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my mice wont breed!!

I tried several times to start a breeding colony with something going wrong each time. Finally, an "expert" recommended a 1 male to 6 female ratio in a 30 gal, breeder tank. Next thing I notice, six pregnant females.
 
Theloveofsnakes said:
Doesnt anyone think its mean to just take the mice out of the cage and put them in a vapor lock bag and freeze them?
Click to expand...
Not me, they are bred for food, no emotional attachment is there. I think of them like chicken or cows, they are raised and bred to be food, nothing mean about fulling the life I raised them to fulfill.
 
Theloveofsnakes - yes, I do, and I think many others do too. Dry ice and CO2 euthanasia is humane, and to an extent so is neck-breaking since it is very quick.

Freezing alone (whether you are trying to euthanize a mammal or a reptile) is cruel because painful ice crystals form in the flesh and would probably cause great pain (imagine lots of frostbite). But as for suffocation... still not humane, but this is the way snakes kill, so this might not be an issue to some.

I buy all my feeders frozen now (all my snakes are switched to F/T). If I raised my own, I would only be able to use the CO2 or dry ice method. When I had to feed a couple of my snakes live before they switched, I didn't even like watching them feed because of the little gasping critters (but did to make sure no biting occurred).
 
Freezing alive is definately not good.

By far CO2 is the best way to go, pleasant for you and the rodents too, they just fall asleep. I bought my bottle from a welding supply place and a regulator from http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/regulators/co2.shtml . A rubbermaid box is the euthanasia chamber or for a just a few, a plastic bag.

Excellent site on CO2 use:
http://labanimals.stanford.edu/Guidelines/CO2.html

I haven't tried it but I read on a site that Helium works like CO2, you can get small helium tanks at walmart etc........

For the dry ice method, don't let the animals come in contact with the dry ice, place it in a container, put it and the rodents inside a rubbermaid box or cooler, pour some water on the ice and shut it, they'll be dead within minutes.
 
I've used dry Ice, it works very well. But I can't always get a hold of it. When I freeze the mice I take the air out of the bag I'm using, they basically suffocate. Just as if the snake was eating it.

But I only keep one male in their enclosure. The males get kind of competitive and will kill the others offspring. Rats same, but a little more so. From my experiance anyways.
 
Just remember when using dog or cat food to NOT USE anything with red dye in it. Mice can''t expel the dye from their systems and the last research I did neither can most or all reptiles. Its toxic to their systems.
 
really? Hmmm... never knew that. Thanx for the info. Anywhere I can find the research? I would like to learn more on the subject.
 
Should be able to go a google search. Its been awhile since I had to track it down. Any links I had died with my old pc.
 
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