How do you thaw frozen rodents??

I got a lot of great feed back on my recent post about tracking so thought I would ask another question.

How do you thaw out your frozen rodents for your snakes. From what I can tell people with larger collections tend to feed live rodents they produce themselves. I have to use Frozen/Thawed rodents. As my collection grows I find this is becoming more problematic.

What I do is take a few rodents out of the freezer, put them in a freezer zip lock bag (unclosed) and immerse the bag (rodents stay dry because open end stays out of water) in a gallon jug of hot tap water until thawed. Depending on the number and size of the rodents it can take 2 or three refills of the jug to get them fully thawed and up to temperature. Because of the gallon size I end up only feeding 3-5 snakes at a time and have to repeat this process 2-3 times a week to feed all the snakes.
Does anyone have a better solution.
Thanks,
Ken

I usually put them in the fridge over night, or leave them out on the counter for a few hours to thaw...then I heat them up in hot water.

X2 Fridge Over night then hot tap water then hit them around the head with a blow Dryer to make a good target :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpQY...e_gdata_player



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Ken, my system is similar to yours except I use a gallon zip lock to hold the rats and I use one whole side of my sink to hold the hot water. I use a weight to keep the bag submerged, and I refill the sink a couple of times. Total thawing time is usually about one hour. After they are thawed I hit them with the hair dryer to give them some some heat and get the rat smell molocules zipping around. The usual end result is BP's trying to stare a hole thru their tubs trying to figure out where the rat smell is coming from. By the time I open the tub to drop the rat in, the only real trick is getting the tongs out of the way fast enough.

I have found my boy will not eat them if they are done in water. I guess it washes off the rat scent? I have even tried in a ziplock bag in water and same thing. Yes they were dry when I offered.

So I pull them out 5-6 hour before hand and just sit on a few paper towels on top of his cage. I normally wait til about 10-11pm when he's been hunting for it for a while and I take the hair dryer to it and prop it about 3 inches from the head on low heat and let it sit there slowly cook the head while I surf bp.net. I then check the head with my infrared temp gun expecting it to be about 115. I wait 2-3 minutes and check again if it fell below 105 its not ready. So I sit it there until it will hold its temps for a few minutes.

By this point he's going crazy in his cage since the hair dryer is really got the smell going. So I grab it by the back skin with the 16inch hemostats from reptile basics and I open the glass sliding door stick it about 6 inches from his head and wiggle for about 5-10 seconds and he will strike. Most of the time knocking the rat out of the hemostats. I will then find the tail or a leg and tug on it 2-3 times. I then shut the cage and watch him eat.

I keep the lights in the room very dim. I only use a lamp and my computer monitor. Its just enough lighting for me to see him and what I am doing but not enough to take pictures or record with out a flash.

Usually I let mine sit out until they reach room temperature and then into hot water they go. Last time I feed I skipped the hot water step and I had a pretty successful feeding with 4 refusals, 2 because of shed, 1 because she prefers live and 1 because she lives to make my life miserable. :rolleyes:

Out of 25 BPs that was a pretty successful feeding and I think I will just skip the hot water in the future. My super picky cinny who was only eating solid white live mice even took one of the f/t multicolored rat pups. :D

Edit: I feel like I should add, room temp in my apartment is like 75-80. I don't pay for heat so it's the cheaper way to go. >_>

If I dont set them out on the counter early enough, I usually get a bowl of warm water like you, and then I set them under a heat lamp for about 20-30 seconds to warm them up before I dangle them in front of the snake.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kinra

room temp in my apartment is like 75-80. I don't pay for heat so it's the cheaper way to go. >_>

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When you live in Wisconsin, not having to pay for heat is the best way to go!

My kids live outside of Appleton and I feeze my tail off everytime I go up to visit...even in August!

I let them thaw to room temperature and then feed.

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From the freezer I put them in the bottom of the fridge for a day then the next day I take them while still in ziplock bag and place them atop my t5 coral lights on my marine tank for a few hours. The top of the fixture is always hot like a heating pad.

I used to soak them in hot water but I think I was doing something wrong bc it made them...structurally unsound especially in the belly region. Often I'd have the pleasure of cleaning up busted abdominal cavity goo/gut giblets after feeding. Also it made the house smell like rancid rat broth and I'd go thru a bunch of paper towels drying the rats off.

I get some warm water in a bowl, drop the rats in for around 30-40 min to defrost. Then I pour out the old water and fill it up with hot water and feed them off :)

I place them on disposable butcher paper (reduces mess/cleaning) underneath a heat lamp. I flip them half way through. Small rats are completely heated through in 3 hours. If I have a picky eater or am trying to switch a live feeder over to f/t, I'll briefly hit their rat with a blow-dryer but right now everyone eats regularly without it.

I let the thaw @ room temp, then I put them in the "hot box" until warm.

I don't like rat soup, and it is way to time consuming to use a hair dryer anymore.

Ive just been putting what im going to feed in a bucket of hot tap water. Wait about 20 mins and change the water to make sure they get done all the way through. I dont necessarily enjoy wiping them down to dry them off but so far helps me gauge when they are totally defrosted. I then throw them under a heat lamp to warm em up and dry them off even more.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AGoldReptiles

I let the thaw @ room temp, then I put them in the "hot box" until warm.

I don't like rat soup, and it is way to time consuming to use a hair dryer anymore.

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What is a "Hot Box"?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by simpsonke

What is a "Hot Box"?

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http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...P-s-Food/page3

Heat water to 100 degrees!


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