bicarb soda and vinegar?

ok i know this has been done to death but i can't seem to find the answer i need.

i am wanting to get co2 to kill the mice ive breed for my snakes.

But i live in a tiny town where the only co2 i can get will cost me $30 PER MONTH so its not worth it!

Ive heard mentioned that if you combine vinegar and bicarb sode it produces co2?

Has anybody had success with it? what ration are you looking at and how do you than get the co2 into the container where the mice will be killed.

Any help or suggestions would be great.

Many thanks.

I found this VERY messy and ended up getting a cylinder from BOC. Basically it is about a tablespoon of Bicarb to a litre of vinegar, I used a plastic tub with a reasonable seal on the lid with a piece of plastic hose running from a bottle where the mixture was combined. The problem I had was the reaction would bubble forcing the mixture into the container with the rats.

bicarb and vinegar does produce C02
as for how, i have seen a setup where the mice were put in a plastic tub with a lid. inside the tub was a container wth bicarb in it. outside the container was a tomato sauce type squeeze bottle full of vinegar with some plastic tubing connected to the nozzle. the tube ran through a hole in the lid of the tub and into the container with the bicarb.
just squeeze the bottle and the vinegar gets pumped into the bicarb and hey presto, dead mice!

i have no idea, but add bicard, vinegar and saltanas and then the saltanas will keep rising to the top of the glass then float down, and keep doing this for about 5 minutes
fun..

May I suggest making the trek to Rocky, Gladstone or Bundaberg for a gas cylinder? One refill should last you about a year which means only one trip per year.

http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/ Try this link. I have had succes with it. You just have to spend a little time makeing the setup right and air tight. I didnt use the exact plan in that but modified it, seemed to work fine.

I am going to Rocky next week...i just wasnt sure if you could BUY a cylinder or if you could only hire them like in Emerald. thanks for the heads up thou.

Hold'em by their tail and knock'em on the head,found it works the same.

Depending on how much a tank of CO2 costs...

You could go witha liquid vapour approach.

In order of preference, halothane, enflurane, isoflurane, sevoflurane, and desflurane, with or without nitrous oxide, are generally acceptable for euthanasia of small animals (< 7 kg).

Only thing is... getting your hands on the stuff.
I know you can get halothane from Sigma Aldrich, but I don't know if civilians can purchase it.

Can't buy, it is only a rental from BOC. You have a per annum fee and a refill fee. About $80 pa odd from memory (could be wrong)

I used the bicarb and vinigar once, i also found it very messy and difficult.

It took me ages to kill the mice and then they some of them came back when i opened the lid.

I imagine they would have suffered alot during my experiment.

Bottle is the way to go.

heres my bicarb-viniger set up i've been using for years.cheap ,effective and not messy.you need-
-a reasonably good quality plastic bag(not a thin woolies one)
-a shoelace
-a piece of hose(3/8 fuel hose works well)
-1 airtight plastic container
-plastic funnel
-10mm plastic knitting needle
shouldn't cost more then $10.drill 2 holes in the plastic container for the hose and funnel(if you drill then slightly smaller and force the hose and funnel in you shouldn't need sealant).put rats/mice in the bag,put in the other end of the hose, squeeze out most of the air from the bag and tie it off with the shoelace to seal it.add 4-3 tablespoons of bicarb soda to the container and put on lid.add 1 CUP (not 1 litre) of viniger to the funnel with the knitting needle in place to seal it.add the viniger by pulling the needle out slightly then sealing it again.add the viniger in about 3-4 steps over 1-2 minutes.the bag will expand with co2 and the job will be done in a few minutes.
ps.having the rats in a bag works better and quicker then rats in a container .

Donkey how long after did you open the lid?

M.bredl.mad said:

Donkey how long after did you open the lid?

Click to expand...

a good 5 min after i thought they were dead :shock:

Also - if you have an unused Sodastream, you could modify it for rodent euthanasia. There's carbon dioxide in those Sodastream gas cylinders.

Anyone used those CO2 soda bottles you get for making drinks? The little metal bulb type ones.
Surely they contain more CO2 then you'd get from bicarb?

Add 35 grams of baking soda to 1 litre of vinegar to produce 10 litres of CO2 gas. Works well for me and is heaps cheaper than renting a CO2 bottle if you only have a small rat farm.

Duke said:

Anyone used those CO2 soda bottles you get for making drinks? The little metal bulb type ones.
Surely they contain more CO2 then you'd get from bicarb?

Click to expand...

soda bulb they are called and yes they would work and you could proble rig up a system that uses them well, although the bicarb an viniger is cheaper and works fine for me

Ok bi carb and vinegar sounds like a plan, but how long does it take to kill the mice, say a full grown adult?

not so messy

i use bicarb and soda.
only killed weaner mice so far, done about 6 kills
the link above gives volumes/weights to use.
i use about 2 teaspns bicarb and 150ml of vinegar - makes 3+ lt of CO2

my rig is a sealable 3 lt lunch box, and 2 x 200ml screw top containers on top.
vinegar goes on the top one, a pipe and tap from the micro irrigation plastic/poly type runs from the top one down into the side of the bottom one.

used a bigger pipe 12mm from the side of the bottom 200ml container into the lunch box - drill some holes at the other end of lunch box lid to let air out.

I leave mine for about 1/2 hr total (10-15m after they stop moving) - then strait into freezer, if they are just stunned they dont wake up.

I will put up pictures tomorrow.

I dont know what scares me the most - that I kill cute little mice - or that I worked out how to make a gas chamber:shock: