[foxywench]

yup, neck snapping. (or popping)

personally i think being eaten semi alive is much more inhumane to the rodent (and to the snake if the rodent fights back which i have seen in person, can be pretty brutal) than a quick neck snap.

i couldnt do the in a sock, bash against a wall method though *shuder* not precise enough.
i feel wether its a pet or food, it should live a good life and die an easy death, quick and as painlessly as possible.

[Backliteyes]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Oh, I just re-read your OP, and saw that you're asking about non-injection.

I actually feed live rodents to my snakes, and no I'm not going to suggest that as a method... but my fellow herpers who feed pre-killed use neck-snapping or "bashing" techniques. Both are too brutal for my taste, which might sound funny considering I watch my snakes kill them. But that's nature, whereas putting a rat/mouse in a sock & smashing it against the wall is NOT. To each their own, I just couldn't personally do such a thing. The more humane method they use, IMO, is something called cervical dislocation. I've never done it myself, but I think it consists of pulling the neck from the spine. Yikes.

I only asked about non-injection because I wasn't aware they did inject very small animals. It's good to know they do. $50 is very reasonable price, but I'm sure it varies from vet to vet and your location in the country.

In any case, I had a guinea pig once as a child, but it died naturally. It seemed fine in the morning when I left and it died some time that day before I got home from school.

I always thought it kind of sad that you never see the pet again once the vet euthanizes it. Call me weird, but I always found the "bury it in the backyard" memorial beneficial.

I knew some people once that had all their pets cremated and had them in nice little wooden boxes with metal name plates. I thought it was nice, I'm sure a lot of people would find it gross, ha.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

You can ask the vet for the body. Once I had a cat euth'd and months later they called to ask what was I planning to do with the remains. He'd been in their morgue freezer! I said to dispose of him.

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[Backliteyes]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

You can ask the vet for the body. Once I had a cat euth'd and months later they called to ask what was I planning to do with the remains. He'd been in their morgue freezer! I said to dispose of him.

I'm surprised they didn't just dispose of the body if you didn't specifically ask. Several months though, probably just forgot about it until they ran out of room.

[foxywench]

here they typically jsut "dispose" of it for you if you dont specifically ask for it back...oh and charge you an additional fee for the privledge. for small animals i generlaly bring them home, larger animals i go for cremation but go with a private company, when they do it at the vet they actually cremate multiple pets in each session so you can never be sure exactly WHO, or how much of your pet your bringing home with that method.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Since I don't want to bring anything home, I am fine with however they do it.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by foxywench

yup, neck snapping. (or popping)

personally i think being eaten semi alive is much more inhumane to the rodent (and to the snake if the rodent fights back which i have seen in person, can be pretty brutal) than a quick neck snap.

I agree, but at least I'M not the one doing the killing - and yes, I know that's horrible, but either way the mouse is dead in a matter of seconds. I feed about 10 of my 26 snakes live food, since they refuse dead prey, and it's actually a pretty quick death. Only the pythons get live (my corns will eat anything, dead or alive), and they're strong enough to take care of it very quickly.

P.S. They aren't even semi-alive by the time the snake swallows... maybe some species do it that way, but the pythons won't start eating until it's 100% dead.

[alizbet]

Moderator cut: rude
The best thing to do is not ask on city-data but to call a reputable veterinary large scale emergency practice that treats "exotics" -- on the east coast in MA there is Tufts Fosters Small Animal Hospital in Grafton and Angell Memorial in Boston --- both do exotics and rats, small birds. You can call from out of state and just act like a new potential client and ask their euthanasia procedures. They'll have better responses to your questions. The Rat Fan Club has info on rats as pets -- great animals, so intelligent and sweet, and The House Rabbit Society has info on bunnies.



Again, call an exotic animal vet or practice that works with little animals -- call more than one, and ask what they do and their preferences and reasons why.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by Backliteyes

I always thought it kind of sad that you never see the pet again once the vet euthanizes it. Call me weird, but I always found the "bury it in the backyard" memorial beneficial.

I knew some people once that had all their pets cremated and had them in nice little wooden boxes with metal name plates. I thought it was nice, I'm sure a lot of people would find it gross, ha.

Usually they give you an option, or at least my vets over the years always have... you can choose for them to dispose of the body, to have it buried at the pet cemetery, to have their ashes scattered at the cemetery, or you can collect the ashes yourself. I have taken the last option with deceased cats, and have 2 little cedar boxes somewhere around here - one with Tigger my childhood cat, and another with Duchess who died in 2003. Neither of them were actually euthanized, just taken to the vet for cremation (Tigger died of old age & Duchess was hit by a car). Wish I had Gizmo's remains too, but unfortunately they didn't tell me she'd been found until her body was gone... sad.