Pre kill using CO2??

My snake, the one i got yesterday, IS feeding on live mice, but I know that it is highly recommended that they go on prekilled and Id rather not kill it myself, plus my mom doesnt approve of frozen mice in any of the three freezers in my house. I know that there are a couple of humane ways to kill rats/mice, like breaking their necks, etc , but I want to know about using a co2 tank. Where can you find co2 and how do you make a box? Can you simply use a rubbermaid and some piece of dry ie, wet it and stick the rodent in there with the lid closed? or should i make it so that no air can escape whatsoever... I just dont really want to do anything too gory in terms of kiling my own mice....

There are several ways of doing this. Check our site in the caresheets section for an article on how to get a kill-tank going. It uses CO2 from high pressure bottles such as the one readily available in paint-ball shops.

If you want to stick with dry ice - simply get a cooler (preferably one like Igloo or Rubbermaid - not the cheap styrofoam ones - you can pretty much use any container that is somewhat airtight) and fashion a wire cage out of a scrap piece of wire mesh. This is simply to put over the piece of dry ice so the rodents don't come into contact with it.

Put your piece of dry ice into the cooler and put your wire cage over and close the lid. Don't need to add water or anything, the dry ice will give off enough CO2 on it's own. Let it sit for about 5 - 10 minutes. Get your rodents ready by grabbing them by the tail and quickly open the cooler, drop them in and close the lid again.

Let them sit for a little while and they'll be done in a few minutes. Depending on how many you drop, how big your cooler is, how fresh the dry ice is, etc etc...it can take from a few minutes to up to 15 minutes. This procedure is painless to the rodents.

If you open the lid and see that they are all motionless. Close it back up and keep them in there for a few more minutes just to ensure they've not just passed out.

CO2 is heavier than air so popping the lid won't make you loose too much of the gas in there but keep the lid closed as much as possible anyhow.

Good luck.

thanks, i think thas the way to go, and ill definitely check out the caresheets for more...

when u go to the pet shop u can just ask them to kill the mouse for u.i work at a pet shop and we dont mind killing the mouse for the customer.they will do it and ur snake will be happy.

Mr Mansell,
Wow, that's a lot neater and easier than the way I have been doing it. Thanks so much for the post

Will that work on a 40qt or bigger cooler? I'd guess that I'd probably have to get a bigger tank tho.

that way is wasting time. just snap the ****er's neck and BAM---one mouse a la feeding time. you peeps need to throw away your conscience and all of this humane bull. the mouse is gonna get dead anyways, so why waste time???

Originally Posted by hydrogen cricket

that way is wasting time. just snap the ****er's neck and BAM---one mouse a la feeding time. you peeps need to throw away your conscience and all of this humane bull. the mouse is gonna get dead anyways, so why waste time???

Do you not have anything intelligent to say ever?

Originally Posted by DAND

Do you not have anything intelligent to say ever?

lol... agreed

Originally Posted by hydrogen cricket

that way is wasting time. just snap the ****er's neck and BAM---one mouse a la feeding time. you peeps need to throw away your conscience and all of this humane bull. the mouse is gonna get dead anyways, so why waste time???

Shouldn't you be eating glue or licking up paint chips or something right about now?