HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: TLD115@psuvm.psu.edu (teri)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Re: Killing Food!!!
Date: 9 Nov 92 15:48:31 GMT
 <1992Nov8.182009.26551@ultb.isc.rit.edu><1djt1aINNl3a@MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU>
Organization: Penn State University

In a Lab animal class we were taught another method of killing rats and mice.
It sounds gross to begin with, but after doing this, and the "head-thwack"
method, i really prefer this.

Hold the animal FIRMLY at the back of the neck with a pen  or something similar
pressed across the neck, right behind the ears.  You need something of a
larger diameter for bigger rats, 1/2 in pvc pipe possibly.  Then grab FIRMLY
by the BASE of the tail, and quve a QUICK, HARD  jerk. This dislocates the neck
and kills the animal instantly  (they have done all sorts of brain wave tests
and stuff on this, and the brain activity stops instantly).
            |
        ---)|_________________
       / .  |                 |____________________
      @  .  |                 |--------------------
       \___)|-----------------  pull
 face       |                    here              tail
            pencil
             right behind skull


This is alot easier than hitting its head off of something, alot less cruel
than suffocation, and alot less messy than a hammer.

It wont work with guinnea pigs.....no tails, tho.




hope this helps
any questions.........e-mail me   tld115@psuvm.psu.edu


teri
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: srh3@Ra.MsState.Edu (Steven R. Hollis)
Subject: Re: Killing Food!!!
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 19:48:49 GMT

teri <TLD115@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:

>Hold the animal FIRMLY at the back of the neck with a pen  or something similar
>pressed across the neck, right behind the ears.  You need something of a
>larger diameter for bigger rats, 1/2 in pvc pipe possibly.  Then grab FIRMLY
>by the BASE of the tail, and quve a QUICK, HARD  jerk. This dislocates the neck
>and kills the animal instantly  (they have done all sorts of brain wave tests
>and stuff on this, and the brain activity stops instantly).

I have heard of this method in Falconry used on rabbits (after the bird has
caught it, most raptors tend to be inhumane in the dispatching of prey,
but never thought of using it on the smaller rodents.  Makes sense though.

Oh, yeah, it will work on guinea pigs.  Instead of grabbing the tail,
grab the hind feet instead.  That's what you do with rabbits.

LAter
Steve

--
============================================================================
Steve Hollis---Your friendly          |  "What for you say you monkey, when
neighborhood zoology major/lit minor  |   you got little powder puff tail
srh3@ra.msstate.edu                   |   like rabbit----RABBIT?"
From: voorhees@sdd.hp.com (Joe Voorhees)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Day Gecko gif available
Date: 5 Nov 1992 15:59:26 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, San Diego Division
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: hpsdlm14.sdd.hp.com
Keywords: gecko

If any of you are interested, I posted a gif file in 2 parts of a
picture of the Banded Day Gecko (Phelsuma standingi) in
alt.binaries.pictures.misc which was originally published in Dactylus
(journal of the Intenational Gecko Society) #3.

Joe Voorhees
Intenational Gecko Society member #6
voorhees@sdd.hp.com
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: sonny@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (joseph.j.de rosa)
Subject: Re: Killing food....
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 12:41:47 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.221416.162990@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> gg02@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (GABRIELLA GRAD) writes:
>- which she then sells - or dead.  As far as what our psych department does
>here, the animals are gassed to death - this is fast.  The rodents are then
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>frozen and later discarded.

I wouldn't feed my reptiles any animal that has been killed with
ether or chloroform. I also wouldn't feed my reptiles any animal
that is sick or has any tumors or growths. I believe that you are
asking for trouble (eventually) if you do. There are lots of easy
ways to kill a feeder animal that have been mentioned already.
None of these will add dangerous compounds to the food item.
I used to use dry ice to kill large quantities of mice when I 
was maintaining an animal colony in my first job. The mice would 
asphyxiate within a few minutes, and the CO2 wouldn't "ruin" the
animals for the herpetology department. The Herp dept. wasn't interested
in any of the animals that were ill or cancerous. They just wanted our
excess. 

Joe DeRosa
jderosa@attmail.att.com
From: jwg0@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (JOHN WALTER GEWARTOWSKI)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Re: iguanna digging
Date: 10 Nov 92 18:57:29 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

In article <1992Nov9.234951.29638@gordian.com>, jim@gordian.com (Jim Van Vorst)
writes:
>In article <9211092009.AA02462@cypress.cis.ohio-state.edu>, rosen@news.cis.ohio
-state.edu (jeffrey m rosen) writes:
>> My pet green iguana likes to dig up all the sand in the corners of his
>> tank.  Does anybody have any ideas why he might be doing this? is it normal?
>>
>> Jeff Rosen (Rosen@CIS@ohio-state.edu)
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>He's trying to dig a hole to hide in.  He needs a hidey-hole type place.
>A cardboard box or something will work.

My iguana does have hiding places in his tank (under a huge rock, and inside
two metal coffee cans which act as his heating rock due to the heating tape
wrapped around them - homemade job obviously) but he STILL DIGS every now and
then.  My sister, the pet sales person that she is, postulated that perhaps he
thinks he's outside since he's in a 50 gallon tank, and he's only about 6
inches snout-to-vent.  Of course, your iguana may be different, and not dig
after you provide a hiding place.  Mine still does, however.  It's just one of
those quirky things I deal with.
-- 

*--------------------------------------*
 Take a walk on the Wild side...Biffman
*--------------------------------------*

Did you hear how the Polish hockey team drowned?
    Spring training.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: bjz@sei.cmu.edu (Barbara Zayas)
Subject: How long do you leave food / water out?
Organization: Software Eng. Inst.;Carnegie-Mellon U.; Pittsburgh, PA 15213   _USA_
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:36:15 GMT


I've heard conflicting info about how long the food and/or
water dishes should remain available to my green iguana.


About food:
One source said to remove food bowls/leftovers after they've
been available to the ig for 15-20 minutes. (I'm assuming
that this is to prevent bacterial growth.)  Another source
implied that you can keep the food out all day.

   Question: Is it harmful to leave food out 
   through the day (putting the food out before 
   I leave for work and refreshing it at the end 
   of the day)?
	
Two books that I've read mention that calcium-supplemented
dog food is welcome by most igs (providing that it's done as
a supplement to the normal/vegetarian diet).

   Question: Which dog food is best for an ig?  
   I want something low-fat and not loaded with 
   a junk/preservatives.




About water:
One book that I have states that young/new igs need an
acclimation period of 3-4 months where water should be
available round the clock (a lot of new igs may be
dehydrated).  Another book that have I contradicts this,
saying that igs get most, if not all, of their necessary
water from an adequate diet.  This book recommends making
water available just 2-3 times a week.  (The reasoning for
this is that the water might easily get contaminated with
waste, should the waste drop into the water bowl.)

   Question: What is the popular practice or 
   frequency for providing water?



Thanks for any help from me and my ig (Licorice).



Barbara Zayas				Software Engineering Institute
Information Management			Carnegie Mellon University
bjz@sei.cmu.edu				(412) 268-6378
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: ss@panix.com (Steve Steinberg)
Subject: Re: Plants for an Iguana tank
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 16:59:01 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

Was anyone able to come up with a list of poisonous plants for an Iguana
cage?

The only plant I've put in so far is an aloe, but I would like to add
other cacti & succulants.

What do you think?
-- 
=====================================================================
=== Steve Steinberg   ==  ss@panix.com  == {cmcl2,apple}!panix!ss ===

              (The space below intentionally left blank)           
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Date: Sat,  7 Nov 1992 19:12:52 -0500 
From: "Jennifer E. Swofford" <IGUANA+@CMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: snakes in apartments

Hi there,

Usually, in my experience, anyway, "No pets" refers to animals that are
free to roam the apartment.  My landlord last year added a part to the
lease that said "pets in sealed cages are allowed."  My custodian, when
he came up to check the batteries in my smoke detectors, asked me,
cleverly, what those things were (iguanas in a fish tank) and if "I let
them run around the apartment and shit all over everything."  I told
him, of course, that they never leave their tank.  Which, of course, was
untrue, and in actuality they regularly shit all over the apartment. 
But, oh well.

This year, my new landlords don't allow cats because they're allergic to
them, dogs because they know what dogs can do to a place.  They said
iguanas were ok.  

Anyways, I'd say, check with the landlord, but if you assure him/her
that they're in an ESCAPE-PROOF cage, and that you hardly ever open it
up, they should probably allow snakes.  Actually, I'm under the
impression that a lot of people are afraid of snakes, so it might be
more of a problem for you than it was for me.  But, I doubt it.  Good
luck!

-------------------------------------------------------
Jennifer E. Swofford     

iguana+@cmu.edu   

Formerly affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University
Potentially affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University
-------------------------------------------------------





Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: pholland@iastate.edu (Paul J Hollander)
Subject: Re: Killing food....
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 00:44:25 GMT

In article <92315.124405COP80208@UCF1VM.BITNET> <COP80208@UCF1VM.BITNET> writes:
>Several people have responded to the question of how to kill their pets'
>food.  I agree with most of them.  I have one question though...
>If poison or gas is used, is this toxin not passed on to the pet?

It sure is passed on through the mouse to the snake.  That's why ether and
chloroform should not be used to kill snake food.  They are passed to the snake
and are reputed to be fairly toxic to herps.

Paul Hollander    pholland@iastate.edu
Behold the tortoise: he makes no progress unless he sticks his neck out.

Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: gerard@progress.COM (Gerard Bras)
Subject: Re: Killing food....
Organization: Progress Software Corp.
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 15:39:56 GMT

sonny@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (joseph.j.de rosa) writes:

>In article <1992Nov9.221416.162990@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> gg02@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (GABRIELLA GRAD) writes:
>>- which she then sells - or dead.  As far as what our psych department does
>>here, the animals are gassed to death - this is fast.  The rodents are then
>                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>frozen and later discarded.

>I wouldn't feed my reptiles any animal that has been killed with
>ether or chloroform. 

That sounds right to me.  However, usual gassing technology involves C02 or
nitrogen.  Asphyxiation is a morea ppropriate term.

>I also wouldn't feed my reptiles any animal
>that is sick or has any tumors or growths. I believe that you are
>asking for trouble (eventually) if you do. 

Right again.

>There are lots of easy
>ways to kill a feeder animal that have been mentioned already.
>None of these will add dangerous compounds to the food item.
>I used to use dry ice to kill large quantities of mice when I 
>was maintaining an animal colony in my first job. The mice would 
>asphyxiate within a few minutes, and the CO2 wouldn't "ruin" the
>animals for the herpetology department. The Herp dept. wasn't interested
>in any of the animals that were ill or cancerous. They just wanted our
>excess. 

I wonder if the CO2 makes the rats taste fizzy.  I used dry ice to cool and 
ice box once and it definitely altered the taste of stuff like milk and
tomatoes.  Pretty gross too.

cheers,
gerard

Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: jmm7076@ultb.isc.rit.edu (J.M. Maurer)
Subject: Re: Emergency
Originator: jmm7076@ultb
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 16:24:30 GMT

In article <1992Nov13.132344.10917@ultb.isc.rit.edu> mds5597@ritvax.isc.rit.edu writes:
>
>	Well I had my first emergency this morning. It seems that the power
>line was downed by a tree. I awoke to a very cold tank since the heater was not
>on and the apartment was FREEZING. I put Tabatha in a fanny pack with a bunch
>of cloth and a hand warmer. What emergencies have you all had and what did you
>do about it?  Is there any way to back up the heater if you are going away for
>a week or so?
>
>                                               
>                                                      Treky and Tabatha
>							    N8VFZ
>

I was in the same storm and also lost power.  The first thing that I did
is get a bottel and filled it with warm-hot water, wrapped in a towel
and put it in Soc's tank.  I tried to wake up every few hours to change
the water.  But this made me think about getting a large quantity of the
small chem hand warmers.  You can get them at any sporting goods stores
and they last 8+ hours.  I plan on making the trip to Wegmann's today to
get a bunch for the future.  But I do know if I get caught with my pants
down again I would have no problem putting soc in his travel case -- a
laundry bag, and throwing him under the blanket with me.  This is a good
idea if you don't have too many, or too much snake to keep warm.

Enjoy

Jombo and Soc


Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: jal41820@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Smiley)
Subject: Re: Killing Food!!!
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 21:17:55 GMT

adwright@iastate.edu () writes:
:)I hate to say this, but snapping the neck or swinging the rodent on a hard
:)surface is a quick and fairly humane way to do it but if you have a 
:)problem with that, you may have to get someone else to do it for you. 
:)Otherwise you might not do it as hard as you need to to insure a quick
:)death. Have you considered decapitation?

Umm... if someone is unable to handle snapping the neck or banging it
hard on a hard surface, you think they'll be able to chop its head off!?!   :)

-- 
        Josh Laff              #     #      
email to: smiley@uiuc.edu     _       _     Hello! I am a signature virus!  
      (217) 384-6249         |#\_____/#|    Join the fun and copy mo*#(*&^!>.
                              \#######/
From: mds5597@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Re: Tortoises
Date: 8 Nov 92 18:13:42 GMT
Reply-To: mds5597@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology

In article <1992Nov5.151652.24084@cs.cornell.edu>, clewis@cs.cornell.edu (Craig Lewis) writes:
>I have been following this group for a while and have decided to make
>the plunge in and get some sort of reptile for a pet.  I've been a little
>skittish about snakes because I have young children and lizards don't seem
>to be appropriate either ("Honey, have you seen the gecko?").  Anyway,
>I was in a local pet store last night and they had several varieties of
>Tortoises and I thought am thinking this is where I might start.  So, I h
>have some beginner questions:
>
>
>1) What are some good references for rasing Tortoises as pets?
>
>2) How difficult are they to raise?
>
>3) Are there any species easier to raise than others? Would I be better
>off with a box turtle to start? 
>
>4) My local pet store had Russion and Egyptian tortoises for about $80
>is this reasonable? Are there any good breeders?
>
>Any other comments would be appreciated.
>
>---------------------
>Craig Lewis
>clewis@cs.cornell.edu
>Phone: (607)-277-5745
>



	Well first let me tell you that I too at the start had some wierd
feelings about having a snake. But let me tell you, I have had many pets in my
life and there has not been one that is as clean and problem free as my Albino
Corn. I have had a turtle before and after the bugger bite me enough and I
found out about the diseases they could be carring and changed to fish. But if
you still wish to buy one, the very first thing I would suggest (and this is
for any reptile) is stay out of the pet stores! I am serious, go to a breeder
who knows what they are talking about. Sorry I dont have much more advice, but
I am a begginner myself. If it has not been for this net and the breeder I
dealt with I would not have my corn now. 

                                               
                                                      Treky and Tabatha
							    N8VFZ

P.S.
----
Live long and prosper.                   
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: dgsolt@rodan.acs.syr.edu (David G. Solt Jr. )
Subject: New reader - New turtle.
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 09:39:51 EST

Sorry to bother you all... I just got a chinese box turtle for
my birthday.  I know very little about the care of turtles, but
am very interested in having the happiest box turtle around.  
Any help on what makes box turtles happy, healthy little creatures
would be great.  I have been reading for a few days now hoping
to get the info from posts, but I haven't seen to many turtle 
postings or located anything in the FAQ that were recently posted.  
So, I thought I'd just go ahead and ask.  

		Dave Solt		

Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: ftit@waldorf.engin.umich.edu (Sergej Roytman)
Subject: Re: snakes in apartments
Date: Sat, 07 Nov 92 20:00:51 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor
Originator: ftit@waldorf.engin.umich.edu


In article <Mez5i4C00WAuIKoHVG@andrew.cmu.edu>, "Jennifer E. Swofford" <IGUANA+@CMU.EDU> writes:
|                                                     My custodian, when
|he came up to check the batteries in my smoke detectors, asked me,
|cleverly, what those things were (iguanas in a fish tank) and if "I let
|them run around the apartment and shit all over everything."
|

Ah, the tact of the man!

|-------------------------------------------------------
|Jennifer E. Swofford     

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|  ftit@engin.umich.edu   |   "... a stainless steel rat in the       |
|    (Sergej Roytman)     |  ferroconcrete wainscoting of Internet"   |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Say no to four-line .sigs.
From: clinard@cs.utk.edu (Michelle Clinard)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Ball Python won't eat.
Date: 9 Nov 92 16:14:50 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Distribution: world


This is for a friend at work, plese reply to "millerma1@ornl.gov".  He
doesn't have news access.

He has a ball python, about a year or so old, about 4 feet long, female.
It hasn't eaten in about 6-8 months.  About 4 months ago they put a mouse in
her cage, came back later, found a dead (but not eaten) mouse, and a 
half-eaten snake egg.  Recently the snake has been quite active, so they 
decided to try again.  This time, the little mousy ran across the snakes
head while the snake was stalking the mouse.  Mousy bit the snake on the
tip of its tail after terrorizing the poor defenseless snake.  Mousy then
used the snake as a ladder to get out of the cage, while the snake was 
attempting same.  The snake was hissing like mad, but didn't try to
eat the mousy.  End result: snake balled up in one corner keeping an eye on
mousy, mousy sleeping like a baby on the other side of the cage.

My friend wants to know what he can do to help the snake get a meal.
Force feeding was tried some time ago to no avail.  Could this have 
something to do with the appearance of an egg 4 months ago?  Does
the poor snake now have a phobia of mousies, destined to a life
of rice cakes and tea?  Should mousie be stunned?  (Don't know that
this will work, since the snake is terrified of sleeping mousy.)
Should a different rodent by tried?  Crickets?  Dead mousy on a
string?

Thanks for all help, I'm sure my friend will appreciate it.  Maybe 
even send useful-advice givers a free video of mousy vs. python II.


Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: ftit@beaker.engin.umich.edu (Sergej Roytman)
Subject: Taming critters
Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 02:48:38 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor
Originator: ftit@beaker.engin.umich.edu


I have a couple of anoles (yeh, I know, not quite as exotic as dwarf
Madagascar crocosteempies, but hey, I'm a Poor Student) and would like
to know if it is possible to tame them.  I don't want them to do tricks
or anything, just not to object to handling.

Can anyone give me an idea about how I should go about this?  Is it
possible with anoles, or are they just not up to it mentally?

Thanks in advance for any suggesitons.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|  ftit@engin.umich.edu   |   "... a stainless steel rat in the       |
|    (Sergej Roytman)     |  ferroconcrete wainscoting of Internet"   |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Say no to four-line .sigs.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: mtaranto@sura.net (Michael Taranto)
Subject: Brown bottom...
Organization: SURAnet, College Park, MD, USA, NA, Earth, Milky Way
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 20:28:03 GMT

	My Ball Python has what looks like a skin ocndition on his 
underside, specifically the last 1/4 of his body (tail end.) It looks 
like the skin has not been able to shed and has turned a light brown in
color. This has been around for about month and a half now. He is
beginning to shed again and has not shed in one piece much lately. I
have not been able to find any info on this in any books. Any help would
be appreciated. Thanks...

Michael
From: dhm1@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (DANIEL HILL MCCAULEY)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: FAQ LIST????
Date: 7 Nov 92 23:48:06 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

Could someone please tell me how to access the FAQ list?  Thanks!

-Dan
-- 


                  *                      *
                  **                    **
                  * **********************
                  *                      *
                  *      --      --      *
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: srh3@Ra.MsState.Edu (Steven R. Hollis)
Subject: Re: Killing Food!!!
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:55:25 GMT

     I myself do not enjoy killing my mice for my snakes either, but if it is
smaller than a guinea pig and the table method seems a bit much.  Try this.

    Grab the little critter by the tail, hold him up and thump right where
the head meets the neck.  If it is a mouse or small rat, it will dislocate
the right things and he will twitch but be pretty spaced out.


--
============================================================================
Steve Hollis---Your friendly          |  "What for you say you monkey, when
neighborhood zoology major/lit minor  |   you got little powder puff tail
srh3@ra.msstate.edu                   |   like rabbit----RABBIT?"
From: ruska@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Dave Ruska)
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 18:03:06 GMT
Subject: Re: Brown bottom...
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp

In rec.pets.herp, ruska@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Dave Ruska) writes:

....

> You should pre-wash the moss to remove any dust. Add water as needed 
> to keep the moss most.
                   ^^^^  oops. should have typed "moist".
....

> 
> Dave                                         (daver@hpgrrd.gr.hp.com)
>