my feeders burst open

My 95g bumblebee is blowing out my small mouse bellies. Is this something that is a norm? This is the third time in a row. Im cool with it but i dont wanna stress him out by washing the guts and blood off after he eats

Are you feeding f/t?

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I went from the fast food thread thinking about eating...to this thread, not a good idea.

You might be overheating them.

Yeah they are f/t. I put them in warm water for 2 min to unstiffin the mouse then let them set atop of viv to awaken the beast.
Then give a few min under heat lamp to make is warm for him.
Its a few hour process to let thaw out.
The lamp is not very hot at all, just warm

that's It. If you Overheat ThemThat Happens.

Okay, im open to that.
I am not seeing how though.
I dont fast thaw or use steamy water or lamp the thing hotter than my skin.
Its a very low wat red bulb that just gives it that fresh warmness.
But i am open to being wrong.

Do you refreeze? I've had that happen when I've refroze a mouse

I use a lamp too. It's a tricky business. I'd say that's your problem. Just like road kill in the sun. Live rats run about 105 temp that's what I shoot for on my frozen, but I get distracted.
Lamp+refreeze = explosive bowel syndrome. I hope I hear some suggestions too.
My method in the summer here in Phoenix is to put frozen rats in a cover plastic tub in the sun for no more than 2 hours. Been my best success and makes the snakes happy. On days that are 100+ and we have a lot of them.

Lucky this doesn't happen in the tanning booth coming in from a cold winter days. Although it might have made for more interesting jersey shore if we had at least one gut blow.

It seems to me this method causes the outsides (skin) to cook and become weakened before the rest of the rat is warmed.

This is my method. The night before, I take out what I need and put it in the fridge overnight. The next day, I feel it a bit to make sure it's all the way thawed and not "crunchy" in the middle. Then I will run some warm, not hot water, and leave the rat in there for about 15 minutes. Then I run some slightly hotter water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Last thing I do after 10 minutes is run the hottest water that comes out, put the rodent in there and walk over to the cage. I carry some paper towels with me to blot it dry a little so it doesn't drip all over as I offer it.

This sounds like a quicker method than yours, about 30 minutes versus a few hours, assuming you remember to put it in the fridge the night before. If I forget, they just get fed the next day, *shrugs* :)

I've found the best way to thaw out the rodents is to leave them in the fridge overnight, then run hot water over them until they're warm to the touch. Running the hot water over them first may be weakening the cell walls in the abdomen, which will cause a burst belly. Few years of thawing out hundreds of pinkies and fuzzies a week taught me to leave them out in the fridge and then run warm, and then hot, water over them. Too much heat too fast and you end up with mouse innard soup, a concoction guaranteed to make new employees vomit.

In any case, try thawing slower, using the hot water only to make the rodent warm all the way through. :)

-Jen

Nope, no refreeze.
I used to thaw in fridge but worried i would forget.

I'll go back to some other methods that were brought up here,
Test out thawing ways to avoid bomb guts
SCIENCE!

Thanks for the input and all everyone

Just slap a dead rat in your snakes room and let it defrost at room temp :) takes longer but if you have the problem you do it may fix it!

I used to have that problem too, and was so disgusted. Since I started thawing in a container of hot water with the rat inside a freezer bag, I haven't had any blowouts or wet rats. It doesn't take too long, and the freezer bag kind of acts like a gentle buffer between the rat and hot water.

I put the frozen mouse in a cup of hot water for 10-15 minutes until its a bit squishy. My enchi pops them occasionally but he's not very picky and eats it anyway.

I usually lay my rats out on the counter before I go to class, and then when I get back from class I check to see if they're thawed, then I blast them with a blow-dryer and in they go. Never had one pop, and my snakes can be pretty rough sometimes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NormanSnake

I usually lay my rats out on the counter before I go to class, and then when I get back from class I check to see if they're thawed, then I blast them with a blow-dryer and in they go. Never had one pop, and my snakes can be pretty rough sometimes.

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^ This, basically. I might have one belly pop in 150 feedings. Another thing that might help is to make sure you're offering the rodent head-first so your BP is less likely to hit the belly when he strikes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nimblykimbly

I used to have that problem too, and was so disgusted. Since I started thawing in a container of hot water with the rat inside a freezer bag, I haven't had any blowouts or wet rats. It doesn't take too long, and the freezer bag kind of acts like a gentle buffer between the rat and hot water.

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I also put rats in a freezer bag and have NEVER had any problem like that. I run the tap water as hot as it will go, fill a Tupperware bowl about 2/3 of the way, put the rat in (inside sealed freezer bag) then put the tupperware lid on and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Works like a charm!

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I have found that the Fresher or newly frozen rodents have more squish and ooze than say a couple month old frozen thawed rodents is my experience.