Aussie Finch Forum

gomer wrote:Once while I was away, one got out into the hopping mouse enclosure,The result was 4 eaten mice one badly damaged one and a severely damaged snake.

I know of a few that feed surplus hopping mice to snakes. I don't think they are worth it myself - saw hopping mice in a shop for an outrageous price of $200 for a pair. Privately they are $20 pair.

We paid $30 a pr have seen them for over $200.

Mitchells or Spinifex?

Mitchells

Feeding anything live to a snake is generally frowned upon by the bulk of the reptile fraternity. There are some snake species that are bird specialists and can be very hard to convert onto mice. As long as the finch is humanely destroyed then it is no different to feeding a mouse to a snake. You should see the stink that erupts if you suggest that on a mouse forum. Really much the same response.If you mentioned bird feeding on a mouse site they'd cheer. Snakes gotta eat - something has to die to achieve that - your acceptance of that diet depends on which animal you hold in greater emotional priority and which forum you are on at the time.

Danny

Damn, can only keep Spinnies up here. Only allowed 3 species of native mammals, Spinnies, Plains Rat & Dingos (don't need a licence for the Dingos).

Danny wrote:As long as the finch is humanely destroyed then it is no different to feeding a mouse to a snake

Out of curiosity, for those that privately keep mice/rats (or finches ) as food for reptiles, what methods do you use for humanely destroying them?
Cheers

Basically I suppose ring their necks.This is the way I have been told by other people who have tried other methods such as freezing, gassing,and knocking on the head.I grab the tail in one hand and have a blunt instrument at the back of the neck, and swiftly pull the rat backwards and upwards,while pressing the instrument on the neck.This way from what I have been told is the quickest and cleanest way of doing it.Coming from a country area I can say I have used this method on vermin thousands of times,And I am quite confident in this means of dispatching small animals.

Most use CO2 - I have a modified soda stream machine that I used to use when I sold frozen mice. Its still not ideal but its quick and predictable.

Thanks.