Thawing rats

Is it fine to thaw rats in the fridge all day Tuesday and not feed them off until Wednesday night. The rats seemed a tad bit still frozen so I decided to wait an extra day

Personally, I would rather not keeps rats next to my food so I just thaw them in cool water for about 1 - 2 hours then get them to temp with a hair dryer ( always feel for still frozen spots before feeding)

I dont thaw in warm water just because of bacteria growth but I'm sure that won't bother the snakes.

Thawing them in the fridge shouldn't be an issue as long as you don't mind them next to your food

If your rats are that big to where they are still frozen I'd probably leave them at room temp on Wednesday AM until Wednesday PM. When I feed frozen thawed I check the rodent temp with an IR temp gun before feeding to make sure they are at the right temp.

For large/jumbo rats, I'll take them out the night before and put in the fridge, then the next evening they go into the normal warm water thaw (in bags) to ensure they are fully thawed and nice and warmed up.
I would not suggest leaving them at room temp.

I throw everything in a bucket of warm water for anywhere from an hour to 3-4 hours depending what I'm thawing. Then i just refresh with warm water once the water becomes cold. Done it for rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, mice, chicks, quails and never had a problem. Also the water from the food will help hydrate the animals without actually using a syringe to inject them.

I really just wanted to check to see that they would still be good to use. The have been kept refrigerated the whole time. I plan to feed tonight

Quote:

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Originally Posted by L.West

Is it fine to thaw rats in the fridge all day Tuesday and not feed them off until Wednesday night. The rats seemed a tad bit still frozen so I decided to wait an extra day

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by L.West

I really just wanted to check to see that they would still be good to use. The have been kept refrigerated the whole time. I plan to feed tonight

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Yes, they will 100% be fine. It's no different from us leaving our own food in the fridge to defrost.