The f/t mouse exploded

Yesterday was the first time feeding my bp a f/t hopper mouse, and when Fluffy was constricting the crap out of it, all the hopper's guts came out of his anus. The mouse looked really slim, with guts hanging out of is a$$.

Is this normal? Did I thaw the mouse incorrectly? What can I do to avoid this in the future?

He then proceeded to swallow the mouse with guts hanging and all in a very weird way. Because he bit the mouse on its belly, he didn't try to find the head to start swallowing ... he just started swallowing by the belly. In other words, he bent the mouse in half, being the mouse's head and tail the last to go in.

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Originally Posted by ballpnoob

Is this normal?

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It happens some times but should not be an occurance every time you feed.

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Originally Posted by ballpnoob

Did I thaw the mouse incorrectly?

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How did you thaw it?

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Originally Posted by ballpnoob

What can I do to avoid this in the future?

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Some things can cause rodents to 'explode' or 'bust' when feeding f/t...but sometimes it is just random. It can depend on the quality of feeder rodent you received. Where are you getting your feeders? Also, I have noticed that it happens alot more if you are feeding a f/t that was defrosted then refrozen.

I bought the hopper live when I first started trying to get my hatchling to feed. Since he missed the first couple of feeds, I had to kill the rodent and freeze it myself. It was in the freezer for about a month. I defrost it by submerging it in tepid-hot water for quite some minutes. It got warmed up a little with a hair dryer ... mostly to get some mouse scents in the air and my snake interested.

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Originally Posted by ballpnoob

I bought the hopper live when I first started trying to get my hatchling to feed. Since he missed the first couple of feeds, I had to kill the rodent and freeze it myself. It was in the freezer for about a month. I defrost it by submerging it in tepid-hot water for quite some minutes. It got warmed up a little with a hair dryer ... mostly to get some mouse scents in the air and my snake interested.

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Sounds like you did everything just fine. I would just assume that it was a random occurance... if it becomes a persistant problem, then I would worry about my methods of defrosting.

Yea that happened to me when I fed a jumbo rat to my JCP. Talk about gross. Guts were all over the place. :puke:

Yup. Has happened to me more then once!

not something I have encountered thankfully in over 20 years lol I must be fortunate and lucky.

Its one of those occasions that does not beg the question "where are those pics" lol :colbert: :D