Heating mice, no more hairdryer!

I have been doing this for a while and I found the hairdryer to be the easiest method to heat the mice quickly and that they stay heated for a while. However, I have been doing this heating individual rats and feeding heating another etc. this meant that I kept turning the hair dryer on and off. Today, suddenly the electric socket went poof into smoke!!! I unplugged the wall socket immediately and luckily it stopped and I looked at it and the plug was all burned and plastic melted. This scares me and I want another way to heat the rats now.

I used to use heat pads but they were pretty useless they heated very slowly and only one side and sometimes to it made mice guts expand/explode. Soaking in a sandwhich bag in warm water works well but then it takes quite a while to go through all the snakes and they cool down very quickly. How do you heat them?

After they are thawed out, just put them in a ziploc bag and submerge them in very warm water for about 5 to 10 minutes. Do not use boiling water, just out of the tap and not so hot it starts partially cooking. If you dip your hand in it might be uncomfortable but tolerable.

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Originally Posted by hungba

I have been doing this for a while and I found the hairdryer to be the easiest method to heat the mice quickly and that they stay heated for a while. However, I have been doing this heating individual rats and feeding heating another etc. this meant that I kept turning the hair dryer on and off. Today, suddenly the electric socket went poof into smoke!!! I unplugged the wall socket immediately and luckily it stopped and I looked at it and the plug was all burned and plastic melted. This scares me and I want another way to heat the rats now.

I used to use heat pads but they were pretty useless they heated very slowly and only one side and sometimes to it made mice guts expand/explode. Soaking in a sandwhich bag in warm water works well but then it takes quite a while to go through all the snakes and they cool down very quickly. How do you heat them?

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Put rat in a ziplock bag and seal it. Put it in a bowl of warm/hot water. I put something heavy on top to weigh it down, then wait. I usually have to refill the water with hot water a few times before they're totally thawed and warmed.

That's how I do it, but I really with there was an easier way. Should work since your hairdryer is dead though.

Sounds more like your electrics need attention.

I'd have them checked and keep using a hairdrier. :P

I put the frozen rodents in hot water from the tap until thawed. Then replace the water (again with hot water from the tap) and keep the rodents there while I fish them out to feed. I have a small towel handy and after letting the rodent drip dry for a minute, I pad it dry and feed it off.
I feel the rodent to make sure there are no cold spots or hot spots before feeding and have had no problems.

Andy - :snake:

I thaw in the fridge over night just like I would for myself. And, then place the thawed prey under a heat lamp in the snake room until they get to between 90-92° F. Not sure if the smell of warming rats and mice is helping but, not a single snake has missed a meal here even with cloudy blue eyes pre-shed. I am unwilling to mess with what is working unless there is a compelling health issue for my pets I am unaware of.

I am with Derek, if you fried an outlet it should be repaired and the whole electrical system checked out you might be in danger of over loading the whole system and that causes fires.

The way I have been heating my rats is I have a plastic tub that I fill with water. At the bottom of the tub I have an old fish tank heater that has suction cups. I stick the heater to the side of the tub under water, then I plug the heater into a hydrofarm thermostat and set the temp to 98 deg. I then plug the thermostat into a GFCI protected outlet ( this is VERY important to reduce the risk of electrocution ) At that point i put the rats in the water and leave them be while I go and take care of my everyday chores. The rats will heat to a nice toasty temp but will not cook! ( best of all never have to sit and change out water that has cooled down. ) This has worked out very well for me. I know its way overkill but it requires very little attention from me and allows me to do other things in the mean time...

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

I am with Derek, if you fried an outlet it should be repaired and the whole electrical system checked out you might be in danger of over loading the whole system and that causes fires.

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I missed that bit. Just in from work.

Hair dryers usually run 1200-1500 watts on high and can cause a breaker or fuse to blow on overloaded circuits quite easily.
This is not what happened in your case and needs to be looked at closely.
My bet is on a dead short in the dryer or cord itself but, it is absolutely necessary to identify the cause of this mishap with certainty. Otherwise you risk having your home burn down.

Good luck with that and hopefully you find the solution is not too demanding on resources and time.

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Originally Posted by rlditmars

After they are thawed out, just put them in a ziploc bag and submerge them in very warm water for about 5 to 10 minutes. Do not use boiling water, just out of the tap and not so hot it starts partially cooking. If you dip your hand in it might be uncomfortable but tolerable.

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I used to do that when I only had a few snakes, but they cool down quite fast that way I have to keep getting hot water.