Heating mice, no more hairdryer!

I have been doing this for a while and I found the hairdryer to be the easiest method to heat the mice quickly and that they stay heated for a while. However, I have been doing this heating individual rats and feeding heating another etc. this meant that I kept turning the hair dryer on and off. Today, suddenly the electric socket went poof into smoke!!! I unplugged the wall socket immediately and luckily it stopped and I looked at it and the plug was all burned and plastic melted. This scares me and I want another way to heat the rats now.

I used to use heat pads but they were pretty useless they heated very slowly and only one side and sometimes to it made mice guts expand/explode. Soaking in a sandwhich bag in warm water works well but then it takes quite a while to go through all the snakes and they cool down very quickly. How do you heat them?

After they are thawed out, just put them in a ziploc bag and submerge them in very warm water for about 5 to 10 minutes. Do not use boiling water, just out of the tap and not so hot it starts partially cooking. If you dip your hand in it might be uncomfortable but tolerable.

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Originally Posted by hungba

I have been doing this for a while and I found the hairdryer to be the easiest method to heat the mice quickly and that they stay heated for a while. However, I have been doing this heating individual rats and feeding heating another etc. this meant that I kept turning the hair dryer on and off. Today, suddenly the electric socket went poof into smoke!!! I unplugged the wall socket immediately and luckily it stopped and I looked at it and the plug was all burned and plastic melted. This scares me and I want another way to heat the rats now.

I used to use heat pads but they were pretty useless they heated very slowly and only one side and sometimes to it made mice guts expand/explode. Soaking in a sandwhich bag in warm water works well but then it takes quite a while to go through all the snakes and they cool down very quickly. How do you heat them?

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Put rat in a ziplock bag and seal it. Put it in a bowl of warm/hot water. I put something heavy on top to weigh it down, then wait. I usually have to refill the water with hot water a few times before they're totally thawed and warmed.

That's how I do it, but I really with there was an easier way. Should work since your hairdryer is dead though.

Sounds more like your electrics need attention.

I'd have them checked and keep using a hairdrier. :P

I put the frozen rodents in hot water from the tap until thawed. Then replace the water (again with hot water from the tap) and keep the rodents there while I fish them out to feed. I have a small towel handy and after letting the rodent drip dry for a minute, I pad it dry and feed it off.
I feel the rodent to make sure there are no cold spots or hot spots before feeding and have had no problems.

Andy - :snake:

I thaw in the fridge over night just like I would for myself. And, then place the thawed prey under a heat lamp in the snake room until they get to between 90-92° F. Not sure if the smell of warming rats and mice is helping but, not a single snake has missed a meal here even with cloudy blue eyes pre-shed. I am unwilling to mess with what is working unless there is a compelling health issue for my pets I am unaware of.

I am with Derek, if you fried an outlet it should be repaired and the whole electrical system checked out you might be in danger of over loading the whole system and that causes fires.

The way I have been heating my rats is I have a plastic tub that I fill with water. At the bottom of the tub I have an old fish tank heater that has suction cups. I stick the heater to the side of the tub under water, then I plug the heater into a hydrofarm thermostat and set the temp to 98 deg. I then plug the thermostat into a GFCI protected outlet ( this is VERY important to reduce the risk of electrocution ) At that point i put the rats in the water and leave them be while I go and take care of my everyday chores. The rats will heat to a nice toasty temp but will not cook! ( best of all never have to sit and change out water that has cooled down. ) This has worked out very well for me. I know its way overkill but it requires very little attention from me and allows me to do other things in the mean time...

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

I am with Derek, if you fried an outlet it should be repaired and the whole electrical system checked out you might be in danger of over loading the whole system and that causes fires.

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I missed that bit. Just in from work.

Hair dryers usually run 1200-1500 watts on high and can cause a breaker or fuse to blow on overloaded circuits quite easily.
This is not what happened in your case and needs to be looked at closely.
My bet is on a dead short in the dryer or cord itself but, it is absolutely necessary to identify the cause of this mishap with certainty. Otherwise you risk having your home burn down.

Good luck with that and hopefully you find the solution is not too demanding on resources and time.

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Originally Posted by rlditmars

After they are thawed out, just put them in a ziploc bag and submerge them in very warm water for about 5 to 10 minutes. Do not use boiling water, just out of the tap and not so hot it starts partially cooking. If you dip your hand in it might be uncomfortable but tolerable.

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I used to do that when I only had a few snakes, but they cool down quite fast that way I have to keep getting hot water.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

I am with Derek, if you fried an outlet it should be repaired and the whole electrical system checked out you might be in danger of over loading the whole system and that causes fires.

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Yeah probably should. I just call an electrician to check everything right?

It wasn't a wall socket, I used an extension cord, I wonder if that was the mistake?

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Originally Posted by hungba

I have been doing this for a while and I found the hairdryer to be the easiest method to heat the mice quickly and that they stay heated for a while. However, I have been doing this heating individual rats and feeding heating another etc. this meant that I kept turning the hair dryer on and off. Today, suddenly the electric socket went poof into smoke!!! I unplugged the wall socket immediately and luckily it stopped and I looked at it and the plug was all burned and plastic melted. This scares me and I want another way to heat the rats now.

I used to use heat pads but they were pretty useless they heated very slowly and only one side and sometimes to it made mice guts expand/explode. Soaking in a sandwhich bag in warm water works well but then it takes quite a while to go through all the snakes and they cool down very quickly. How do you heat them?

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I am in the construction field and know alot about electrical. There are basically two amperages that the common home in the US uses for standard wall outlets in 120V range, that's 15A and 20A. Your 15A outlets were designed to power things such as lights, tv ,vacuum cleaner etc. 20A circuits are found in the kitchen and most baths. Those are meant for powering appliances and heated objects. A typical hairdryer of today can draw as much as 12 Amps. 12 amps on a 15 amp circuit is considered "maxed out " and possibly overloaded. I person should never run a hair dryer from a 15A outlet or they run the risk of fire. Circuit breakers were designed to "Trip" when the breaker gets overloaded but that does not protect then actual outlet from going into thermal meltdown as you found out! It is easy to tell a 15A outlet from a 20A outlet simply by looking at it! Standard 15A outlets will have (2) verticle lines side by side and a round hole under them. 20A outlets also have (2) vertical lines and a round hole under them but on the left side vertical line there is a small horizontal line that attaches to it creating a "side ways T" shape. If you are unsure which is which contact a local qualified electrician! hope that helps????

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Originally Posted by Raven01

I missed that bit. Just in from work.

Hair dryers usually run 1200-1500 watts on high and can cause a breaker or fuse to blow on overloaded circuits quite easily.
This is not what happened in your case and needs to be looked at closely.
My bet is on a dead short in the dryer or cord itself but, it is absolutely necessary to identify the cause of this mishap with certainty. Otherwise you risk having your home burn down.

Good luck with that and hopefully you find the solution is not too demanding on resources and time.

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So you're saying it SHOULD have blown a fuse or caused a breaker, but it didn't? What is a dead short?

I will find an electrician to take a look. I guess I should keep the dryer and not throw it away to show him?

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Originally Posted by hungba

So you're saying it SHOULD have blown a fuse or caused a breaker, but it didn't? What is a dead short?

I will find an electrician to take a look. I guess I should keep the dryer and not throw it away to show him?

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yes keep the hair dryer to show the electrician. he can run a quick test to see if it is the hairdryer or the circuit that has the short. Might save him a bit of time!!!

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Originally Posted by norwegn113

I am in the construction field and know alot about electrical. There are basically two amperages that the common home in the US uses for standard wall outlets in 120V range, that's 15A and 20A. Your 15A outlets were designed to power things such as lights, tv ,vacuum cleaner etc. 20A circuits are found in the kitchen and most baths. Those are meant for powering appliances and heated objects. A typical hairdryer of today can draw as much as 12 Amps. 12 amps on a 15 amp circuit is considered "maxed out " and possibly overloaded. I person should never run a hair dryer from a 15A outlet or they run the risk of fire. Circuit breakers were designed to "Trip" when the breaker gets overloaded but that does not protect then actual outlet from going into thermal meltdown as you found out! It is easy to tell a 15A outlet from a 20A outlet simply by looking at it! Standard 15A outlets will have (2) verticle lines side by side and a round hole under them. 20A outlets also have (2) vertical lines and a round hole under them but on the left side vertical line there is a small horizontal line that attaches to it creating a "side ways T" shape. If you are unsure which is which contact a local qualified electrician! hope that helps????

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Thank you, but while I am sure all this applies in some way, I do not live in the USA, and we have 220V electricity and most outlets are 13A. 15A outlets are used here for high powered things like air conditioners and so on.

I am trying now to figure out what to tell the electrician as much info as possible. Are you saying that the circuit breakers and the plug melting down are two separate things? And, in the USA, if you plug a 12 ampere hairdryer into a 15A outlet, the circuit breakers may not trip, but the plug would melt?

hungba if memory serves you are not in N. America so we are likely talking 220V? I would absolutely check with an electrician! norwegn113 has it right save the bits and make the call electrical issues can go very wrong very quickly. Better safe than sorry.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

hungba if memory serves you are not in N. America so we are likely talking 220V? I would absolutely check with an electrician! norwegn113 has it right save the bits and make the call electrical issues can go very wrong very quickly. Better safe than sorry.

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I am not qualified or that familiar to give advice about electrical systems in other countries so Kitedemon is correct. Its better to be safe than sorry! Electrical is nothing to mess around with. please have a local electrician check your system and make sure its safe! ( See Kite we can agree on some things! ) LOL :D

After I thaw them in a baggie, I take some hot water in a mug and one at a time dunk the rats in, pat them dry on a towel and serve them immediately while hot on tongs.

We have a heat lamp set up with bags of rats down in front of it. It takes between 2 and 4 hours, depending on the size of the prey item that's being thawed.