breeding rats help please

[timma]

hi all , when breeding rats to feed the babies to pythons what's the most humane way to do it and best for the pythons
thanks heaps

[cris]

If you only need baby rats it doesnt really matter to much how you keep them from the pythons point of view, provided they have a good diet.

If however you want to use older rodents as food(as you probably will need to do at some stage) they should have plenty of room to run around and exersise to keep their fat levels down.

[mitchyj]

if u mean humane way of killing them then u could always do wat me n my mate do n he chucks them to ya n u hit em with a cricket bat it does the job haha

[cris]

Originally Posted by mitchyj

if u mean humane way of killing them then u could always do wat me n my mate do n he chucks them to ya n u hit em with a cricket bat it does the job haha

wouldnt that make a little bit of a mess

The best way to kill baby rats it by pressing your thumb(or other solid object) in at the base on their head where the spinal cord attaches and push in with your thumb while pulling the tail(not too hard or the tail will come off). You can also wack them on the head with something but you need to be careful who much force you use as it may make a mess or not kill them.

Either that or CO2 gas them for about an hour, filling the chamber at a rate between 10-20% of chamber volume per minute.

[mitchyj]

na u gotta hit em just right n then ur sweet

[Mork]

The generally recommended way to humanely kill rats and mice is to gas them with CO2 then freeze them. To do this you will need a tank of compressed CO2 and a gassing bin.

CO2 is heavier than O2 and hence will sink to the bottom of the bin. So put the animals to be killed in the bottom of the bin and slowly pump the CO2 into it. The animals will slowly "fall asleep" as the oxygen is displaced by the CO2. Once the animals hav stopped breathing remove them and freeze them (unless they are for immediate use).

HTH

[mitchyj]

bugger that i just drown em or hit em over the head with sumthing

[cris]

Drowning them is not humane, dont do it, it would also be illegal.

[inthegrass]

do a search!!!!!!!!!!!
cheers.

[christo]

Originally Posted by Mork

The generally recommended way to humanely kill rats and mice is to gas them with CO2 then freeze them. To do this you will need a tank of compressed CO2 and a gassing bin.

CO2 is heavier than O2 and hence will sink to the bottom of the bin. So put the animals to be killed in the bottom of the bin and slowly pump the CO2 into it. The animals will slowly "fall asleep" as the oxygen is displaced by the CO2. Once the animals hav stopped breathing remove them and freeze them (unless they are for immediate use).

HTH

Why slowly? High levels of CO2 straight away renders the rats unconscious in a matter of seconds. They go to sleep very peacefully and very quickly.

[OzRocks]

Co2 is the reccomended way by DSE but if your just killing pinkis put them in a freezer, because they have a very low tolererance to the cold, and its alot cheaper then Co2!!! Plus if you want to freeze em its already done