Meal Prep

For the longest time I've been putting the ratsicles in a ziplock baggie and thawing it in a sink of hot water for 20 minutes. But recently I've gotten tired of waiting that long, so now in the morning I put the rodents I need thawed in a tupperware container and then in the vegetable crisper in the fridge, and by the time it's 8pm and I'm ready to feed, it's all thawed out. Then I just gotta pop it under a heat lamp for a few minutes on each side, and it's dinner time. :hungry:

I usually take the small and wean sized rats out sometime after lunch on Saturday and lay them out to defrost at room temp till dark. Then I just pop them into individual heavy duty ziploc bags and then into old plastic margarine containers. Add some really hot tap water and presto chango nice warm snake dinners are ready in about 10 minutes or so (sometimes longer if the rat in question is a chubby fella). I also add in a spare small empty glass jar to weigh down the bag-o-rat so they stay under the water rather than bobbing away (hmmm bobbing for rats...a new Hallowe'en game perhaps for next year!) They come out toasty warm and nice and dry.


~~Jo~~

I pull out all of the snake food and ziplock bag each one (and get disgusted when I end up with a soggy rat inside a ziplock bag, which seems to happen at least once a feeding).

I found a tall tupperware container that I originally bought to put T's in, but I thaw out the rats in that instead. All the baged rats go in the container, add warm water, close the lid. Lay the tupperware container on it's side and fill up half of the kicthen sink with water. A little while later I flip the container over on to the other side so it can warm up instead. I do a frozen check later, and feed what's ready to go (a few mins under hot water ensures that high feeding response). What isn't ready to go goes back into warm water while I feed the rest of the crew. Then I repeat the hot water cycle for what's ready.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Schlyne

I pull out all of the snake food and ziplock bag each one (and get disgusted when I end up with a soggy rat inside a ziplock bag, which seems to happen at least once a feeding).

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Yeah isn't that something? You think it's perfectly sealed and there's no way in hell that water will get in there, but then you check on it 5-10 minutes later and the freaking rat is swimming in the bag. Even the heavy duty "air tight" ziplocks do it. I guess water is stealthy and sneaks right pass that zipper seam. :O