rats/mice will usually start going to sleep after a minute or so. I then leave them in the container for 10 minutes after this to avoid any accidental "recoveries". I can talk quite freely about this as I have done this many times and believe I have come up with the most pain-free and humane way in which to cull my rats/mice.
After all your rats/mice are dead, I usually give them a quick wash in clean water to get rid of any contaminants from the enclosure. They are then placed straight into a sandwich bag and popped into the freezer. By deep freezing the rats/mice, you are ensuring bacteria is destroyed by the sustained minus temperatures. As well as ensuring they kept fresh. For no other reason that paranoia and the love of my herps, any rat/mouse that is left after three months I throw out.
If you do not have a Soda Stream at home, go and get a new one (you can still make drinks with it) or check out your local Pawn Brokers.
I have included some pictures for your viewing in order to better understand the setup method.
Please, if you are going to provide negative feedback, then PM me instead.
Complete Setup
Hose Connection to Soda Stream
Hose T-Piece Connection
Lockable Air Tight Container
Sandwich Bags
Nicely Packaged Food
Thanks for looking.
Cheers
Kris J. Parker
