Pinkies

[guidofatherof5]

Do to some recent and even non-recent articles about the freezing method to euthanize reptiles I've stopped that practice.
The last thing I want to do is cause them any pain.
I now use CO₂(dry ice).
I purchase a small chunk of it. It's usually wrapped in paper so I place that in a small cooler and place the snake inside after a cool down in the fridge.
I place the lid on and check on the process hours later.
I will try to locate the article, I think it was Reptile Mag.

[NickB]

Freezing has been widely shown to be an inhumane way of euthansia. It's interesting that freezing seems like common practice in the U.S, here in the U.K it is very much frowned upon. There are two main methods of euthansia which are widely deemed acceptable and they are Co2 which can be purchased at diy stores etc. and breaking the neck of the animal (This method is only really used on young rodents).

[chris-uk]

I tend to agree with Kimberly, the most humane way to euthanase a snake would probably be extreme brain injury - something like a chisel to the base of the skull to destroy the brainstem. Severing the head can allow the brain to continue living for some time though. However, when it's an animal that I've spent time with, a method that leaves it without massive external injury seems like a compromise. Freezing in liquid nitrogen would be quick enough to be humane, but not really practical. In the end, when we are faced with a need to euthanase a snake we are faced with a compromise between practical, speed and our feelings. The last being the least important, but a factor that can't be ignored.
Ideally I'd be able to use a gas chamber with an inert gas atmosphere would be ideal. An inert gas, ideally argon) has been shown to induce a hypoxic euphoria in humans (taken to the limit before brain damage occurs) whereas CO2 will cause hypoxia with a rise in the level of CO2 in the bloodstream which triggers a suffocation response. CO2 is obviously cheaper and easier to get hold of.

[ProXimuS]

If worse comes to worse, and I guess you were fiscally able to, can you take it to the vet and have it euthanized with a shot like dogs and cats? Or does this not work of snakes?

[guidofatherof5]

My vet has done that for a couple of my snakes after surgery. There was no reason to wake them. Cancer.

[kibakiba]

If you live somewhere that it's illegal to have them, no, you couldn't. I've asked before.