How do you defrost?

So my BP is now eating small rats. I have always feed him/her frozen and I just warm them up to thaw out and good to go. When my BP was eating mice all I had to do was get hot water from tap and just put the bag he was in, in the water and the mouse would thaw. Now I'm on rats and was wondering how people do it? I tried my normal technique and it failed so I thought boil some water and put the rat in that's in the bag, well that did work but the smell and as soon as my BP grabbed it the rats intestines and everything instantly came out. So I was wondering what do you guys do?

Let them thaw a little bit before you warm them up. I feed mostly live but back when I fed frozen I would always set them in the fridge the day before I was planning to feed. I would pull them out of the fridge about an hour before feeding and let them start to creep up closer to room temp. About 15 minutes before feeding I do the whole rats in bag, bag in warm water thing.

So I take it cooked rat does not smell good LOL? Slow and steady on the thaw is the way to go :D

1. Fill container with hot water (not boiling...just hot straight from the tap).

2. Put rodent in ziplock.

3. Put ziplock in container in hot water.

4. Cover.

5. Check on it a couple of hours later. Empty water, refill with hot water. Let sit for 5 or 10 minutes.

Feed to snake.

Toss everything in a bucket, fill with hot water, let thaw for about 20-30 minutes, make sure each item is fully thawed, and then feed.

Thaw it out in the fridge the day before feeding. Then put the bag in hot water to warm it up.

Thanks everyone I will be doing that next time for sure!

King James- the smell is AWFUL! I had to open both windows, fan on, and light candles to get smell out. I can deal with some smells but that was just nasty lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 200xth

1. Fill container with hot water (not boiling...just hot straight from the tap).

2. Put rodent in ziplock.

3. Put ziplock in container in hot water.

4. Cover.

5. Check on it a couple of hours later. Empty water, refill with hot water. Let sit for 5 or 10 minutes.

Feed to snake.

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I usually feed live but when I have used f/t, this method has always worked well for me. I would only add that you can remove it from the bag and heat it with a hair dryer just prior to feeding if it's not warm enough.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

Toss everything in a bucket, fill with hot water, let thaw for about 20-30 minutes, make sure each item is fully thawed, and then feed.

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Are you sure the specimens are fully warmed all the way through? You don't try to warm the heads of the specimens with a blow dryer?

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I leave F/T feeders out on my counter or in the fridge for a few hours. Then when I come back later, I check to see it's fully thawed. When thawed, I'll blast them with the hair dryer to up the surface temp for feeding.

I like to keep my feeders as dry as possible. I personally don't like wet soggy rats that will just get bedding stuck to them.

i only know what NOT to do:

microwave. just... dont. or: kaboom :8: