Tools: pair of ~6” surgical scissors.
While rat is in the prone position, head facing away from you, retract left leg (left leg works better for the right handed person) away from the body and approach with the scissors from the back of the thigh. Cut through the skin and soft tissues (muscle) as close to the body as possible. Aim to locate the femur; however, don’t try to cut it through. Instead, move the tip of the scissors along the femur in the direction of the hip joint (I was getting to that stage at approximately 1min 45 sec on the video). You will be able to find the capsule of the hip joint if you go ~1/8 of an inch from the proximal tip of the shaft of the femur towards the tail (if you think of your forearm as a shaft of the femur, the neck of the femur sticks out as a thumb of your left hand when its palm faces down). It will be easier to spot the joint if you keep moving that hip with your left hand. Then it is just cutting through the capsule of the joint with the tips of the scissors and that will release the head of the femur. You would still have to cut through the soft tissues and the skin in the front of the thigh. Then stick the entire leg into labelled 50 ml tube and put it on dry ice before transferring it to a -80oC freezer.