Co2 Containers

I decided to freeze some rats today and purchased a tub for my Co2 chamber. I got a tub from Walmart about 24" long and 18" wide and 18" deep. I thought this would work nicely for transferring rats into the tub and would be less likely to jump out. WRONG!! After I put the rats in and turned on the Co2 for about 15-20 seconds I went into the house and came out 10 minutes later. Hello, their still moving!! Turned on the Co2 again for about 10 seconds, went in the house came back 10 minutes later, their just sleeping. So I grabbed a different tub from my snake room that was 24 " long 18" wide and 10" deep, rigged my Co2 and transferred rats into there. I turned on the Co2 for 10 seconds and came back after 5 minutes, IT WORKED. So I am guessing Co2 must have risen in the taller tub and thats why it didnt work as well. So I thought I would share this with other rat breeders that will freeze rats, SHORTER tubs are better. LOL!!

When i Co2 my rats, i put them in a 12 qt sterilite tub, with the lid on. You could rig it so your Co2 hose was thread into the side of the tub and do it that way. I personally use dry ice to create the Co2 effect. Drop it in a small bowl of water, close the lid, rats are DOA when i come back 5-10 minutes later.

Originally Posted by HerpLuver

When i Co2 my rats, i put them in a 12 qt sterilite tub, with the lid on. You could rig it so your Co2 hose was thread into the side of the tub and do it that way. I personally use dry ice to create the Co2 effect. Drop it in a small bowl of water, close the lid, rats are DOA when i come back 5-10 minutes later.

I needed a bigger tub for about 20-30 rats at a time. I have a small 20oz Co2 tank that is for paintball guns and rigged it similar to Shrap's pic in his gallery with the threaded disconnect for easy connection. I froze some more today, it is working quite well with the shorter tub. I am currently experimenting with freezing them just before vacuum sealing. The first batch I sealed before freezing and they seem "smushed". LOL!! Practice makes perfect!! On a side note with the discussion on the Rodent Pro thread, it seems like no matter what you do some of the rats seem to urinate and defecate on each other. I put some bedding in the bottom of the tub and it seems to help, but then you have to pick bedding from them. LOL.

Originally Posted by Bill & Amy

So I am guessing Co2 must have risen in the taller tub and thats why it didnt work as well.

I'm not sure what the problem was but co2 is heavier than air so it should have remained on the bottom with the rats.

Originally Posted by Bill & Amy

I am currently experimenting with freezing them just before vacuum sealing. The first batch I sealed before freezing and they seem "smushed".

One problem I run into doing it that way is the rats legs freeze in such a way that with about one bag out of five I wind up with the claws putting a hole in the bag as it pulls the air out. I'm going to experiment with partial freezing and see if that works better.
Another problem with pre freezing is you have a hard time getting as many rats in a single bag. The tails being stiff is the main reason.
It works very well with adult mice and weanling rats but once you get up to 175 gram plus rats you run into the problems.

I still haven't set up a co2 system yet, but I want one real bad. I hate having to kill rats by hand.
I've been trying to find a decent price on a used 20lb cylinder. Around here it costs $3 to have a 20oz paintball cylinder refilled but I can get a 20lb one filled at the welding supply place for $7.
I'll break down and buy a new one before long if I can't find one used.

Originally Posted by Clay Davenport

I'm not sure what the problem was but co2 is heavier than air so it should have remained on the bottom with the rats.

That is what I thought, but I put a lot of CO2 in there with poor results. I also know that the CO2 comes out quite cool so I thought that would help it stay at the bottom.

The place I had my tank filled charged me $6 to fill it!! So we will see how far that goes, I have gassed about 100 rats so far with it. There is another paintball place, I will have to see what they charge to fill it. I hope I don't have problems with rat claws poking through bags (fingers crossed). Thanks!!

You may want to line the bottom of the kill tank with paper towels to soak up urine. I hate picking the shavings off the dead rats. I been using paper towels & my rats/ mice are clean and it makes it easy to clean the cooler, just pull out the paper. I also freeze before vacuum sealing them, I line them up neatly on a piece of cardboard and put them in a ziplock bag for a couple of days, then pull them and vacuum seal them...they seem to fit better this way. I use a chest type plastic cooler, the type you put drinks or food in when you go to the beach. I cut out a hole in the side to run the CO2 hose through. This has worked very well for me. 20 oz lasts for quite some time, I pull about 40-50 rats and 50+ mice about every 2 weeks and my CO2 lasts over a month, sometimes 2.

Well, just becarfull what brand you buy. i would not recoment buying a pure energy tank, they have been know for the brass fitting to screw out of the tank when it is full and go flying. Also becarefull about the temps you keep the tanks at. Somtimes at places ( like Dicks) it is cheaper per once to get a 16 oz tank. and if you want to know how much is in a tank i will tell you that they fill the tanks to 800 to 850 psi. How do i know this all? I am a paintball player showing his stuff!

i own over 5 pure energy co2 tanks and 2 compressed and i have NEVER had any problems with them cornsnake. i too am a paintballer of over 5 years so i know what im talking about

im going to try to rig up a gas chamber for my mice and rats cause strangling them is getting tiring.

Well i know 2 people that it happened to and i saw one in the paper and it was thatr brand, i am saying it is only about .005% chance but i just like somother brands better.