CO2 Question..

Kilhd wrote: Hello.. I have a couple of questions about a CO2 tank I bought. Please move this post if it's in the wrong spot or not wanted here but I need help. I am not a paintball player but I am trying to find a valve (on / off switch of some kind) to turn my CO2 tank on and off as needed. It's a PMI Pure Energy 20oz tank that I bought from the local Wal-Mart.. I am going to use this tank as a source for a gas chamber I am creating to humanely euthanize rodents for some fo my reptiles so I don't want the most expensive equipment out there just something for me to turn the gas on, and off. I don't have a local paintball store and Home Depot doesnt have what I need. I don't know much about this stuff but the tank has a "pin valve" on it..   Thanks for reading and ANY info given. please mail me if you have extra info for me. ( LyricalSatan@aol.com )

The easiest contraption to allow you to turn the tank on and off is a filling station. The inexpensive ones consist of a bradded hose, a 90 degree lever type ball valve, and a threaded cap into which one screws the cylinder.

Usually these setups are intended to allow one to fill the small cylinder from a large one. But you will use the end that normally screws onto the large tank as your connector to your euthanasia chamber. The small tank will screw into the threaded cap at the other end of the bradded hose. Screwing it in depresses the pin valve opening the cylinder. The lever valve on the hose controls the on/off flow of gas.

Your euthanasia chamber should be able to vent to the atmosphere so that it doesn't pressurize and explode. The "filling station" assemblys are available from many on-line paintball stores. I paid only $13 for mine.

BTW, for those who think suffocation is inhumane, you watch too much TV. High CO2 levels give no sensation of unable-to-breath as would covering your mouth and nose with a plastic bag. The animal, or human for that matter, gets sleepy and quietly passes out. No sensation of panic ensues with animals or humans. It is quick and humane...lot more so than tossing the live mouse in the boa's cage.

brit1919 wrote: whats everyones problem, he wants to kill the rodents before feeding them to a snake or something. alot of people do it. not like hes trying to kill animals to get off on it or experimenting.

For people with no herpetology experience, it is common to kill the mice and rats before feeding them to the VERY expensive snake or lizard. A mouse or rat putting up a fight can injure the reptile. That may be OK in the wild but when you have anywhere from a couple of hundred to several thousand dollars invested in your herpetology collection, you don't risk it.

The Guy wrote:  grow a pair son....

SNAP