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Sabriyyah
Snake Mite
Qatar
40 Posts |
 Posted - 24/03/2012 : 18:45:23
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| I cannot buy dead rodents where i live so i buy live ones and then put them in the freezer in a plastic box. I thought long and hard about it and realised that they die of hypothermia (cf people on Everest). when i first did it I fretted for hours but when i went to the freezer for a look they were all huddled together to keep warm and had clearly peacefully gone to sleep. i have tried to breed them myself but find it all a bit time-consuming and messy so just keep on buying. not that it makes any difference as she stopped eating last June! I wonder if she qualifies for a special award? |
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Lotabob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
5008 Posts |
Posted - 24/03/2012 : 18:56:18
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| This is absolutely NOT a humane way to kill your rodents (or any animal for that matter) just give them to the snake live and let it do the job quickly for you. The way you do it is an extremely long winded, painful, and cruel way to die and they dont peacefully go to sleep they SLOWLY freeze to death. Please if you only take one thing from this forum please let it be that you dont subject your rodents to torture any more. |
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Evolution Morphs
Old Royal - I Post too much!
United Kingdom
2265 Posts |
Posted - 24/03/2012 : 20:11:09
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As above :( made me sad reading that
The rats are better off being feed live
Or make a gas chamber and let the rats die in a humane way
I can tell you how to make a gas chamber If you like its not that hard or costs much
Or google rat gas chamber
Poor rats :(
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Western Hognose |
Edited by - Evolution Morphs on 24/03/2012 20:11:55 |
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JanieW
Old Royal - I Post too much!
United Kingdom
2279 Posts |
Posted - 24/03/2012 : 20:50:25
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Sabriyyah, while I have no doubt you thought you were doing the right thing, in future please listen to Bob and Del as freezing to death is a horrible way to die.
You used mountain climbers to justify as being humane, but you have to realise that those climbers started out being warm, and then gradually hypothermia and exhaustion took over. That is not the same as being plunged into a freezer alive. |
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Kelfezond
The bearded one
United Kingdom
4803 Posts |
Posted - 26/03/2012 : 21:23:14
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Jesus xD that's a terrible mistake to make!
Yeah in future just let the snake do it, I speak from experience when I say the rodents don't know it's coming, most of the time they'll happily come sniffing at the snake to see whats going on then BAM! All over with. Much nicer than freezing them. |
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Keg
Yearling
United Kingdom
137 Posts |
Posted - 27/03/2012 : 15:41:31
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agreed that is horrible.
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anatess
Sub Adult
USA
669 Posts |
Posted - 27/03/2012 : 16:27:28
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Sabbiyah, yes, it is much better to just feed the live rat to the snake than have the rat freeze to death in the freezer.
But, at the same time, live feeding doesn't just mean throw the live rat into the snake's viv and walk away. So, just to be sure you get information on the proper way to feed live, this is what is usually done:
1.) When you pick up the rat from the store, ask the store owner if he can give you one or two pellets of what the store is feeding the rat. Don't worry if he won't give you one. Rats eat a variety of things, you can give him some carrots or biscuits or bread.
2.) Give the rat water to drink and food to eat before you feed him off. This will lower the risk of your rat attacking the snake.
3.) Get a pair of tongs (or chopsticks or similar). If you use tongs, you can use these to grab the rat by the tail closest to his butt to pick him up (it's probably easier to just use your hands though).
4.) If you have tons of decorations in your viv, it would be safer to move the snake to a feeding box. If you have a sparse viv (like just a couple hides and a water bowl), you can just take out the hide that the snake is not hiding in and then put some rat food on the floor of the viv a few paces away from the snake, put the rat by the food (don't worry if he doesn't take to the rat food, it's just there to give the rat an option).
5.) Watch the process with tongs/stick in hand until the rat strikes the rat and coils. Watch carefully to see if the snake got the rat by the back of the head - sometimes the snake grabs the rat in another spot so it leaves the rat's head free to move giving him the opportunity to sink his teeth into the snake - when you see this happen, use your tong or stick to hold the rat's teeth away from the snake.
6.) When the snake lets go of the dead rat, you can go ahead and walk away.
7.) If the snake doesn't strike the rat in 15 minutes, just go ahead and take the rat out of the viv and enjoy a pet rat for the next 5 days or so until next feed. :)
Easy does it. |
        
Snake owner since Oct 2008, so yeah, I'm no expert.
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how are mice/rats killed?
