f/t keep popping

is it really that bad if they pop?? i have had a couple pop when they coil them but they didnt seem tp slow down eatin them lol??

It seems the chance to pop is increased by thawing directly in water. I'd try putting it in a bag in water (that's what I do).

To those of you who feed wet... don't you find it increases the chance of substrate getting stuck to the prey and going down the hatch too?

I saw the picture of the snake that got a bit of paper towel caught in its mouth while swallowing and died what looked like a horrible death. I'm very careful that the rats are dry after that.

I thaw mine in the fridge overnight also. When its feeding time they get about 80 degrees for 20 min, 90 degress for 20 min, then as hot as my tap puts out (around 120-130) for 5 min. That usually puts them in the right range. They stay in a ziplock bag the whole time so i dint have to worry about wet rodents.

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I may be the laziest owner ever judging by the responses. When I get my block-o-rats, I already know I'm lazy in the future. I spend about an hour weighing and individually packaging the rats in ziplock baggies and write the weight on the bag. I then throw them back into a big freezer bag by size (40-49gram, 50-59gram, etc.) Depending on which size which snake needs, it's easy to grab and go. It's also super easy to weed out the too small sized rats for future dog treats. :)

After that, it's put the bag in the tupperware labelled "rats" fill with good old tap water and let thaw overnight. (one of my guys is a morning eater), so I turn on the warm tap, hit the coffee machine's brew button, empty the tupperware water and fill with warm water, let sit for as long as it takes me to stand upright, remember the tongs, and walk to the office. Viola. Slightly above room temp, dry rat for drop in.

Although, sometimes, when he's being picky, I let the container of warm water sit by his cage with the ziplock bag open to "waft" in the smell. Makes my office stink for a day, but boy does he come out and start 'hunting.' I haven't ever had a pop, sinus cavity break, or more than just a slightly damp rat (which it's small enough amount of water it won't hurt him). Now the quail? HA! Yeah right. He won't touch those at all. Even when I set up a "den" for him to find, he only just ate the large rat and left the 5 fuzzies. He's a little brat like that. So, the other 92 fuzzies are now doggie mice-icles. He's a healthy and svelte 992 grams at two and half years old. Granted, when I rescued him he was still on 2 fuzzies at a time per week at a year and half. He was barely 400 grams. :rage:

Oh yeah, did I mention I have an electronic food logging system? That's why the rats get weighed. Plus, it shows me trends in his eating patterns. It helps so I don't freak out when he has one of his "moods". The others are easy feeds. /shrug

It's all the same on the way out, don't sweat it.

I've ran into this a lot actually. At first I thought it was because I or them thaw too long. I used to let them sit over night. So I started only letting them sit 4-5 hours in dry air. Then heating them under the lamp minimally. It also happens is you put one under the lamp and the snake doesnt eat so you set it to the side and reheat. The good news is it doesn't hurt the snake. And somehow they still consume most of it with the exception of some of the wet stuff. Aside from it being kind of disgusting and smelling kind of bad it doesn't really seem to hurt anything. Just air thaw for 5 hours or so and heat once. For the most part you'll be fine.