Thoughts on culling and those difficult to let go babies :(

This is just a bit of a vent, so please pardon me with my newbie talk.

I've been pretty good about culling. Since this is my first experience with it, I've had a lot of opportunity to think about what I'm doing. I feel awful at first but if I think of the whole litter, it's okay.

I started out with ten babies and just got down to four today. I am 99% certain that I have one boy and three girls. I am hoping to keep the one boy and one of the girls and re-home the rest.

For the most part, I was okay with the flicking-in-the-head method. It seemed much more humane than leaving them in a freezer to die and I was taking personal responsibility for their comfort during death. But the last one I just killed was a hard one to do.

I had gotten down to five babies- three girls and two boys. I knew there was one boy that I really wanted to keep- he looks great to me, even as a baby. He is more laid back and struggles less when I hold him to inspect him. But the other boy had a lot of spirit- very lively, very vocal. I ended up deciding that, if anything, I want a calmer male. And since I know I don't have unlimited space for boys and I was already going to keep the boy I liked, the lively boy had to go. I feel awful. I gave a little kiss on the belly before he went.

I always fee guilty too.

I use the freezing method though. I put the pinkies I'm going to cull into a small container and let them stay in there while I finish feeding and caring for the mice. By the time I'm done they'll be piled up together and sound asleep and I gently put the container into the freezer so they pass in their sleep.

So sorry. It is never easy. The more you do it the better it will be for you. There may always be a small guilt factor though. I always look at it as being better for my mice (individual and as a colony) as a whole. I does get easier. I am also very impressed you culled so many your first litter. Good job!

My first cull was very hard. So I know how you feel.

I definitely know how you feel. I always want to keep all my babies but I know in the end, I won't be able to house everyone. I have many cages here for all my mice but I don't over crowd and knowing that I don't have cage space to care for them properly makes it easier to let them go.

I do use the freezer method for my pinkies. I use CO2 for the larger mice.

*hugs*

Sorry, but I wish I had someone to hug me yesterday when I did my first cull. It sucks doing them one at a time because the number of live ones shrinks and you have more time to second guess yourself.

I'm not big on the freezer either. I found numerous articles instructing to induce hypothermia first before that (pinky in the finger of a latex glove immersed in ice water). It was awful because for ten minutes each, I had to witness the slow decline. And like you, I had a last minute debate over which boy to keep (my original plan was zero) as I had three girls. Basically, you can't second guess yourself. Those are the ones I'll remember, that's for sure. It's the end that's the worst, because you're almost finished, and you know you can't take it back. I can STILL see that last pinky boy slowly shaking his head from side to side from down inside the sleeve. It's an awful method for the person, you experience/see it all, but like you said we need to take personal responsibility.

Like mouselover01 said, it's the housing. That's how I got through it in the end.

I just buried my lovely fat boys this morning. I was half afraid they'd be alive, even after being in the freezer overnight. Needless to say I was upset.

So I hear you. I'm really glad to know another newbie who happens to be experiencing this at the same time.

It is heart-wrenching, but we do it so the remaining ones can receive good care, have a good living space, and have good lives. Remember that mice in the wild usually lose half of their litters. It is survival of the fittest. I pretend that I am Nature: I am an owl, I am a snake, I am a rat, I am cold, I am water up the nose.