How to freeze rats in a humane way ?

[munkee]

Not sure about if the CO gets pased on to the animal eating the rat. Will ask aunt and get back to everyone, and yep it is toxic and comes out of your car exhaust (alot more CO2 than CO comes out though). I wouldn't try using car exhaust gas though as all sorts of stuff comes out as well.

 

[SLACkra]

so it takes 3months for the nasties to die off in a frozen rat? i am definatly buying pre frozen. my main concern is feeding low quality food that could possibly have parisites in it etc.

andrew

 

[Parko]

Funny thought though, shoving live rats up the exhaust pipe of your car then starting it, imagine if it backfired....

 

[staffsrule]

lol now that could get messy !

 

[munkee]

Carbon monoxide shouldn't present any problem for the snake as the gas will react with the stomach acid and neutralise to dioxide anyway. This is from my aunt the vet.

 

[peterescue]

Its not the carbob monoxide that is the main problem, Its the resudue from the burnt and unburnt fuel that will be all ove the rat. The burnt fuel will have free radicals that could be carcinogenic while the unburnt petroleum could cause any manner of problems.
Not even a consideration in my book.
CO2 or cervical dislocation are the only two methods that should be considered.

 

[munkee]

You can buy Carbon monoxide from gas distributors like carbon dioxide. Just costs more. Never use your car exhaust thats just dodgy.

 

[ether]

so it takes 3months for the nasties to die off in a frozen rat? i am definatly buying pre frozen. my main concern is feeding low quality food that could possibly have parisites in it etc.

Not a huge problem if the rodents are bred in clean conditions ie tubs.

Cheers Alex

 

[Big_Mac]

I always thought it took 60 hours of freezing to kill off all the parasites , three months seems like a long time.

 

[peterescue]

cant say I have seen carbon monoxde on gas lists. Whats it used for?

 

[SLACkra]

Not a huge problem if the rodents are bred in clean conditions ie tubs.

Cheers Alex

thats what i am worried about, need to find a good place to get snake food for the lil guys first meal. i don't want him eating food that was bred in unclean conditions.

so how long in the freezer will it take to kill off most of the nasties (parisites etc)?

andrew

 

[inthegrass]

hi darkness,
the good thing about aps is you get lots of different advice, the hard thing is working out whats best for you. good luck!

 

[africancichlidau]

so it takes 3months for the nasties to die off in a frozen rat? i am definatly buying pre frozen. my main concern is feeding low quality food that could possibly have parisites in it etc.

Problem is, unless you have a reliable source of pre-frozen you don't know how long that rat has been frozen before you buy it. No, to my my mind it's breed your own.

 

[peterescue]

hi darkness,
the good thing about aps is you get lots of different advice, the hard thing is working out whats best for you. good luck!

hah! thats your opinion.
Just listen to me and you'll be ok. I will always let you know in advance if Im going to be wrong. :wink:

 

[expansa1]

We have been using food grade carbon dioxide for over 5 years now as we thought the other ways were inhumane, especially freezing. You can pick up second hand regulators for around $90-$100 and the cost for renting the gas cylinder for 3 months is only $27.80. We have to get refills only once or twice a year and usually cost around $30. If you only use a little to start with as previously mentioned they basically go to sleep. You can then increase the amount and will be dead within minutes. A parasitoligist friend of ours said that they should be frozen for six weeks to guarantee no parasites are able to be passed on to your snakes.

Expansa1

 

[krusty]

just smackem on the head thats the best way..

 

[tourett]

Its not the carbob monoxide that is the main problem, Its the resudue from the burnt and unburnt fuel that will be all ove the rat.

Wash the rat afterwards?

 

[herptrader]

$4 per week is a bit to pay when a quick bop on the head is free and we are no talking commercial quantities.

We breed our own rats but I would have to be breeding a lot more than I currently do before switching to CO2.

The main advantage for CO2 as far as I can tell is that there is no blood where as with the bop on the head approach there is always one that tends to make a bit of a mess. This makes CO2 a better alternative if you are going to sell them on as they look a lot cleaner.

 

[stiffler]

A few people I know just use BBQ gas. And before anyone says anything about toxic this and toxic that, you use it to cook your own food! All it does is just displace oxygen, thus leading to suffocation. Same as CO2 and CO.

 

[darkness]

Suffocation is humane ?

I could think of better ways to go....