# Feeding live.



## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

Okay i know feeding live can make a aggressive tegu but i can't order frozen mice in bulk because i don't have the space for a extra freezer for them. So if i feed my tegu in a seperate place and handle it and using the ignoring method will feeding live make a diffrence in its temperment? Is there anyone that feeds live and their tegus are completely fine?


----------



## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

Why don't you just whack the mice yourself?


----------



## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

Double-post. Sorry.


----------



## eddyjack (Oct 30, 2010)

Yep! that's what I ask, "why don't you just whack them yourself"?


----------



## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

Oh okay what is the most humane way? I have heard of putting them in a bag and smacking it on the edge of a table or the floor i don't mind doing this but i could imagine they would bleed from that. Could i snap their neck or something?


----------



## eddyjack (Oct 30, 2010)

Sure, you can do that too! Thump em with a big spoon or something like that. I am certainly no expert on feeding at all but I simply will not feed live for a couple of reasons, one is I don't want my tegu to her hurt or bitten and I don't want to start any bad habits. Natural all the way but it must be still.


----------



## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

You could do the bag method or the methods Eddy mentioned.

I gas my rodents with CO2 if need be but the gassing device can be expensive to put together at first.

I don't believe in feeding live because of the things Eddy mentioned and I personally believe it's inhumane to the feeder rodents to be placed in a small box to be torn apart.


----------



## skippy (Oct 30, 2010)

i grab them by the tail and crack their little heads on a table or window sill or something. it's the fastest way i can come up with... i figure that i'd want to go out with massive sudden head trauma rather than being frozen or gassed- JMO

frozen is a lot easier though and you can stock up on them that way too, i have a freezer full of odd things  chicks are good too and real cheap!


----------



## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

Naturally Fed Ferrets? That means you give them whole prey right?


----------



## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

Whole prey (rats, rabbits, quail, mice, chicks), raw meat (Chicken, turkey, beef, pork, lamb, goat, duck, etc) bones (chicken, turkey, rabbit) and organs (same as meat). They also get insects (mealworms, kingworms, crickets) occasionally.


----------



## tora (Oct 30, 2010)

DO NOT STICK THEM IN THE FREEZER TO KILL THEM. This is a slower and more painful death than just giving them to your tegu live. There's an easier way of making a gas chamber than getting a co2 tank, too. You just need some tubes, an airtight container, vinegar, and dry ice. Pretty cheap. I'd suggest this way if you aren't 100% sure you can kill the mouse instantly with more hands on methods.


----------



## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

The best way i used to feed my snakes and savvy is just to thump the mouse or rat on the head really hard either by flicking him or hitting it against something then droping it infront of them.. worked well for me.


----------



## eddyjack (Oct 30, 2010)

You go Skippy! LMAO


----------



## JohnMatthew (Oct 31, 2010)

A hard, swift blow to the head was my preferred method for mice before I started buying f/t. If you're a good thumper and accurate just using your finger is plenty of force to kill a mouse straight away. For larger rats and rabbits I would use a wooden club(just the last 10 inches or so of an old garden hoe I sawed off). One hard blow to the head and it's over. Another way with the club/stick is to use it like those old paper cutters, holding one end on the ground firmly and swiftly bringing the other end down over their neck in a scissor-like motion with force. Some people break their necks with their hands but my rodents were always too bitey for this method to appeal to me.

As to the gassing method, doesn't the co2 just displace the oxygen? I've never tried gassing but it seems to me just placing a few rodents in a small, airtight tupperware container would have the same "calming" effects/death as the breathable air would quickly expire. Anybody have thoughts about that?


----------



## tora (Oct 31, 2010)

No, it wouldn't be the same. The chemical pretty much just makes them fall asleep, while letting them suffocate would probably not be a pleasant way to go. It's like the difference between sitting in your car with a tube attached to the exhaust and running to the car, and just falling asleep and dying, compared to someone putting a trash bag over your head.


----------



## JohnMatthew (Oct 31, 2010)

I think it's the trash bag that's causing the stress in that scenario.. 

Animals exhale co2 right?


----------



## tupinambisfamiliaris (Oct 31, 2010)

Cervic dislocation works well. I feed thawed frozen, so I don't use the technique anymore. The procedure entails putting a small solid object like a spoon or metal rod behind the rodent's head. You could also just frimly grasp the head. Hold the head in place, then grip the tail and pull hard. This will break the neck of the rodent and it will die very quickly. It's not fun and I never enjoyed doing it, but it seemed more deliberate and methodical than putting the mouse in a pillowcase and bashing it into a brick wall until it stopped moving. It also eliminates lacerations and bleeding from the equation. All that said, I'm a huge fan of thawed rodents. The freezing process gets rid of a lot of nasties that live in freshly killed animals.


----------



## eddyjack (Nov 1, 2010)

A quik little whack over the head with a table spoon I say! No fuss!


----------

