when freezing rats.........?

[z24wkit]

When using the dry ice method, if the mice or rats are left in the container too long and exposed to the dry ice it eh air, will it do damage tot he snake when it eats it?

Also if you throw a whole bunch of mice or rats in the container to get euthanized will they freak out and eachother or will it happen so quickly they wont have time to freak out!?
Thanks

[dirty_harry]

well, if there are too many in there they might get chaotic just from it being too crowded. Dry ice is just CO2 in frozen form... When it "melts" it just turns into gas and disapates. It can't really hurt your snake after its gone... if actual dry ice would touch your snake, that would hurt it though... keep in mind that dry ice is so cold it will "burn" you! Wear adequate gloves!

Anyway, basically as it melts in there with the rodents, it will push out all the oxygen out and you will see the rodents start to look "weak" and/or fall asleep. Basically what happens is lactic acid builds up because there is not enough O2 for the muscle tissue. Eventually the muscles give out, and the brain shuts down due to oxygen deprivation. The CNS cuts off, and the rodents are as dead as a doornail. And everyone lived happily ever after... except the rats.

[z24wkit]

great thanks, i just wanted to make sure if i set it up and forgot it for a few hours they would not absorb too mcuh and harm my snakes

but thanks

[dirty_harry]

yeah, it would be ok, but theoretically you'd want to freeze the rats ASAP after they expire, so they stay "fresh."

[Bdadawg]

There are 2 ways to use the dry ice ... fastest quickest is to add water to the dry ice forcing it to sublimate (offgas). Itll knock the prey out in about 10 seconds ... they expire in under 2 minutes (even for the jumbos).

The other way is to let it naturally sublimate ... quite frankly this is slow.

Using the first method I use a tupperware type container to hold the ice and water. Its drilled to let the gas escape without the rodents touching the ice. (I use about 1 lb of dry ice that has been smashed up into small pieces)
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c256/Bdadawg/other/78883ae5.jpg

I then put this into a 5 gallon bucket.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c256/Bdadawg/other/b16172c3.jpg

I then drop sets of 3 in there about every 30 seconds (when working with adults you will want to press down on the lid for the first 10 seconds after putting them in.

This will gas for 7-10 minutes. This is a smaller setup that i use for fuzzies through small. Larger ones are normally done in a larger setup but same basic principle.

Bryan