Exploding mice!

The first f/t mice I tried to give to Thelma she didn't take. After it was thawed, it looked as if its insides were hanging out. I just figured it was because it had been warmed twice. Well, tonight I thawed the mouse in warm water, put it in a bowl and let it sit under the heat lamp for about an hour. It was good and warm. When I picked it up with the tongs, the stomach area popped open. I threw it in with her, and she did attack it. At least I know it was warm enough. What is causing my mice to explode? Its really gross. Will it hurt the snake? Right not there is blood on the bottom of her feeding cage, and on her where she wrapped around it.

It's not that uncommon. You may be overheating your mice. Here's another thread covering the same thing.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...exploding+mice

I think everyone who feeds F/T mice has had at least one explode on them. Sometimes it'll wait to explode until it's coiled, other times it pops from the slightest pressure. Either way, I don't think it'll harm the snake, as it's all going to get eaten anyway, and sometimes people encourage eating by opening up the brain or belly.

What caused it to explode is that mice in particular have a weak stomach wall and freezing/heating weakens it even further. When you switch to rats, this becomes much less of a problem. I haven't had a rat explosion once, yet the mice I found to be particularly inclined to "busting a gut".

Once your BP can be handled, I'd take her out and clean the tank and maybe even consider giving her a lukewarm, shallow bath in case she's got blood on her from coiling. Next time, to avoid this, only heat your mice once (toss them if they don't get eaten), and try to get it up to temp using just hot water. I've found the heat lamp makes them more inclined to exploding than just keeping the water hot.

EDIT: Posted all this at the same time as the post above me...

So rats in theory are less prone to this. Okay I am definetly feeding rats.

I put in under the heat lamp because I was having trouble getting her to switch. It really squished out when she coiled around it. I feed her in another cage, so I cleaned it out. How do you make them stay in the water? She dosen't ever want to sit in it.

i only feed frozen thawed to my chondros. i've never had a mouse explode, but i have heard of it (not a pretty sight). it should be noted that you should NEVER try thawing your f/t rodents by heatpads, hair dryers, ovens, heat lamps, placing in the sun, etc. as this can severely weaken the abdominal wall.


so, easy on the trigger there cowboy! i've thawed thousands of rodents over the years. one good method if you only have a few rodents to thaw and your in a hurry is to place them in a sealed zip-lock bag and placing it in hot water. you may have to change the water once or twice. once thawed (the rodent still dry), you can place them under a lamp for a few minutes (as it's easy to over do it) prior to feeding them to your critter.

if you feed your animals via tongs it is usually a good idea (as your animal grows) to make sure that the prey is warmer than yourself. this goes double when feeding chondros! they can detect a change in temperature as small as 1/300 of a degree, and your bp might easily mistake you for the prey when striking. thusly, 18" + tongs are always recommended when feeding frozen thawed rodents:-)

if your mouse is exploding (yikes!), it is a sure sign that you are over-heating it.

happy herpin',

willy

You guys are the best! I just wanna take care of my snake properly. At least I am really glad she ate. It wasn't too bad cleaning up mouse guts! Beats giving her a live one anyday.

Suzanne: For the bathing thing, it helps to put them in something with a lid, like a clear Rubbermaid container (so you can keep an eye on what's happening). You should take at least a corner of the lid off every once in a while to circulate in fresh air so they can breathe ok, but for the time it'll take to get the blood washed off, it really shouldn't be a problem. 5-10 mins tops is all you should need. Use a wet washcloth to spot clean anything that's left. Simple as that! I've had to do this to my fella a couple times.

I let my rodents, mice and rats thaw out naturally - only takes a couple of hours, then warm them up with an old hairdryer I keep for this purpose. So far I haven't had any exploding rodents (but know there's always a first time...). Think my BPs prefer blow-dried rodents LOL.

Seems a lot of folks use that blow dryer trick to bring a fully thawed mouse or rat up in temp a bit closer to what a live one might be. Good trick to know and a good thread to read as we'll be moving to f/t from p/k sometime this fall.

Good advice there Willy. We're currently using 5 or 6 inch hemostats and our b.p.'s are damn near crawling up the things even with p/k mice! LOL Definitely time to move to a longer hemostat or those big long tweezers. I don't want one of our hard hitting b.p.'s to think I've got a far more "interesting" heat signature than their prey (okay I'm a weenie I know, but I've never been bit and intend to see it stays that way as looooooong as possible :oops: )


~~Jo~~