Being pregnant and killing mice. I can't do this....

[andrea88]

I've had mice colonies for over a year now to feed my herps. I live where there is no pet stores so it makes sense.
I've always felt sad and guilty over killing the mice, but I "thank" them and just block it out. I generally don't have a problem doing it.

Now I am in my 4th month of pregnancy and I just can't do it. I had to dispose of 6 females and a male today and I just started to bawl and shake, its really getting to me now that Im pg. I couldn't even bring myself to kill one of them as she looks pregnant.... I feel especially guilty when I take pinks from a mother and she spends the next hour digging at the bedding looking for them..... :(

I secretly feel like something horrible is going to happen to my baby because of the horrible things Im doing to my mices' families... Wow does that ever sound dumb. (Stupid pregnancy hormones)

What can I do?.... My husband offers sometimes but he hates doing it even more than I do and he usually(95% of the time) "whacks" the mice too hard and they make a big un-usable mess...

Help from anyone with similar experiences? :confused:
I know I sound like a nut-case.....

[marisa]

Maybe until you get over this feeling or even if you never do...you can use CO2? I am not sure where plans are but I have seen quite a few made for a small mice operation using the CO2 from paint ball guns, and mason jars.

Maybe that would be more peacful? The mice will just fall asleep and there will be no blood, no pain, no nothing. It might be easier?

Don't feel bad. I turn my head when we whack and I am not pregnant. :)

Marisa

[vanderkm]

While I can't relate to your specific circumstances, you really might want to consider buying frozen. There are several breeders who will ship and this time of year it is easy to get the package sent on Greyhound. I got a bunch of rats from Ian (Mouseman) in Victoria by bus and they arrived the day after he shipped them, still totally frozen (and our snakes are loving them - very nice consistent and clean rats!). We have bred rodents for a long time for our reptiles to ensure the quality of feeders was good, but with needing more space for snakes we will likely be going to frozen for most of our feeders and it sure is convenient.

mary v.

[ReneeB]

andrea,

I can totally relate to you as I was pregnant last year and will be 12 wks on the 1st. [we wanted the youngest kids close together as our oldest is already 5, Cassy is 4 mths and this one is still "cooking"]

I couldn't whack the rodents last year without feeling guilty, or take the pinks away either.. I had to get my 5 yr old to whack them for me.. I know HOW terrible is that! But he had fun. I asked him why he thought it as fun and he said "because they bit my fingers so I'm hurting them back" He couldn't whack them hard enough to kill so they just got stunned, which was enough so that they coulnd't hurt the snakes and the snakes ended up doing the REAL killing.. so I didn't feel SO bad.

Nothing will happen to the baby from killing rodents.. I had to start thinking of it like they are born for feeding, not pets so it's like me eating [sorry if you don't eat meat] a cow that was raised for slaughter.

Not sure if this helps.. preggo brain and all.. you know how it is..

:)

Renee

[Pixie]

Although I'm not pregnant, I can see how it could be difficult to deal with killing mice while you are, especially the babies. It would be impossible not to identify a little with your breeder moms and feel bad taking their babies when you are carrying one of your own. It's your brain subconsiously thinking of how it would feel to have that done to you. Don't feel bad, I would think it's normal to be going through tough times like this. Heck, I still feel guilty taking babies away or killing them...

[Lisa]

I feel so bad every time I take pinkies or have to whack rodents. I end up crying afterwards. Buying the predead is definetly the way to go.

[andrea88]

Thanks for all the support you guys (ladies, sorry lol)...
I stopped eating meat about 2 years ago when I saw footage of a slaughterhouse. Talk about depressing.
I think I might have to do the frozen thing for a while, which is too bad because we are on a really tight budget at the moment...

At least now I know Im not alone and crazy!

[Lisa]

I find buying frozen is cheaper then raising them your self on a small scale. we've spent well over 100$ for our live breeding program and have managed to get 26 pinky mice though we hopefully have some rats on the way. eventually they'll pay for themselves but i don't know if it will ever be as cheap as buying frozen in bulk.

[andrea88]

Well, we currently need 1 adult, 1 juvenile, 8 hoppers, 2 fuzzies and 2 pinkys a week to feed my herps.
This Equals 52 adults, 52 juvenilles, 416 hoppers, 104 fuzzies and 104 pinkys a year.
BUT>>>>
I only spend $50 on pine bedding and $50 on food a year.

When you do the math we are actually saving TONS AND TONS of money.

[Pythonian]

wow.. am i the only heartless bast*** that really doesn't mind wacking a rat over the head?

Mike

[ReneeB]

no Mike, when I'm not preg it doesn't bother me..

[depressor86]

girls ::rollseyes::

[Lisa]

boys :rolleyes:

[krrc]

ya I really dont mind eather but I still try to do it hard and quick so it's a painless death. :)

[andrea]

i can understand. a week after i brought my baby boy home from teh hosptial, and my little girl was only 15 months old, we were up watching saving private ryan, and after the first forty minutes i had to go to bed. i was bawling my eyes out and gonna pop my c-section stitches, lol. being preggers makes everything weird. i normally dont cry over movies.
think of it this way, if you let your herps starve, that would be worse than killing the mice for them to eat. is there some teenage boy on your street you can pay five bucks a week to whack a rat? lol
the co2 is really easy as well. i'd suggest that if hiring someone doesnt work.

[Lisa]

Thats not a bad idea paying some punk to kill the rats.

[Lizzy001]

since im not pregnant.......( im only 13!) i wouldnt know what you are going through.....but best method would be the CO2 one.. jts my opinion......



Lizzy

P.S- im 14 in 14 days

hope u will send all prezzies in post!!

hahah

[Them and Us]

It's so very hard for me. i think i'll be ding CO2 to start my mice colony off. I'm vegetarian. i first went vegetarian over a year ago for health reasons. it got to be a bit for the animals. i was never keen on milk and eggs and cheese as eggs and milk are products of animals given so many hormones to overproduce they live a terrible life span and even that is cut in half by the hormones and treatment. Also with milk......what other animal besides humans drinks the milk of another animal?none that i can think of. We weren't born carnivores. so i don't need meat anyway. Snakes on the other hand were born carnivores. so i don't feel bad feeding them mice. its what they were meant to eat along with birds,lizards and whatver els in te wild.