Best way to prepare F/T?

I freeze my own rats to keep on hand so i have them wrappen in saran....i just submerge them in hot water until temp and then pat them with a paper towel.

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Originally Posted by mc5guy

I am doing the same as everyone. I wonder is there any easier way. The hair dryer some times make a smell of the rats. Also the warm water gets the rats wet, and the snake make a mass if the rat is wet.

My friend told me he just left the rat in the room temp for 6 hours, then feed to his snakes. He said all of his snakes take room temp rats. It is hard, but they will.

I am going to try that. That will be much easier.

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That "smell of the rats" is probably the nasty cooking flesh :rolleyes: If you use a hair dryer, you're only supposed to "blast" it for a couple seconds, just for some quick added heat. Hair dryers get so hot they can cook the mouse/rat fairly quickly! (I've accidentally done that to a mouse, smells much worse than rats) That's also why steaming hot water is not recommended. :oops:

I throw mines in a plastic container, place it in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. Then I thaw at room temp for about 6-7 hours. I then dip the head and front feet into very hot water. BP has never refused.

Hmm... I feel like an oddball now! I have about 40 snakes to feed and like to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. What I do is take however many rats and mice as I need out of the freezer, throw them all, rats and mice, in a bucket no baggies or nothin. I then fill the bucket with hot water and let them sit for about an hour or until they're all fully thawed(Jumbo rats take FOREVER). Right before feeding I'll refill the bucket about half way with hot water and let them sit for about 5-10 mins. Then I just take out what I need one by one as I feed and roll them in paper towel until the excess water is off.
I know a lot of people wouldn't want to thaw them so quickly to avoid the exploding mice/rats. Honestly though, I've been doing it the same way for several years now every week and just last week I got my first exploder.
I've tried thawing them in zip-lock bags to keep them dry, but it easily takes twice as long to do so and half the time they end up wet anyways.

I am thinking of just letting it defrost for 24hrs and then using a heat lamp like garrick demeyer to heat them up for the ball pythons. Think of a piece of frozen meat, can't I just let the rat or mouse naturally defrost?

No bags for me, just wet mice. I don't feed large mice yet, so mine only take about 10 mins - 3 or 4 for pinks.

I can imagine large mice or small rats would take a good bit longer.

Heres what i do.

Wake up and take feeders out in morning

At night time their nice and thawed. Then i plug in a piece of flexwatt (unregulated) and heat them up. This gets their insides all nice and and warm but not cooking them. You can even regulate it on a tstat at 90 degrees if u want.

Never had a problem doing this.

Now that is a good suggestion. Thanks I will try doing that cause heat lamp might cook them. Thanks!

I heat a bowl of water in the microwave. then I take the frozen food and put in a large zip lock bag. Let is sit in the water for about 10-15 minutes. Then I check to make sure they are thawed and warm then feed. You might have to rewarm some of the later rats you feed if you have picky eaters or alot of snakes to feed. Make sure you DO NOT under any circumstances put the rats in the microwave.

BuckeyeBalls: that is a great suggestion. I now know what i am going to pick up at the next reptile show.


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