Please help. I think I really messed up with feeding frozen

People rush thawing a lot I feel. I read a lot of 'dropped it frozen into hot water' .. I don't think that is the best way to do it though admittedly I do not have evidence against it.

I like to leave mine at room temp in a baggie for 3-4 hours. They're nice and limp and room temp by then. I think it makes it easier for them to 'get it down' when it's soft.



.... that's what he said.

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Originally Posted by MrLang

People rush thawing a lot I feel. I read a lot of 'dropped it frozen into hot water' .. I don't think that is the best way to do it though admittedly I do not have evidence against it.

I like to leave mine at room temp in a baggie for 3-4 hours. They're nice and limp and room temp by then. I think it makes it easier for them to 'get it down' when it's soft.



.... that's what he said.

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I usually let thaw overnight but this time I took it out if my freezer a few hours before the hot water. It was my first time dealing with a larger mouse too. I'm just going to stick to overnight thawing. Seems the safest. :/

I use a blow dryer to heat my prey items right before I feed them. That is after I thaw them and warm them in water.

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

I use a blow dryer to heat my prey items right before I feed them. That is after I thaw them and warm them in water.

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I've thought about using my blow dryer but didn't know if it would cook the mouse. Good to know it's okay to do.

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Originally Posted by MrLang

People rush thawing a lot I feel. I read a lot of 'dropped it frozen into hot water' .. I don't think that is the best way to do it though admittedly I do not have evidence against it.

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I agree. I put my frozen prey into a pan of cold tap water. After 1 hour, I use lukewarm tap water, and I change it every 15-20 minutes. After 1 hour I switch to hot tap water, every 15 minutes for an hour.

Think about it like this, if you drop an ice cube into warm liquid, it pops and cracks. The same can happen to that frozen prey.

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Originally Posted by _Victoria

I've thought about using my blow dryer but didn't know if it would cook the mouse. Good to know it's okay to do.

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I use a hair dryer to :) it's a great tool to use when your warming them up. I let them thaw out completely or lose to it at room temp. Then put them in a ziplock bag and put them in a cup of hot water for no longer than 5 minutes. I poke a hole in my Baggie at the opposite end so I can press all the air out and the rat will sink down in the cup instead of float and the hole sticks out of the cup so water won't fill the bag. After that I dry it off in a paper towel if they did happen to get a little wet then use my blow dryer warming the body then focusing on the head. And it's funny because when I use the hair dryer they my snakes recognize the sound and they come out of their hides ready to strike. :)


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I've been trying to solve the floating issue myself, thanks Alexis!

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Originally Posted by Archimedes

I've been trying to solve the floating issue myself, thanks Alexis!

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Haha your welcome I see a lot of people put then in a container of warm water and put something heavy on top so it wouldn't float lol I was like why not poke a little hole in it? And I just use a plastic solo cup of hot water and twist all the air out and put them in head first. Everyone has their own solo cup and Baggie haha :)


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If this helps. We feed sm/medium rats. Here is our process. Fyi, our rats are frozen individually in vac sealed bags.

24 hour before, select rat and put it in the fridge to thaw slowly. Lie to wife about rat in fridge.
2 hour before, take rat out and leave on counter in plain sight to annoy wife.
30-45 min before, soak "rat hot pocket" in hot water with water change every 10 minutes or so.
5 min before, open up packet, lay rat on paper towels and use the wifes hairdryer to dry it off and warm it up further.
Go time.......scent the air with the rat to get the snake interested, hold with tongs, snake eats rat.

So far it is working great.

I thaw mine in the fridge 24 hours before, then at room temp for 15-20 minutes, in warm water in a baggy for 15-20 more minutes, then heat it up to about body temp with hot water. If you have an infrared temp gun you can check parts of the mouse/rat's body to get a better idea of what the temperature actually is (and hopefully avoid a rat with a brainfreeze). I aim for 90-100 degrees before I feed.

I hear a lot of people using "tap water as hot as it can go" but my tap gets steaming hot. You'll know from the smell and exploding rodents if you cook the rodent a little bit...

edit: If it's any help, my BP spit up a rat before when she was too twisted up to swallow it in her current position, but she ate it again and she was fine. So if your snake tried to eat the mouse and had to spit it out, don't worry about it; I was told it isn't anything like a regurge.