Exploading Mice?

I have been feeding my ball pythons frozen/thawed mice i get from my local pet store. The last two times I fed my snakes one of the mice would pop after the strike and constriction. It really doesn't bother me at all as long as they eat. The only problem is it can smell really bad.

I want to know if this happens to anyone else. Is it related to my feeding tongs, the way i thaw the mice out or is it the mice i am buying?

Process of feeding: I thaw out my mice in a measuring cup of hot water for 20-25 minutes. I then take them out and put them under a heat lamp until warm to touch. I take out my snake to feeding cage( I know most people don't, but mine seem to do very well this way). I use some tongs that have a grip.

The mice shouldn't really smell too bad after they thaw, unless they were dead for a long time before being frozen.

Thawing any type of meat should be done in cool water, then when it is completely thawed, warm it in hot water. It may be that you're exposing it to too much heat and speeding up the decomp process.

The night before I feed, I take whatever I need out of the freezer and put it in the fridge overnight. The next day I put it in warm water for about 15 minutes, then hot water for 5. This method has worked for me from adult mice to large rats.

I had a rat explode on my lesser boy and all over the tub once. It was horrible smelling and even worse to clean up. The reason it happened, as stated above, is that you're using hot water to thaw. Switch to water that is slightly above room temp water. I do this with my rats in a freezer bag for 20-25 mins, then use a blowdryer to warm up their body and especially the head.

Put it in a bag, not directly in the water

I just put them in the fridge over night and bring them out 2 or 3 hours before feeding to warm to room temps then I put them on a warming pad in the snake room for 20 min and hair dry the head. There are a million ways but cooking them is will almost always lead to guts coming out. They do stink when the innerds are exposed. Sometimes re frozen ones will also break.