Feeding uestion -- Did I overheat it?

[Sonya610]

I just switched to medium sized frozen rats.

While dethawing it I think I heated it too much. When I went to take it by the scruff with the tongs a chunk of skin came clean off.

I guess this implies the skin got cooked some huh? I guess I need to throw it away? Feel bad wasting the life just because I couldn't dethaw it right.

[mrshawt]

Ew, throw it out.

[Reptile King]

LOL! I would pitch it. Although I feed mice I leave it in warm water for 15 minutes. Afterwards I dry it with a blow dryer. Not sure how long it takes to thaw out a rat......obviously a little longer I would guess.

[Patricia]

I brought home a frozen hopper mouse from the pet store about 6 hours ago and left it on a paper towel to thaw, not doing anything to it. Worked well, and BP is eating it this very moment.

[HerpKeeperVA]

Eww, yeah, you overdid it I'd say. How were you defrosting it? I just put mine in a sink full of warm water and let them sit.

I know a guy that tried to microwave one once, bleh. He and his wife had snakes and did wildlife rescue, and had just taken in a baby owl. He wanted to feed the owl, and the rodent wasn't defrosting fast enough, so he tried to nuke it. The end result was a disgusting microwave that they had to throw out because no matter how much they cleaned it, it still smelled like burnt rodent. His wife wasn't too happy, as you can imagine.