I need tips on unthawing rats.

The time to thaw the rat will depend on the size of the rat . I have been putting 100-150 gram rats in the fridge the morning i feed and when i get home from work i heat them up in water or blow dryer.

I put mine in a bowl of hot water from the tap. After about 30 min they're thawed. Then I dump the cold water out of the bowl and refill with hot water, let them sit for a few minutes to get hot. I'll just dab off the water with a paper towel before feeding. I do have to thaw the mice seperate from the rats. My male absolutely hates the taste of rats. I can trick him every now and then into eating one by scenting it, but then he really scans the food the next feeding and might refuse the next couple, even if they are his preferred mice.


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Up through mediums I simply thaw at room temp for a few hours before soaking them in hot tap water.

Large through jumbo, or 1 pound rabbits or larger, get thawed in the refrigerator over a day or two before feeding day. Anything rabbit bigger than a 3# rabbit may take a few days to thaw before warming them on feeding day - bunny fur is a great insulator.

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Originally Posted by Oxylepy

I pull the rats out, let them sit for about 8 hours to heat to room temperature (depends on the size of the rat), then I have a heat lamp I turn on to warm their heads to about 100 degrees and then use hemostats holding the tail to offer them to the bp.

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Second this.


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Defiantly using these tips tomorrow. Maybe I can get my mojo eating! (Picky eater, only had two feeds since he came to us as a rescue. We've had him since may)
Hopefully he takes it :)

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Originally Posted by LightningPython

Defiantly using these tips tomorrow. Maybe I can get my mojo eating! (Picky eater, only had two feeds since he came to us as a rescue. We've had him since may)
Hopefully he takes it :)

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That's actually not bad, some of my adult males only eat once a month normally. As long as he's not losing weight he's fine.

I put the rat in a ziploc bag and put the bag in a bowl of warm-hot tap water. After a few hours when they're totally thawed I superheat them with a blow dryer to a temperature of about 100F then I serve them to the snakes. Works like a charm.

I take the frozen rat (size small) and put it into a zip-lock squeezing extra air out of the bag before i seal it. Then i put the bagged rat into a little bowl or tupperware of water taht is as hot as my tap will go, making sure that the whole rat is submerged (which is why i try to squeezer the air out of the bag to eliminate the balloon effect) i let it sit for about 1.5 to 2 hours. After that time i check the rat without opening the back, flexing it and articulating its joints, feeling the belly, looking for cold spots. If it seems good, i dump the water, which is room temp by now, and replace with more hot tap water, but once the container if full i keep the tap running at a low rate to keep a constant flow of fresh hot water circulating - agin, its important to make sure the rat is really submerged so his whole body is being heated evenly. My hot water is not particularly hot (safety thing for the kids), but i keep the flow going for 10 to 15 minutes. And then i take him as fast as i can to avoid letting him cool to my snake and hold it with tongs and "dance" it a little. Frankly as soon as i bring it into the room my boa gets all hot and bothered, he can smell it from a mile away. The main reasons i like my method are,
1: medium rate of thaw, some leave it out all night -too slow for me, but others do the hot water thing from the get go and have it done in 20 minutes, i was told that this rapid thaw changes the, i don't know, texture (?) of the rat and makes it less appealing and potentially messier.
2: the rat never gets wet because its always in the bag until its in the snake. I prefer to not cook a bowl of dead rat broth for my snake bath himself in while constricting, and then spread all over the cage - i imagine that is the herper equivalent of spilling the bong-water.

My room is about 80-84 so I just take them out lay them on a news paper for a couple hours and then heat with a hair dryer and feed. I have a couple aggressive feeders that are striking soon as I open the tub. They are usually waiting at the front of the tub when they smell me heating them.

For defrosting for corn snakes just leave the mouse/rat on the windowsill for 4 hours. For Ball pythons I get warm/hot tap water in a bowl and leave the rat there for an hour and then use a hairdryer to make it warm to the touch - has to be the same temp for at least 2-3 seconds then I offer it to her. Only reason I have had a refusal is because of being transferred to the adult tank and bad humidity when I first got her.