Good Feeder vs. Bad Feeder? (F/T)

How do you folks determine whether your f/t feeders are good or bad? I just went to thaw Magnus' prey and it began bleeding from the nose as it thawed through. It doesn't happen often, but I feel uncomfortable with it, because of the insinuations behind it-- euthanized under stress/inhumanely, or a potential RI that it passed with. I guess it's a personal comfort level, because I tossed it; just didn't feel comfortable feeding it. Had another mouse actually fall apart while he was swallowing once too, a traumatic experience for all involved. (Fortunately it didn't seem to affect him negatively, just a bigger poo than usual that week.)

What are your indicators that a prey item is no good?

Blood coming from the feeder's nose after thawing doesn't bother me. There are a lot of membranes and things that don't thaw well and bleed. I've had super-squishy feeders not have any problems and ones that look fine burst into blood and guts when coiled, there's no definitive way to tell. Buy from a reputable place, keep them frozen until time to thaw, and there's no real reason you should have a 'blowout', but they do happen from time to time.

Awesome, thanks. That exploding one was dreadful, none of us were prepared, the snake included. It was a full hour of anxiety. I think that thing is part of the reason any blood during a thaw will make me bow out.

I need to size him up from these dinky little things anyway, just means I run out tomorrow for a rat pup.

If a frozen feeder I knew hadn't been thawed or partially thawed turned up with blood on its nose, I would definitely be wary, though I doubt I would throw it without at least thawing it. Just wait until you thaw a mouse in a fully-sealed bag and it comes out decapitated. I'm not squeamish, but that was really gross.

Our pastel's burst yesterday and she didn't care at all, just chowed down on it. She had to kind of hold it together with her body, though, because otherwise it would have all squished out before she could get it down.

(Also I know who you named your snake after ;D)

Ugh ugh ugh, that's awful. Man at least I get to eye up the goods beforehand, jeez. This one this evening was getting a little... translucent during thaw. The rest of the pack had been pretty good feeders, but there's always one, right?

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Originally Posted by Inarikins

(Also I know who you named your snake after ;D)

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No way, and i was totally talking about that series today too. I just got Book Three of The Infernal Devices. I know who TWO of your snakes are named after!! (Well, most certainly one, and the other as well if you deviated on the spelling in naming your snake, heh.)

Freezing and thawing living(or once-living) tissues is a difficult business. Ice crystals get into certain parts of the body and when you heat that sucker up, you've got ice melting and tissues reheating, so there's bound to be some gooshy stuff going on.

I think it depends on mouse and snake. Sometimes Cap gets just a bit too excited with dinner and he ends up squeezing the poor dead mouse like, well, a sponge. Other times he eats cleanly and calmly. I'd be concerned if it was bleeding before being thawed, even if I knew that it had been frozen and thawed well.

I haven't ever thought about it really, never had a blowout though. The blood coming out or poop pellets doesn't bother me, it body parts are falling off before they're with the snake I would be worried lol

I always thought blow out of guts was from an improper or too fast thawing/heating? Unless it blew out when coiled, you might be thawing it too quickly.

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The blood from the nose means nothing. I euthanize my own feeders by CO2 and they sometimes have bloody noses after thawing and sometimes not. I've noticed that if I refrigerate the rodents for a day before putting them in the freezer, there's less blood, so I'm pretty sure it something to do with how the tissues inside the nose freeze. Obviously you'd see blood too if the rodent was put down by whacking it on a counter or something, but you'd see blood elsewhere as well as a crushed skull.

Generally speaking, if a rodent was handled properly before freezing, and was thawed correctly, you shouldn't have them explode or burst. When a frodent is thawed incorrectly by taking it straight from freezer to the counter or warm/hot water, and/or you're letting it sit too long in the warm water after it's already thawed, that's when you get blowouts. You should treat a frodent the same way you would a steak or chicken breast and taking it out the night before and putting it in the fridge. When you're ready to feed, put it in warm water for a while (time depends on size; I do 15 minutes on my large rats, switching out the water 2-3 times as it cools), then very hot water for 5 minutes, then feed. Don't let it sit around for hours "warming up".

If you need to thaw right away, put it in COLD water until completely soft, changing the water as it comes to room temp. Then, once it's completely soft, do as above.

When people thaw anything bigger than a fuzzy on the counter or in hot water, the outsides (skin) is going to start cooking/decaying before it's warmed though, which means it's weaker.

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Originally Posted by Archimedes

No way, and i was totally talking about that series today too. I just got Book Three of The Infernal Devices. I know who TWO of your snakes are named after!! (Well, most certainly one, and the other as well if you deviated on the spelling in naming your snake, heh.)

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Well they're not named from the same thing. Aradia and Snowman (she's black) are, if that helps ;)

And no, the blowout ended up happening because they weren't back in the freezer soon enough after buying. The other two were fine and I was honestly expecting the squishy one to blow.