Thawing frozen rats

[mambo_chris]

Hey, i need a new way to thaw my frozen rats, my way takes forever.

[starmom]

I take mine out in the morning and let them thaw where the snakes are. By the time I feed them at around 9pm, everything is mushy soft and almost as though I had just knocked them out!!!

[mambo_chris]

lol i didnt realize it would take so long. this is my first snake but i do feed mice to my frog but smaller ones. What i did is put it in a ziplock and put that in a tupperware with hot water from the tap. im also going to try to heat it to about 90 degrees so my python will think its alive

[Karbon]

What I do is put the mice in a sealed plastic bag and put them in WARM water. Don't put them in hot water, you don't want to cook em! It also makes the mouse nice and warm so the snake can see it.

It thaws them out in a relatively decent time without getting them wet. I don't like leaving them out all day to thaw, don't want anything to get at them or get into them.

[kurgan]

My minor variant is put rat in ziplock bag, full tupperware with very hot tap water, put bag in tub, put on lid. Wait 20 mins and rat is defrosted, repeat but wait 5 mins so rat is warm. make sure it really is defrosted though that will depend on size, water heater etc.

[Kagez28]

yea i second the WARM water, or you're gonna get slip open rodents. i would let it thaw in the warm water, or under a heat lamp then hit it with a blow dryer for a few minutes. that will give it a nice heat signature

[bonheki]

I get a tub and fill it up with HOT water and put the rats/mice in their and like 5-10min their ready.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I put mine in tupperware and let them thaw for 4-5 hours. Then, I put them on a heating pad on LOW temp for about 30 minutes so the snakes can see them. Most of my BP's will hit the rat after that, but my pickier ones need the rat to go on MED/HIGH for 10 minutes or so to really give it a good heat signature.

I am working on an industrial sized warming device (30 small-med rats simultaneously) to give the rats the proper head-tail heat gradient. It's gonna be sweet, I'll keep everyone posted

JonV

[Nate]

I do what JonV does.

I usually take them out around noonish. let them thaw till later in the evening, and then fold a heating pad over them and put it on low so they get nice and warm.