prekilled mice...

[BullET]

Just a question actually, i was thinking about getting two breeder mice and that way it would be cheaper on my part to feed the snake pinkies instead of buying one pinkie for 0.99 cents at our pet shop, but how do you kill a mouse, you cant very well freeze it because then you would have to thaw it and that would take a while correct? How do you guys do it? I want to know all that i should before i buy a corn, I just dont want to take the wrong steps and end up regrettign something...thanks for your time and response.:w

[Asian Jon]

For one snake I suggest you don't breed mice because it will be more of a pain in the arse. Breeding them would mean you would have to pay for enclosures, bedding and food whereas if you just buy the prey, that is all you have to pay for. Actually thawing a mouse doesn't take that long. Just buy the rodents frozen in bulk that way you don't have to go out every week to buy a feeder. IMO, buying prey for 1 snake instead of breeding is a heck of a lot more convenient :D

[BullET]

Yeah i just think the little guys are cute, my biology tacher breeds her mice becasue in class she has 4 snakes and well she doesnt do what she is suppose to do though, she feeds the mice to them alive and doesnt watch them, we handle the snkes often but she dosnt clean their cage but once a week and well im no expert or anything but i do plan on getting a little corn snake, and by research i see she isnt doing what she is suppose to they dont have a hiding spot or anything...he has been sick lately not wanting to eat that is i dont know what he is i think she said a fox snake he is a doll, but i just though breeding them would be neat beacause baby mice are so sweet til they get big and bite lol...anyways thanx for the reply

[Asian Jon]

Originally posted by BullET
I was not sure on what type of snake i should have because i have two children extremely young in age.

I was wondering how you have 2 younger children when your birth date in your profile was in 1987...that makes you 17 right? Sorry, I am just curious to know...:)

[BullET]

my fiance and I have been together for 5 years and yes i have two children i am a teen mother and a highschool student, it is hard but we get by, and we are very happy... its okay we get asked all the time, but here in ILLINOIS it is full of teen parents, many of them clueless as to who the father may be, but our children were born 3 years after we got together. so i dont feel bad i actually feel like one of the luckier ones to have a good guy that stayed with me...however my age is not the issue here, Thank you

[Asian Jon]

Sorry about that, I really feel bad about what I said... As for the mice, they breed them at my school too. We have lots of snakes in our biology room, and they are taken care of very well. Maybe you can change how they are taken care of at your school when u research more about snakes:) Good luck with getting a corn snake. They are nice snakes to keep.

[BullET]

Thank you and im not offened i get asked alot by alot of people, its just how my life turned out, anyway, my biology teacher hates me and would give me an F+ if she could but she cant becaue im an honor student lol anyway..i dont think she would listen to what i have to say about her snakes because she is just that way. thanks for the concern with the snake and if you have any information on which type of corn is better you could let me know. thanks

[peterm15]

Bullet.. im sorry to bring this up again but i must.. all i have to say is that i applaud you... and your fiance... 2 kids still in school.... youd give my 24 year old sister a wake-up call.. shes can barely manage school.. so ya once again i applaud you... your a great role model to any and all teen parrents.. and yes your age is not the issue.. its the awsome responsibilty and maturity level you show...

but ill get back on topic... you may think the little baby mice are cute but with how many per litter and such youd prob need more than one snake.. the mice would be to large by the second feeding time.. and would you really be willing to "wack" a cute little baby mouse.. thats how ive heard to pre kill.. wack it..

or you could build a gas chamber..

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62680

there are simpler and cheaper methods one being baking soda and viniger but that is one example... just do a search for "gas chamber" and youll get tons of ideas.. imo its the best way to pre kill..

[BullET]

well if i do breed id end up selling what i dont use a week on bay as feeder mice, under the category feeders...or i could buy 1 pinkie for a dollar at the pet store. and thanks for the applaud...dont get many of em around here.

[thunder]

back to killing mice: you can feed your snake live pinkies, it really doesnt matter as they really cant do much and certainly cant bite (jaw is not developed enough). when your snake gets older and its older mice, it becomes important to prekill them, which can be done easily (if you're not too squeemish) by picking them up by the tail and whacking them on the edge of a table or counter or something. some people prefer to gas them using a CO2 chamber, but i dont do that so i dont know how, but there are several threads on building your own co2 chamber on this site, if thats what you perfer. just use the search option. a good rule of thumb: if a mouse is old enough to have its eyes open, prekill just to safe. for sure if it is old enough to hop around.

[BullET]

okay, i do think a snake is right for me , but i find it upsetting to see a living creature eat another tiny little baby creature :(

[HeatherRose]

If this has already been said I'm sorry...

Everything's gotta eat, circle of life, yadda yadda. Although, even if you do breed your own pinkies, feeding frozen prey (thawed out of course) is best. While pinkies cannot hurt your snake, live food can carry parasites that are then transmitted to your snake. These parasites are likely to be eliminated during freezing.

Freezing them to death is not a great way to kill them as it is regarded as pretty painful, small ice crystals form and turn their internal organs to mush. A CO2 chamber or a bop on the head before freezing would probably be best...

[thunder]

actually, i believe that it takes a really long time for co2 to kill a pinkie, for some reason. i really cant think of a very humane way to kill them. a lot of people drown them before freezing, but that isnt too humane either, and it gets them all water logged.

[BullET]

well i just dont see myself doing something so cruel, people have petmice so its like animal cruelty or something...i really wanna snake and my boyfriend just laughed and informed me i will be th one feeding MY snake lol so i have to figure out something thats not so cruel. well anything is cruel but i mean something thats not onna make me squeemish...well i heard the pinkies dont need to be killed, but the others do...so mean so mean...i need to start thinking i guess....

[HeatherRose]

You do realize you're talking to the 'cruel' people who do this everyday :p ;)

While pinkies don't need to be killed, being squeezed to almost death and eaten alive isn't all it's cracked up to be either...in my personal opinion thinking on the side of trying to be as humane as possible, prekilled is the way to go. A bop on the head is much easier than what a snake will end up doing to them in the end.

Everything's gotta eat... domestic pets like cats and dogs all eat animals in some form (unless you feed them vegetarian pet food, but I definitley won't be getting into that tonight) if you don't think you can handle it, maybe a lizard or other herp that eats insects or even strictly veggies and fruit is right for you, there's plenty of choice out there.

Back when I only kept insect-eating geckos, I never ever thought I could bring myself to feed mice or rats to anything, but now I own several snakes :p Maybe I'm just desensitized and jaded, who knows. ;)

Good luck in whatever you end up deciding is best for you :)

[BullET]

oh im deffinately going to get a snake ive had lots of different reptiles and lizards but no snakes,likr right now i have 2 bearded dragons, 1 veiled chameleon, 2 snapping turtles, 8 paint turtles, 1 hi-fin bull shark, some tad poles and lots of snails, that are now feeder snails. but ive had iguanas, and others...

[Linds]

Nothing cruel about euthanizing animals, so long as it is quick and as painless as can be.

That asides, I had my corn on rats as soon as I could, which was still fairly young. A newborn rat pink is the equivalent to a small fuzzy mouse. I find mice to be just terrible in all aspects. They make awful pets and they can be a pain in the butt to breed, in addition the will always smell - clean too much they overscent the cage, clean too little it gets overly soiled, so you have to deal with some degree of smell. Mice bite and are high strung, and sometimes it can take months before they begin to breed, if at all, and they don't hesitate to eat their offspring.

[BullET]

well i am putting mine on mice, and well my boyfriend and i think that we have an almost humane way to kill mice...well about as humane as the elecric chair and a human being...a dogs shock collar can be used to touch the mice and send a shock through them...the shock for a dog will be equal enough to kill the mice. I do not find this humane for a dog but since i have to prekill the mice tis is the better way than wacking it on a table or a gas chamber. I am going to resarch and see if the voltage would be enough and if its not i am going o buy a small tazer.

[Linds]

Forgot to comment on the methods of killing... for pinkies I just smush their heads causing the brains to shoot back in the body, for larger I use the wacking method and occassionally cervical dislocation. I also use the airtight container method - place them in an airtight container and let them run out. It isn't inhumane by any stretch, as they do not feel any suffering, pain or fright, they just simply get tired, lose consciousness, and pass on, but it takes a bit of time. For more info on feeders (caring for them, euthanizing, etc.) check out the HOWTO Forum ;)

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=300439&sortby=&sortorder=

[BullET]

our theory is, if you wouldnt do it to a human, dont do it to an animal of any variety insect or what not.