Euthanasia

[demented_lullaby]

If I am 100% sure the snail will die I will put it out of it's misery. It's only fair to the animal, in a real life situation if a snail lost it's shell for example it would near instantly become a meal for a hungry fish. However in captivity the poor thing doesn't have that chance of getting eaten so it will suffer.

I definaetly wouldn't be happy about doing it but I would most definaetly make it a swift death thats over in a second if even. I don't really want to say how but I'm sure you can all imagine. That is the only way I can be sure the poor thing isn't in pain any longer than it has to be. But I have to be sure of the snails demise, or else I'd rather try to save it.

[SunsetSnails]

Hey, what happened to making this a sticky?

"
1. refrigerator first, followed by freezer
Still my prefered methods until someone can show me a better one.
Easy to perform, no special equipment needed. Put the snail in a small box with water. That way you get equal freezing, you don't want an uneven process. It might be somewhat slow, but the nerve system of the snail slows down as well. Hopefully this implies less pain, but who can tell?

2. instant freezing
Effective, but only for small snails. Large snails simply do not freeze that fast. Also not practical if for most of us, as it's not common to have liquid nitrogen laying around.

3. Crushing
Very effective IF and only IF you have the guts, a steady hand or good equipment to give the blow and use large force. Downside a mess, and you should not miss or it get's worse.

4. Ethyl alcohol 5%
Tried this, as it's described in various scientific articles. However, it doesn't work well. The snail closes the operculum and there you are with a problem. You have to place a stick between that to 'hold' the snail open.... and then it still takes a long time for the snail to pass out.

5. Benzocaine, lidocaine or other anesthetics
I prefer this for fish, but it doesn't work well for snails. It looks like they can withstand this much longer and here again: the snails closes the door...

6. Barbiturate or other anesthetics
Ever tried to inject a snail? Really difficult, the snail will retract and it becomes a though job. You can of course drill a hole etc... but I would vote against that.

7. Salt bath
I never tried this, and I have the feeling that this is a bad method. Here again, the snail will close the shell and if you manage to overcome that, the snail will suffer a slow death. You can of course fasten it with a high concentration, but I wouldn't advice to take that route...

8. Microwaves
Very effective if you have a specialized microwave system. The common household microwave is NOT suited at all. You need a tremendous burst of waves that kill a snail in less then 200 milliseconds. However, I doubt that even then this is a safe way, as I won't be surprized if the snail explodes..." --Stijn

Thanks!!!

[Daddyo72]

This topic is bound to be controversial, but I feel very strongly about this and feel the need to speak out against what I consider cruelty. In the past week alone I have read posts from at least 5 or 6 different members talking about freezing their snails as a 'humane' form of euthanasia. I'm hearing a pattern of repeat that seems to go something like, "They hibernate and die in their sleep painlessly" etc....so I've just gotta ask, "Says who?" It's so easy to just throw your suffering snail in the freezer, isn't it?....I think that's the key phrase here --"easy for you"....If one truly feels compelled to end the suffering of an animal, then shouldn't that life be ended as abruptly as possible? Freezing an animal to death, even a 'lowly little snail', is a slow-degenerating, agonizing way to go. Some people promote freezing fish as an acceptable form of euthanasia. Bettas have been observed put outside in freezing temperatures -- they thrash around for over half an hour before eventually succumbing to an icy death(see www.bettasrus.com). Personally, I take the time to make any sickly or injured snails as comfortable as possible in their last hours...temperate water low enough that they can stick their siphon out of the water without having to move, a little dose of melafix...and I hope for the best, in whatever condition they're in. That's just me, here are some other opinions:

http://www.fauvet.fau.edu/oacm/VetData/Euthunac.htm

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/euthanasia.shtml

http://www.research.psu.edu/arp/euthanasia.shtml

http://www.iacuc.arizona.edu/training/s ... nasia.html

Please think twice before putting your snails or other animals in the freezer.

You speak as though people want to harm their snails. While I'm sure this isn't your intention, it comes off that way. Most of us want the easiest most painless death for our suffering friends.
I keep fish as well. I had one in particular that got in a rare fight and lost BADLY. .Previous to this I did research as I'm sure most of the snail owners do, and found out about clove oil and freezing Lopping off their head off among st other ways. The end result was that I used a brick. He was gone instantly. No pain what so ever.
My point is that is that we do our homework to make it easier and painless for our aquatic friends. For anyone that has raised them from babies to the unfortunate point of dealt, it is painful for us. The demise of a friend. Only a fish or snail, but a friend none the less.
The thing that is worth criticism is leaving a suffering creature to die in pain and take no steps to end his suffering. That is the easy way our for us. To place them in a freezer (snails), smash them as I've read on this board, or use a brick is very hard to do for us. To know were ending a life to end suffering is little consolation to us when we clean up the aftermath. I applaud anyone who has tried in any way to be humane and find it imposable to find fault with you. you tried to do the right thing and that is very hard.



May I also suggest you read Donyas post on the first page.

[CrystalTears]

I had one of my little girls not too long ago, one that I had refered to many times as my 'little puny one' in my posts. Her shell had a lot of wear on it from water being too acidic.

It was my fault that she got so bad off. I know that now. Though she already had a lot of damage from the pet store where I got her from and I'm sure that didn't help at all. Anyway, I thought she only had 1 hole in her shell. I was waiting for my supplies to get in so that I could patch that hole up.

I noticed that she had been just laying there for a couple days, but she was still moving her head around an moving her antennas too. So I knew she was alive and I never thought much of her just laying there because they do that every now and again. She was half out of her shell so I wasn't all that worried about her.

After day three I was a bit more concerned.

Several times I'd noticed the other snails over there 'cleaning her shell' and again... never thought anything of it. They do that to each other all the time.

On day four, she got turned where the uppermost spires of her shell were facing me and I realized what was going on.

Apparently on those uppermost spires, her shell was worn down so thin that the other snails just ate right through it. They had eaten a good deal of her soft tissue out and... it was in an area that she wouldn't die immediately, but with such a huge spot cleared out... she would die eventually.

What I did was crush her. It was the quickest and most certian way that I could think of. I've read all of the controversy about the freezing vs. not freezing here.... and I just wasn't sure. So... I smashed instead. I hated doing it. It was so hard for me because she was one of my very first 3 snails... but... she couldn't live like that. So, I felt that I had to. I'm sure it was better for her than being eaten alive until she finally died or just dieing slowly from the loss of what had already been eaten.

Anywho... that's my story.

[Bottomfeeder]

Ill tell you why people prefer freezing as euthanasia.
They are squeamish and in the freezer they can't see the animal dying. Unlike if you crush it, decapitate it, etc. The best euthanasia tecnique is crushing fully the animal's head, or decapitating it completly and quickly.
Of course, as a last resort.

[MrSnail]

MYTHBUSTERS!!!

[SantinoBee]

Only fish that do hibernate can successfully humanely be frozen... never a tropical... just koi and goldfish... they really go go into a hibernative state and sleep first... not so with animals that don't hibernate or be unconscious before the blood freezes... like glass in the veins I imagine...

[SantinoBee]

And what do I do? I can't crush her, she's as big as a baseball, see my other post about what's wrong and her pictures..

[SantinoBee]

I used the ethanol on my Newt, it absolutely didn't work an I bawled and wailed for hours and she lived through it all and it was absolutely soul shatteringly horrible. I had to use 100% solution and by the time it worked it had been hours of torture. It was so terrible... Yet other people report it taking less than 30min. My poor Newtie suffered a LOT with that method.

[Nerite and Apple Mom]

Does anyone know if Finquel, the anesthetic for fish that can be used in double or tripple doses to euthanize fish could be used to humanely euthanize snails as well? Or clove oil (also can be used for fish for euthanasia, but I've heard mixed reviews on it so I'd rather keep Finquel on hand)? I hope I never have to euthanize a snail, but hope and what will/could happen in the future are obviously two very different things.

I'm so sorry to hear about your Newt, SantinoBee.

[pbgroupie]

They have different nervous systems. Freezing or crushing is still the preferred method for snails.

[Nerite and Apple Mom]

Thank you for clearing that up. I just don't want to mess up a euthanasia if I ever have to do one (freezing would probably be my best option then, I'd be afraid I wouldn't crush the snail well enough and they would suffer the consequences).

[stu46]

I think freezing is a relatively humane practice, I raise australian redclaw crayfish for food and you cant use drugs or chemicals if your going to eat them, most people just drop them into boiling water ( OMG agggh) so I put mine in the freezer for about four hours and they are dead, they dont move around (I've checked) they just go to sleep, the reccomended humane way is to put them into lukewarm water and gradually raise the temperature, I've tried it, it is not humane they struggle to get out, I believe the boiling frog syndrome is a total myth, has anyone ever tried it.

Stuart