How Does Everyone Heat Up Their BP's Food?

Just a Quick Question, How Do You All Heat Up Your Bp's Food?

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Originally Posted by The-Jame

Just a Quick Question, How Do You All Heat Up Your Bp's Food?

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i put the rats in a ziplock bag and put them in warm water for 15min:gj:

I have to thaw out a number of rats. I put them in large ziplocks, and set them out overnight. After around twenty-four hours, I put them in hot water for around 30 minutes, turning them half way through.

I put them in a ziplock and sit them near the heater in my room overnight. Then if they still feel frozen I'll set them in some warm water until they're done (usually 20 minutes) and give the faces a blast from a hair dryer and feed.

I put the rat(s) in a plastic baggie, put scolding hot water in a container, and put the rats in that container of water for about 30 mins - 1 hour depending on the size of the rat

To prevent "cooking" them I turn them midway through, or if they are thawing slowly I will take them out of the hot water for like 5 - 10 minutes

Also keep in mind I constantly feel around the rats guts to make sure nothing is still frozen, and I also watch the skin to make sure it doesnt show signs of cooking

(A cooked rats skin will usually turn pink/redish, not good lol)

So yeah thats pretty much my OCD of making sure my snakes dont get a frozen/cooked rat summed up in one post LOL

I take mine out and put them in the fridge over night and then will take them out and leave them on the counter a few hours before feeding time. I'll just give the head a quick blast with a hair dryer just before feeding.

I put them in my fridge over night, then about 5-10 mins before I feed I put them in warm water :) in a baggy of course.

When I feed f/t i put them in a plastic tub over a human heat pad. Those things get super hot so you have to put them on low and be careful they don't get cooked.

The night before I take what I need out of the freezer and put it in a tupleware-type plastic container and put that in my fridge.

The next day I put it in my bathroom sink with one of those BBQ meat probes resting on top of the pray to keep them from floating, and fill the container with water as hot as it can come out at the sink. Let it soak like that for about 40 min, drain and repeat, and then feed it.

Usually I do it tail-end up to try to get their noses to bleed a little bit.

Let them thaw in like warm water then run hot water over them for a couple minutes, blast with a hair dryer and feed.

sent from my EVO

I take them out of the freezer, put 5-6 in a zip lock storage bag. Seal the bag after taking out as much air as possible. I then fill a large pot up with water. Put the rats in the pot and turn the stove on low(electric stove). I keep an eye on the temperature. I remove the rats, once the water reaches 100 degrees. At that time it's feeding time for these. The next zip lock bag goes into the pot and the process starts over again.

It takes about 20 minutes to get the rats up to 100 degrees. The snakes seem to like a nice warm meal.

Jim Smith

I put mine in on a paper towel in an empty slot in my rack for 4-8 hours (depends on the size of prey item). Then I use a hair dryer to warm them to the desired temperature.

I prefer this feeding method to others because the hair dryer blows the rodent scent around and effectively pre-scents all my animals. Everyone is in feeding mode.

I put then in a tupperware container and lay them in the back section of my tub set up. about 6 hours later I hit them with a heat gun ( basicaly a super high powered hair dryer ) ! you usualy notice the snakes in the tubs start looking around about the time they are ready...

I don't have a BP, but my friend does. She put's them in a ziplock bag, then soak in warm-hot water until thawed. (the food, not the snakes)

I also have bearded dragons so I thaw my mice/rats on the shelf over the heat lamps. Just before I feed I place them under the heat lamp to heat them up more. Have to be careful I don't leave them there too long or they get messy when the snakes grab them!

Step 1: Thaw in the fridge over night, or air thaw for several hours.
Step 2: At feeding time, and once the rat is completely thawed through, blast it with a hair dryer to heat it up, while blasting rat funk in the general direction of the snake.

Check temps with an IR thermometer, a live rat is around 85 F on the head, 83-84 F on the rest of it's body. It's ok to go a little higher.
It's very important that the rat is thawed through, and warm, but not cooked.
I favor slow thawing, over rapid thawing, or thawing with water. The structure of the rat holds up better, and is most likely healthier for the snake in a less cooked state.

Chuck Norris's flame thrower

Designated blow dryer works well for us. We find that the pythons seem to be most aggressive and successful feeding when we heat up the face/head of the rodent the most.

Thaw em out on the counter for a few hours depending on size. They know it's feeding time by the time they a room temp so no need to warm with the crew I have...

I allow them to thaw in a ziplock baggie in a bowl of room temp water for approximately an hour or until they are good and soft and feel room temperature through-and-through. I then transfer my bp to his feeding box (I have shredded Aspen substrate and don't want him eating any of that).
While he's chilling in his box I run a coffee mug full of 190f water and dip the mouse's head in the water for about 20-30 secs (still in the baggie) then check the head temp to be about my body temp, call in the kids (they love watching Monty eat) and feed..lather, rinse, repeat for mouse #2.

We thaw them out overnight and then put them on 11 inch flexwatt. Make sure there's no water/condensation on the flexwatt or you'll have crock pot rats that fall apart. This is an old pic of our setup, I've added a piece of clear plexiglas over the flexwatt because it's easier to clean up the plexi.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...cales/Heat.jpg

i take out from fridge, put ambient temp for about 5 hours and then use hair drier to warm them, i used to use the ziploc-hot water, but this new way seems my snakes likes the most. i put special attention on rat's head, even my picky eater is feeding well now. i have only 3 bp, so its not much work, i guess using drier for 40 or so rats would be much harder.

I let the rodents "air" thaw. Then I throw them into the "hot box" until there nice and warm, around 100 degerees. I started using hot water years ago. Decidied I must not like "rat soup" and then went to the "air" thaw, warm with a hair dryer method. I even made a hairdryer holder from a clamp for a dome light, but as the collection grew this became way to time consuming and not very energy efficient. So I decided to make a "hot box".

[IMG]http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...orVideo219.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...orVideo220.jpg[/IMG]

Works great and could easily be scaled up for larger collections.:gj:

Anthony

I usually take less then what I need out in the morning and by the time I get back from work they are completely thawed. I fill a small container with very hot water and just dip the heads of the rats in the water for a few minutes and serve.. Works for me. :gj:

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

Chuck Norris's flame thrower

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LMAO... where can I get one of these...:gj:

I usually pull what I need and let them thaw at room temp for a few hrs then I place them under heat lamps I have set up for about 20 mins and then good to go...

I put them in a zip loc and let them sit out for at least 24 hours. If not completely thawed I'll put them in water for about 15-20 min.

I remove from the freezer and place in a Red Solo cup filled with hot water from my Keureg let sit for 10 minutes check temps and feed ! I'm working with pups and fuzzys I imagine once I get into larger Rats my methods will change

i thaw in water and heat with a hairdryer

I put mine in a small ziplock baggie and then in warm water. Depending on the size of the rat it is anywhere between 20 mins to 40 mins. I just make sure that the water they are going into is hot, but not too hot to touch.

Throw them in a bucket of warm water wait till they are ready, then put them under a heat lamp just before feeding.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

I take mine out and put them in the fridge over night and then will take them out and leave them on the counter a few hours before feeding time. I'll just give the head a quick blast with a hair dryer just before feeding.

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This is the same method i use,seems to work great.

I have a cat so leaving things out for hours would mean lunch would go missing :P I put the mice in the fridge while I'm at class, put them on a small tray where they sit under my desk lamp til they're warm to the touch, and he takes them within seconds of me offering.