Need info on putting rabbits down

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bunhallarabbitry

bunhallarabbitry

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Hey guys!

I'm not sure if there are any fellow snake/reptile owners on RabbitTalk or not, but I need some advice on "feeder rabbits". First off, I'm not sure how to put them to sleep. I breed rats now (also snake nom-noms) and I use a CO2 chamber, AKA "The Chamber of Perpetual Sleep". Would that work on baby rabbits? As for adults, how would you guys recommend putting them down? I'm looking for the most humane, quick method I can find. Also, anything that results in blood is a no-go as well since they will be frozen and that will just be a big mess.

Any info would be very helpful! Most people just bash them over the head, or feed live. I'm not sure if I'd even have the heart to do the first, and I don't believe in feeding live unless the snake/reptile out rightly refuses prekilled feed.

Thank you!
 
For adults I would recommend breaking their neck by one method or another. I think your options are broomsticking, rabbit wringer, and bopping, and there are various threads on that floating around here, you can search them...I use bopping, just because that is what I learned and am comfortable with. I often wish for a way that was a little less brutal though. Still the priority is getting the job done, and bopping does, with no questions.

I think the co2 chamber should work fine on babies, as they are about the same size and body weight as a rodent.
 
I have a rabbit wringer http://www.therabbitwringer.com/ but I decided on shooting them in the head with a pellet gun as being the most foolproof and quickest death. It is a little bloody but I just leave them in the grass until they are done and the times I've fed whole to my dogs I've had no mess from blood after leaving them a few minutes to bleed out and then freezing. Most of the time though I take the head off and skin them since my dogs like to pick the fur and stuff apart and scatter it everywhere.
 
akane":dcfzus5r said:
I have a rabbit wringer http://www.therabbitwringer.com/ but I decided on shooting them in the head with a pellet gun as being the most foolproof and quickest death. It is a little bloody but I just leave them in the grass until they are done and the times I've fed whole to my dogs I've had no mess from blood after leaving them a few minutes to bleed out and then freezing. Most of the time though I take the head off and skin them since my dogs like to pick the fur and stuff apart and scatter it everywhere.
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I was actually very interested in the Rabbit Wringer as one method for meat rabbits. Have you had any bad experiences in particular with it?<br /><br />__________ Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:40 pm __________<br /><br />
eco2pia":dcfzus5r said:
For adults I would recommend breaking their neck by one method or another. I think your options are broomsticking, rabbit wringer, and bopping, and there are various threads on that floating around here, you can search them...I use bopping, just because that is what I learned and am comfortable with. I often wish for a way that was a little less brutal though. Still the priority is getting the job done, and bopping does, with no questions.

I think the co2 chamber should work fine on babies, as they are about the same size and body weight as a rodent.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely be looking into those and searching on the web and here on Rabbit Talk. Have you had any bad experiences with bopping? Like I said before, I need something fairly fool proof, humane, and quick. Thank you so much for your input!
 
Bopping is hard on the bopper (as opposed to than the boppee). I have to have strong wrists, a good grip, reasonable coordination, and strong nerves. The thing I hate about it is the second or so when the rabbit is first upside down--they are scared, and sometimes they squeal, before I bop them.

They never squeal after I have bopped them, which I count as an advantage, since I am in town. I think if I handled the baby rabbits more it would make them less scared, but I wish I knew a way that was as effective of a lights out without using a gun.

I keep considering the wringer, I have heard that sometimes they are too big for the rabbit and he slips out? I like foolproof. My husband's solution to anything is "hit it with a hammer", and that has been my plan, too. (well, I don't use a HAMMER, but you know what I mean) If I have any doubt at all, I don't have to re-load, or look for a plan b, I just bonk them again. Immediately.
 
They use the rabbit wringer on chickens which would have much smaller necks and heads so it should work on any rabbits too big for a co2 chamber. My problem was actually with too big of rabbits. I have some that are 12lbs as full adults. There's no way I can lift a struggling 12lb rabbit and pull it until it's neck dislocates. Even a broomstick probably would not work for the same reason. You also need somewhere to mount the rabbit wringer and I no longer have that. At the old place we had old wood barns and grain bins but at my mom's place with the horse stable where my rabbits are everything was built new when I was a teenager with all metal buildings and it's in the middle of a field in the middle of fields so there is only a tiny strand of not very wide trees. I had trouble finding a tree old enough to be sturdy enough for tying rabbits up to so I could pull their skin off without the tree bending over.
 
akane":2puvwznb said:
They use the rabbit wringer on chickens which would have much smaller necks and heads so it should work on any rabbits too big for a co2 chamber. My problem was actually with too big of rabbits. I have some that are 12lbs as full adults. There's no way I can lift a struggling 12lb rabbit and pull it until it's neck dislocates. Even a broomstick probably would not work for the same reason. You also need somewhere to mount the rabbit wringer and I no longer have that. At the old place we had old wood barns and grain bins but at my mom's place with the horse stable where my rabbits are everything was built new when I was a teenager with all metal buildings and it's in the middle of a field in the middle of fields so there is only a tiny strand of not very wide trees. I had trouble finding a tree old enough to be sturdy enough for tying rabbits up to so I could pull their skin off without the tree bending over.
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Hmmm, well the rabbits we'll be putting down right now will likely be under 10lbs. Do you have the actual Rabbit Wringer, or a different version of one? I'd love to be able to try one out before spending money on buying one.
 
I have to say, having looked at the wringer site again and watched their little video, I am still wishing I had one of those...I wonder if I could get my husband to make me one?

I haven't tried bonking while the rabbit was sitting on something...hmmm. Why does that seem harder to me? It shouldn't, but I have this image of "trying" to swat a fly somehow. Though surely if I can hit a rabbit in mid-air...I guess I am not much help! lol. But you all are making me really think!
 
Tracy Murphy-- of Hare Today business, uses a Rubbermaid tote as her Co2 Chamber. Plenty of room for multiple large rabbits. Gas 'em, get rid of the urine, then grind or otherwise process..
 
theres alot of people that i know that use the Co2 chamber for there cull rabbits (show breeders that dont eat) and that seems to work well for them. I cnt imagine any rabbits that a snake is gunna eat would be too large for it and i would also assume that no matter the size of the rabbit you could just adjust the gas for the size.
 
RunninMI":16kra8zz said:
theres alot of people that i know that use the Co2 chamber for there cull rabbits (show breeders that dont eat) and that seems to work well for them. I cnt imagine any rabbits that a snake is gunna eat would be too large for it and i would also assume that no matter the size of the rabbit you could just adjust the gas for the size.
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I might look into that. but it would be pretty expensive if you are regularly putting down 10+ rabbits though. I'll only be using baby rabbits for my 8ft boa. A friend of the family has a 70lb, 17ft retic that could easily eat a flemmie without a problem though, and they are the main people I'll be supplying rabbits for. They just feed her 2-3 medium rabbits since large ones aren't readily available around here for a cheap price.
 
I actually have the opposite problem and have been debating how to put down things too small to shoot or use a rabbit wringer on. CO2 seems so complicated. It's not so simple as turn on CO2 and let container fill. You need to hit a certain concentration in a certain amount of time and maintain it to make the least painful death which involves valves and regulators. Otherwise you end with a slow panicked death or a lot of irritation and pain. More work than I want to do. I've been wondering if I could buy a completed CO2 chamber off someone on like ebay or if that's a banned item from those sites.
 
akane":u0t7ss0j said:
I actually have the opposite problem and have been debating how to put down things too small to shoot or use a rabbit wringer on. CO2 seems so complicated. It's not so simple as turn on CO2 and let container fill. You need to hit a certain concentration in a certain amount of time and maintain it to make the least painful death which involves valves and regulators. Otherwise you end with a slow panicked death or a lot of irritation and pain. More work than I want to do. I've been wondering if I could buy a completed CO2 chamber off someone on like ebay or if that's a banned item from those sites.
Click to expand...

I use a CO2 method on my rats, but I actually do a combination of baking soda and vinegar. I haven't had any bad experiences with it, and honestly, they are more calm during the process than every video I've seen of other people's CO2 chambers. I don't see any outward signs of irritation like red eyes or nose, they don't struggle, and it really looks like they fall asleep and pass away.
 
The US guidelines for humane euthanasia by CO2 have been determined to be a concentration of 10% co2 reached over 5mins and then weaned animals are left in the CO2 another 5mins and neonatals are left for 15mins before freezing. Anything else is not considered humane euthanasia because of the potential for problems or discomfort. There is no way I could put an animal down without at least setting up a regulator and measuring the concentration to get as close to the guidelines tested and set down specifically to make a death as humane as possible irregardless of the claims of individuals who do it without those safety measures. Unfortunately all the chambers sold to labs are in the $150 range because they need to put down far more animals in a much more sterile environment than I do.

I use a gun or decapitation on all the animals I raise so far because I know it is as close to instantaneous death as you can get. Better than chemical euthanasia after watching eeg recordings in my vet classes. With a pellet gun brain matter goes splat and pupils immediately become nonreactive. With decapitation there's a second of gasping and that's it. I wanted a captive bolt gun because that's even more foolproof than using pellets or bullets but it's also over $100. I'd have to butcher a lot of rabbits or start raising goats (future plans) to justify that. There are electric rodent traps that claim death in 3 seconds or less. Not sure how humane those are. The good ones still appear to be over $80 but there are some down around $30.
 
eco2pia":rml7oezi said:
For adults I would recommend breaking their neck by one method or another. I think your options are broomsticking, rabbit wringer, and bopping, and there are various threads on that floating around here, you can search them...I use bopping, just because that is what I learned and am comfortable with. I often wish for a way that was a little less brutal though. Still the priority is getting the job done, and bopping does, with no questions.

I think the co2 chamber should work fine on babies, as they are about the same size and body weight as a rodent.
Click to expand...

I would never use a CO2 chamber on an animal. It works by excluding oxygen so basically you are smothering them. Bopping or breaking the neck is far more humane<br /><br />__________ Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:39 pm __________<br /><br />
akane":rml7oezi said:
I have a rabbit wringer http://www.therabbitwringer.com/ but I decided on shooting them in the head with a pellet gun as being the most foolproof and quickest death. It is a little bloody but I just leave them in the grass until they are done and the times I've fed whole to my dogs I've had no mess from blood after leaving them a few minutes to bleed out and then freezing. Most of the time though I take the head off and skin them since my dogs like to pick the fur and stuff apart and scatter it everywhere.
Click to expand...
Provided it's done properly shooting is probably best for them. It can be done while they are lying at rest in a crate whereas bopping or using the rabbit wringer requires scaring them regardless of how carefully it's done. I say this even though I have always bopped.
I would recommend however that you add one more step. Immediately after shooting them I would cut the throat while the heart is still beating and hold them upside down to bleed out. It will save a lot of rinsing or soaking in salt water to get the blood out. The heart will continue beating for a while after the animal is dead.
 
Some wildlife rehabbers are using argon and nitrogen combination instead of Co2. seems these inert gasses trick the body into thinking there is still Oxygen in the air-- the animal does not suffer the distress it does with CO2
 
I used a pellet gun to the back of the head...while the rabbit was eating grass hay and carrots...I waited until after all movement...then hung them up and cut the throat...I did not find a lot of blood to be an issue...but then again...I washed constantly with a garden hose to keep everything clean...I used it on the knife...my hands...and especially on the rabbit after cleaning...there is a small amount of blood...but not much to speak of actually...keep the garden hose nozzel on a bit of a spray...I have an adjustment on the handle to control the preasure...keep it low to medium...that way I am not getting soaked myself...I also would wash down my cutting board and anything that dripped outside of the "gut" bucket...helps top keep the flies down...I found that the pellet gun was pretty fast...simple...and easy to use..
 
Hmmm, so do you guys think that the rabbit would bleed out enough that once it was put in a bag, frozen, then thawed out for the snake, that blood shouldn't really be that much of an issue?
 

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