my feeders burst open

I've found the best way to thaw out the rodents is to leave them in the fridge overnight, then run hot water over them until they're warm to the touch. Running the hot water over them first may be weakening the cell walls in the abdomen, which will cause a burst belly. Few years of thawing out hundreds of pinkies and fuzzies a week taught me to leave them out in the fridge and then run warm, and then hot, water over them. Too much heat too fast and you end up with mouse innard soup, a concoction guaranteed to make new employees vomit.

In any case, try thawing slower, using the hot water only to make the rodent warm all the way through. :)

-Jen

Nope, no refreeze.
I used to thaw in fridge but worried i would forget.

I'll go back to some other methods that were brought up here,
Test out thawing ways to avoid bomb guts
SCIENCE!

Thanks for the input and all everyone

Just slap a dead rat in your snakes room and let it defrost at room temp :) takes longer but if you have the problem you do it may fix it!

I used to have that problem too, and was so disgusted. Since I started thawing in a container of hot water with the rat inside a freezer bag, I haven't had any blowouts or wet rats. It doesn't take too long, and the freezer bag kind of acts like a gentle buffer between the rat and hot water.

I put the frozen mouse in a cup of hot water for 10-15 minutes until its a bit squishy. My enchi pops them occasionally but he's not very picky and eats it anyway.

I usually lay my rats out on the counter before I go to class, and then when I get back from class I check to see if they're thawed, then I blast them with a blow-dryer and in they go. Never had one pop, and my snakes can be pretty rough sometimes.

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Originally Posted by NormanSnake

I usually lay my rats out on the counter before I go to class, and then when I get back from class I check to see if they're thawed, then I blast them with a blow-dryer and in they go. Never had one pop, and my snakes can be pretty rough sometimes.

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^ This, basically. I might have one belly pop in 150 feedings. Another thing that might help is to make sure you're offering the rodent head-first so your BP is less likely to hit the belly when he strikes.

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Originally Posted by nimblykimbly

I used to have that problem too, and was so disgusted. Since I started thawing in a container of hot water with the rat inside a freezer bag, I haven't had any blowouts or wet rats. It doesn't take too long, and the freezer bag kind of acts like a gentle buffer between the rat and hot water.

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I also put rats in a freezer bag and have NEVER had any problem like that. I run the tap water as hot as it will go, fill a Tupperware bowl about 2/3 of the way, put the rat in (inside sealed freezer bag) then put the tupperware lid on and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Works like a charm!

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I have found that the Fresher or newly frozen rodents have more squish and ooze than say a couple month old frozen thawed rodents is my experience.