thawing

So i have been feeding frozen thawed for a while, havent found a great way to get DRY thawed food...

In a bag under hot water they still condense and get wet... i tried leaving the frozens in a bag on the heat tap over night...still condensed and got wet...


What do you guys do to keep the smell down, food dry, and happy fed snakes?

Just leave it in a bag in air for a few hours then use a hair dryer for 30 sec or a min to heat it up. Sometimes they are wet... goes with the territory. F/T is more convenient for storage and accessibility and less convenient for preparation and feeding.

I feed wet feeders. Its a meal and drink in one.

Problem w. wet is my hoggie has aspen bedding and 1 of my 3 bps has eco-earth

Then just dry them with a towel. Alittle substrate will not hurt anything. I use cypress and eco earth in a few of mine without issue.

ill try that...

fed sat and came home late sunday night my little girl ended up spitting out the damn thing i guess.. coverd in eco earth..and i had flys in the room >.<

took about 6 hours to air out the smell...

If it bothers you that much, you could always cut a square out of a paper plate and set the f/t on that. That's what my bf does for his hog, works like a charm. I personally don't bother. A little bedding never hurt anyone :)

I have left feeders over night that were refused and have never had a bad smell. That might have been a bad feeder. I would check the quality your getting. Mine will have the rat smell but have never had a dead animal smell.

Frozen-> hot water is a good way to cook the food or make it get nasty. If you leave anything out over night it's going to go terribly bad, especially if you're applying heat. This is probably why it smelled nasty etc and could very well be why your snake spit it out also. I have had my snakes spit out F/T when it was over heated for too long.

Just let it sit out in room temp to thaw for ~3 hours. Use a hair dryer or hot water to do the rest.

I use warm water for mine. Thawing a XXL rat at room temp just takes to long. I honestly have never had one smell bad.

I do F/T and I've never had one smell bad. I usually leave mine sit out on the counter to thaw then heat them up a little bit with a hair dryer.

I use what I call my "rat crock pot". Two-piece styro cooler, fill it up to within two inches of the top with warm water. Float bag of frozen rodents and place lid on cooler. About two hours later, feeders are thawed and perfectly warm for feeding.

Here is what I've been doing every Sunday.

1. Grab the Rodent Super Bowl ziplock tub and toss in what I need.
2. I run the hot water only until its at its hottest and fill the Rodent Super Bowl half way.
3. Press down on the ziplock lid and turn the timer to 20 minutes.
4. Meal and a drink all at one time.
5. I've never smell anything from start to finish.

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Originally Posted by KMG

I use warm water for mine. Thawing a XXL rat at room temp just takes to long. I honestly have never had one smell bad.

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LOL my thoughts exactly.

Try thawing a 2lb rabbit. Would take forever.

I just toss them in the bathtub with water and lightly dry em off before feeding.

I thaw in the fridge overnight, set the thawed prey container on the counter for an hour or so to slowly bring the temp up and warm under a heat lamp in the reptile room.
I still haven't found any "feeding wall and avoid plucking substrate off of my snakes food. The smell of warming rats and mice seems to get the snakes prepped for a meal by the time they reach 90-91 degrees F.

I thaw in a jar and blow dry. They are always dry when I feed.

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

LOL my thoughts exactly.

Try thawing a 2lb rabbit. Would take forever.

I just toss them in the bathtub with water and lightly dry em off before feeding.

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Note to self: Never take a bath at Bobbafett's place! Lol.

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Originally Posted by MootWorm

Note to self: Never take a bath at Bobbafett's place! Lol.

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LOL.

Well you clean the tub after! DUH :p

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

LOL.

Well you clean the tub after! DUH :p

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Have you ever had someone walk into a tubful of floating rodents and be all "Um, care to explain?" Lol it's bad enough when my mother-in-law freaks out about a couple of rats in a coffee mug ;)

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Originally Posted by MootWorm

Have you ever had someone walk into a tubful of floating rodents and be all "Um, care to explain?" Lol it's bad enough when my mother-in-law freaks out about a couple of rats in a coffee mug ;)

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Lol nope. I tried thawing in the fridge once and my grandma freaked at me because she thought my grandpa might grab one accidentally and flip.

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Originally Posted by Shadera

I use what I call my "rat crock pot". Two-piece styro cooler, fill it up to within two inches of the top with warm water. Float bag of frozen rodents and place lid on cooler. About two hours later, feeders are thawed and perfectly warm for feeding.

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Hmmmmmmmm, I have some of the big styro coolers that the f/t rats got shipped in. I'll have to give this a try. Normally I just thaw the rats in a large bowl of warm water in the kitchen sink - but that means I'm not using my sink for a while.

Mine thaw on top of my T8s at room temperature either overnight (if I plan to feed in the morning) or during the day while I'm at work (if I plan to feed at night). There are zero smell issues that I've noticed. By the time I'm ready to feed, the girls are in full feeding mode having smelled the thawing rats for a few hours. Just before feeding, I hit the rats with a hair dryer for 30-60 seconds - mostly near their heads, but I do warm their bodies a bit too. This method works very well for me and my small collection.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Hmmmmmmmm, I have some of the big styro coolers that the f/t rats got shipped in. I'll have to give this a try. Normally I just thaw the rats in a large bowl of warm water in the kitchen sink - but that means I'm not using my sink for a while.

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I put the cooler in the tub. Sink is free to pile dirty water bowls and hides in. :D

What i did with the feeders i used yesterday was wrapped it in a couple paper towels to thaw, and then hit it with a hair dryer for a bit... kept them nice and dry for the bp i feed on eco earth substrate and my hoggys aspen

i put mine in a bag (usually the bag I get them in), I leave out in room temp for 2 hours, and then I have a Gladware thing that I use SPECIFICALLY for this, and hold them in the bag with a bottle or something on top for 3 minutes..and then I blow dry for 30 seconds while it's still in the bag...my boy hasn't refused a meal yet.

For those of you who thaw directly in contact with water, do you feel like it tends to cause um... degloving?

I only feed f/t when all the BPs manage to eat :rolleyes: and there are no leftovers for the red tail. Last week some water leaked into the bag (I normally thaw with the rat in ziplock in warm water) and when I offered the rat, she took it, but I was left holding an empty tail skin sock. Is that the water or am I just grossly unlucky?

I Spoke too soon. he refused his meal today :(

For me I just leave them in their baggie and then I let the bag sit in warm water for awhile until the rodent is thawed. If the rodent get's wet I just dry it with a towel.

I have been left holding tail skin and pieces of tail but it doesn't happen often. I don't feel its because of water but have never given it much thought. It doesn't bother me.

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Originally Posted by KMG

I have been left holding tail skin and pieces of tail but it doesn't happen often. I don't feel its because of water but have never given it much thought. It doesn't bother me.

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It normally wouldn't bug me too much, but it was kind of gross since it was the entire tail. Although this was 10 minutes after my big girl hit her fresh killed rat (I have to hold hers by the tail and make them do a special dance) hard enough to spray rat blood across my chest and neck, so I think I may have just been having a bad feeding day.

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Originally Posted by Badgemash

For those of you who thaw directly in contact with water, do you feel like it tends to cause um... degloving?

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This happens to me very regularly and I thaw without water.

So the past three feedings i have been taking the F/T out of the freezer and putting them in a couple paper towels, let sit for an hour or two and then a good blast with the hair dryer...

It's working out great to get the food dry, warm, and the snakes interested in the heat and smell...

Just figured i'd update

P.s. knew i didn't wanna throw out the hair dryer when i shaved my head...