Thawing frozen rats question...

Has anyone ever tried to use a baby bottle warmer for thawing rats?

I didn't know if it would help speed up the process a little...I was tempted to buy one the other day but thought I would ask here first!

That is an interesting idea... You could give it a try, it might work. I wouldn't buy one just for that though. I know the bottle warmer we had for my son (it was about 9 years ago, so it could be a lot different) got pretty warm pretty quick. It actually got really hot. I found early on that with thawing frozen rodents, if you heat them up too much too fast, they will rupture and become quite messy on you. Like I said, it could work, but just keep an eye on it... and I'd definitely keep the rodent in a bag just in case lol.

Let us know how this works (:

I saw someone on Facebook who posted a picture of a sous vide insert in a big pot of water for warming feeders. Not all models will go as low as 102*F but that one did.

I am going to try it. I found one at Target for just $20...it may be worth it to give it a try.

We learned the hard way. My daughter and I put a mouse in the microwave once. :O Yeah. That was pretty disgusting. Thank heaven it was covered with a paper towel. It took just three seconds before it exploded. :oops:

Before testing it on feeders just warm up the water and take the water temperature. If it goes over 105*F you don't want to use it as the outside of the mouse will start cooking and the skin weakens - leading to an exploded feeder when your snake grabs and wraps it.

I just watched a movie a few weeks ago where a kid threw a dead mouse in the micro to warm up for his BP.

All I could think of is how people will see that and think that the micro is acceptable. :mad:

The name of the movie is "Emelie" (sp).

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Before testing it on feeders just warm up the water and take the water temperature. If it goes over 105*F you don't want to use it as the outside of the mouse will start cooking and the skin weakens - leading to an exploded feeder when your snake grabs and wraps it.

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I can verify this!

One time I bought a toaster/baking oven just for my rats. The lowest I could get it was was about 115 or so. If I didn't keep a very, very close eye on it, it would dry out the stomach skin and weaken it. The result would be gut bombs.

Needless to say, that toaster oven is gone!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I saw someone on Facebook who posted a picture of a sous vide insert in a big pot of water for warming feeders. Not all models will go as low as 102*F but that one did.

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That's actually kind of brilliant. Now I've added another gadget to my list of things to look into to make my life simpler. When you're thawing out as many rats as I am, you're always looking for shortcuts. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

That's actually kind of brilliant. Now I've added another gadget to my list of things to look into to make my life simpler. When you're thawing out as many rats as I am, you're always looking for shortcuts. :D

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Those things aren't cheap though. I just use a large cooler and remove cool water/add warm water as needed since I'm usually thawing 4-5 pound rabbits.

Bunny fur is a great insulator so I put them in the refrigerator for a few days before feeding day.