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questions about feeder mice.

tcr03

tcr03

install guru
lets say i have one baby corn snake.

i buy a male and female mouse. the mouse has 12 babies. would i be able to freeze the 12 babies and use them as needed. and if so, how long would they last in the freezer.

as the snake gets older and eats bigger mice. wouldnt i be able to just let the pinkies get bigger before i freeze them and that would work.

also, if i were to get a adult pair of mice. how long before they started having babies, and how frequent would they have them.

keep in mind that this would just be for feeding on snake.

thanks in advance
matt.
 
Mice gestation is 20-30 days, they are fertile from ~6 weeks to ~18 months
Yes you can freeze the pinkies and keep them, it's reccommended that you either use CO2 or break the neck to kill the mice before freezing. for larger food items, just wait longer before culling. one pair of mice should be able to easily keep a single snake fed. for their fertile life time.
 
oh, and about the freezer life, I'd say it should be alright as long as there's no signs of freezer burn, be sure to use air tight storage. and cycle your mise, taking the oldest ones first so that no one pinkie stays in the freezer for to long.
 
other than being cruel, is there a problem with just putting them in the freezer as is. also where can you get co2.
 
From everything that i have read pinkies are somewhat resistant to the CO2 method so it is actually better to just freeze them.
 
Actully the Co2 does work. you just have to keep them in the chamber for longer. You see baby mice have that adaptability where they can last longer. Because mums always on them :p. But if you do use the Co2 method. leave them in for 20+ minutes. just to be sure they're euthanised and.knocked out before you freeze them,
 
Enough CO2 will render them unconscious. Then they can be frozen and not feel anything. Dying from freezing is a horrific death. Just because it is "food" does not mean it can't suffer. It is just an innocent little thing. My personal belief is that if a person KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY allows an animal to suffer uneccessarily, he will pay. Call it Karma. Call it whatever you like...
 
Thats the reason we use a Co2 Chamber. But if one is unavaliable. Breaking the neck should suffice, a quick painless death. Co2 just knocks them out and they become unconcious...so they are sleeping when they freeze...also another painless death.
 
Baba-Lou said:
Actully the Co2 does work. you just have to keep them in the chamber for longer. You see baby mice have that adaptability where they can last longer. Because mums always on them :p. But if you do use the Co2 method. leave them in for 20+ minutes. just to be sure they're euthanised and.knocked out before you freeze them,

starsevol said:
Enough CO2 will render them unconscious. Then they can be frozen and not feel anything. Dying from freezing is a horrific death. Just because it is "food" does not mean it can't suffer. It is just an innocent little thing. My personal belief is that if a person KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY allows an animal to suffer uneccessarily, he will pay. Call it Karma. Call it whatever you like...
Click to expand...

Did you two read my post.

Billybobob said:
From everything that i have read pinkies are somewhat resistant to the CO2 method so it is actually better to just freeze them.
Click to expand...

Also Starsevol there is breathable air in the freezer so if the pinks are just unconscious the cold will wake them and they will suffer just the same.
Click to expand...
 
Baba-Lou said:
Thats the reason we use a Co2 Chamber. But if one is unavaliable. Breaking the neck should suffice, a quick painless death. Co2 just knocks them out and they become unconcious...so they are sleeping when they freeze...also another painless death.
Click to expand...

Have you ever tried to break the neck of a pinkie most of the time it just pops right off.
 
If they are in the CO2 long enough, they will either die or be so unconscious that they will freeze before they can wake....

Say what you want...sounds like you are trying to justify something that really can't be...
 
starsevol said:
If they are in the CO2 long enough, they will either die or be so unconscious that they will freeze before they can wake....

Say what you want...sounds like you are trying to justify something that really can't be...
Click to expand...

I am not trying to justify anything i am just trying to give people an un-biased oppinion unlike you who has already called people that just freeze there pinks a sadistic monster. Did you even look at the link i posted you are calling allot of people monsters.
 
Matt,

In my opinion, breeding mice (even one pair) to feed just one snake is just not worth it. They do stink and I think I remember you saying that you live in an apartment (sorry if I'm incorrect there). You will most likely spend more time and money on the mice than the snake.

Just my .02 worth.

Q
 
lol, well quigs, you are correct. and to top it all off. my wife wont let me get a snake. i was just posting to learn, incase she changes her mind in the future. i will be getting a house in march though. so we will see.
 
It is just my opinion that someone who would take a warm living thing out of its nest and throw it in a freezer to die a painful death is a sadistic monster...

and you know that opinions are like ********, everybody has one....
 
starsevol said:
It is just my opinion that someone who would take a warm living thing out of its nest and throw it in a freezer to die a painful death is a sadistic monster...

and you know that opinions are like ********, everybody has one....
Click to expand...

And by saying that on an open forum you are calling anyone that dose that a sadistic monster. Some people would say it is wrong and mean to feed living mice to snakes, some might even say that it is wrong to breed mice for snake food when there is an alternative like "snake steak sausages", but even if i felt that way i don't think that i would go as far to say that i think anyone that does that is a sadistic monster.
 
It seems we recently had a similar discussion going on here :rolleyes:

Starsevol, I understand your point of view. If I were to breed my own feeders and freeze them, I would personally choose to use a co2 chamber even for the very young mice. From what I have read it does take longer for pinkies/fuzzies to expire from the co2 but it does happen. At the very least I would have some peace of mind knowing I did my best to give them the least painful death I could.

Billybobob- I also understand your point of view and that many others use the same practices that you have pointed out. As well as the fact that we do sometimes have to feed live, for various reasons, and that is certainly not a painless death for the prey.

What it comes down to is that we do our best to care for our feeders and kill them off in what we feel is the most humane way possible, when possible. The only thing that would truly make us sadistic monsters is if we enjoyed the deaths or simply were indifferent to how we disposed of them.
We also need to remember that just because we have done something a certain way for a long period of time does not necessarily make it the best way. That is another reason for forums like this, we can share information and perhaps find better ways.
JMO
 
ultimuttone i was trying to offer an unbiased opinion but starsevol was trying to guilt tcr03 into doing things his way by saying that only a sadistic monster would not use the Co2 chamber. And he is passing bad info like when he suggested braking the necks of pinkies. Any one who has tried knows that more often than not there heads pop off. Any one giving bad info and calling people monsters just because they do things different that them has got to expect people to respond to there post. At least I did not keep up with the name calling.
 
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