How do you defrost?

So my BP is now eating small rats. I have always feed him/her frozen and I just warm them up to thaw out and good to go. When my BP was eating mice all I had to do was get hot water from tap and just put the bag he was in, in the water and the mouse would thaw. Now I'm on rats and was wondering how people do it? I tried my normal technique and it failed so I thought boil some water and put the rat in that's in the bag, well that did work but the smell and as soon as my BP grabbed it the rats intestines and everything instantly came out. So I was wondering what do you guys do?

Let them thaw a little bit before you warm them up. I feed mostly live but back when I fed frozen I would always set them in the fridge the day before I was planning to feed. I would pull them out of the fridge about an hour before feeding and let them start to creep up closer to room temp. About 15 minutes before feeding I do the whole rats in bag, bag in warm water thing.

So I take it cooked rat does not smell good LOL? Slow and steady on the thaw is the way to go :D

1. Fill container with hot water (not boiling...just hot straight from the tap).

2. Put rodent in ziplock.

3. Put ziplock in container in hot water.

4. Cover.

5. Check on it a couple of hours later. Empty water, refill with hot water. Let sit for 5 or 10 minutes.

Feed to snake.

Toss everything in a bucket, fill with hot water, let thaw for about 20-30 minutes, make sure each item is fully thawed, and then feed.

Thaw it out in the fridge the day before feeding. Then put the bag in hot water to warm it up.

Thanks everyone I will be doing that next time for sure!

King James- the smell is AWFUL! I had to open both windows, fan on, and light candles to get smell out. I can deal with some smells but that was just nasty lol.

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Originally Posted by 200xth

1. Fill container with hot water (not boiling...just hot straight from the tap).

2. Put rodent in ziplock.

3. Put ziplock in container in hot water.

4. Cover.

5. Check on it a couple of hours later. Empty water, refill with hot water. Let sit for 5 or 10 minutes.

Feed to snake.

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I usually feed live but when I have used f/t, this method has always worked well for me. I would only add that you can remove it from the bag and heat it with a hair dryer just prior to feeding if it's not warm enough.

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

Toss everything in a bucket, fill with hot water, let thaw for about 20-30 minutes, make sure each item is fully thawed, and then feed.

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Are you sure the specimens are fully warmed all the way through? You don't try to warm the heads of the specimens with a blow dryer?

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I leave F/T feeders out on my counter or in the fridge for a few hours. Then when I come back later, I check to see it's fully thawed. When thawed, I'll blast them with the hair dryer to up the surface temp for feeding.

I like to keep my feeders as dry as possible. I personally don't like wet soggy rats that will just get bedding stuck to them.

i only know what NOT to do:

microwave. just... dont. or: kaboom :8:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I leave F/T feeders out on my counter or in the fridge for a few hours. Then when I come back later, I check to see it's fully thawed. When thawed, I'll blast them with the hair dryer to up the surface temp for feeding.

I like to keep my feeders as dry as possible. I personally don't like wet soggy rats that will just get bedding stuck to them.

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x2. This is the method I use as well.

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Originally Posted by Kodieh

Are you sure the specimens are fully warmed all the way through? You don't try to warm the heads of the specimens with a blow dryer?

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I know they are thawed by the fact that when I vigorously palpate them I do not feel any "cold spots". I feed prey straight out of the bucket, I do not have any substrate ingestion issues. I usually feed smaller prey items first as they get thawed in about 5 minutes (I use a good size bucket with plenty of hot water for volume heating), sanitize tongs, move on, then just rinse and repeat.

I thaw directly in the water, and don't mess around with bags, but I feed on plastic placemats, to protect her from the substrate. As soon as I put the placemat in her cage she comes and rests her head on it. I've been doing it her whole life. Once she has eaten she goes to her hides and I remove the placemat, and clean it off for next time.

I take the rats out, place in a plastic bag and place in a container of warm water for about half an hour. I then raise the water temp to hot (from the tap) for about ten minutes and finish them off by blow-drying the rats to raise temp (and dear god does it spread the rat smell too!)

I had a couple of cases of "exploding rat" by using water which was too hot, waste of a rat and very unpleasant!

I let it defrost at room temp and then when fully thawed,I eat hold the heat lamp near it for a few mins

When I was feeding F/T I did as everyone else mentioned. But one thing I did was to keep them on warm water while time I'm feeding, and feeding sometimes takes 1.5-2 hours.

I would get a large Rubbermaid container, put a few inches of water in it. Get a fishtank heater and turn it on full power, older styles work best. Next would be to put the rodents in smaller Tupperware containers with paper towels in them, and float them in the water with the fishtank heater. And every little bit I would flip the rodents over to keep them evenly warmed.

This has worked really well for me to feed a large amount of snakes and keep the rodents warm while not cooking them.

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Originally Posted by EAC Reptiles

When I was feeding F/T I did as everyone else mentioned. But one thing I did was to keep them on warm water while time I'm feeding, and feeding sometimes takes 1.5-2 hours.

I would get a large Rubbermaid container, put a few inches of water in it. Get a fishtank heater and turn it on full power, older styles work best. Next would be to put the rodents in smaller Tupperware containers with paper towels in them, and float them in the water with the fishtank heater. And every little bit I would flip the rodents over to keep them evenly warmed.

This has worked really well for me to feed a large amount of snakes and keep the rodents warm while not cooking them.

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I was told leaving rodents in water depletes nutrients.

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

I was told leaving rodents in water depletes nutrients.

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I can't imagine how that is even possible.

The "darn I forgot to thaw the mice" method: I thaw directly in warm water, no bag. I just let them float around until warmed up, dumping the cold water and adding warm water when needed. Take out one rodent at a time, dry it on a paper towel, make sure it's fully thawed and warm, and feed. Never had an issue that way.

The "It's Sunday morning and I'm actually thinking ahead" method: Place frozen mice on counter. Let thaw to room temp, then feed.

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Originally Posted by Bugmom

I can't imagine how that is even possible.

The "darn I forgot to thaw the mice" method: I thaw directly in warm water, no bag. I just let them float around until warmed up, dumping the cold water and adding warm water when needed. Take out one rodent at a time, dry it on a paper towel, make sure it's fully thawed and warm, and feed. Never had an issue that way.

The "It's Sunday morning and I'm actually thinking ahead" method: Place frozen mice on counter. Let thaw to room temp, then feed.

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Well I can imagine and thanks for a pointless answer,lol...

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

Well I can imagine and thanks for a pointless answer,lol...

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Guess who made all of these pointless remarks -


"The sink? That's disgusting!! Really is. i run to the toilet and have before . Sink never crossed my mind" - In response to a member saying she bolts for the sink when she thinks she's going to get dumped on.


"I'm happy with my to ball pythons..I have no time for nasty pets" - In response to a member posting a picture of their new snake.


"Sterling is a porn star. Doing his thing like a champ...he's doing one girl better than me :(" - I don't even know what you were talking about here.


"Boxer,lol,that looks nothing like a boxer..it's a pitbull,have you ever seen a pitbull before,lol..or a pitbull mix..side shot looks like mastiff and pitbull." - In response to a member asking about the breed of a dog another member posted a picture of.


"Juice head!!! We can all do gear and look like that.. Training all natural is the way to go!!!" - In response to a member's picture in the Male Keeper's thread. A member who coincidentally works his ass off to look like that.

Are you really in any position to tell someone else their replies are pointless?

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

Well I can imagine and thanks for a pointless answer,lol...

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You made the stupid comment, if it was so obvious to you and you think the answer is pointless then why did you even bother leaving your drivel in this thread?

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

I know they are thawed by the fact that when I vigorously palpate them I do not feel any "cold spots". I feed prey straight out of the bucket, I do not have any substrate ingestion issues. I usually feed smaller prey items first as they get thawed in about 5 minutes (I use a good size bucket with plenty of hot water for volume heating), sanitize tongs, move on, then just rinse and repeat.

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Can you describe in greater detail about how to palpate the specimens? I'm concerned my python regius specimens might be getting still partially frozen prey specimens or cold in the center specimens.

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Originally Posted by BrandiR

Guess who made all of these pointless remarks -


"The sink? That's disgusting!! Really is. i run to the toilet and have before . Sink never crossed my mind" - In response to a member saying she bolts for the sink when she thinks she's going to get dumped on.


"I'm happy with my to ball pythons..I have no time for nasty pets" - In response to a member posting a picture of their new snake.


"Sterling is a porn star. Doing his thing like a champ...he's doing one girl better than me :(" - I don't even know what you were talking about here.


"Boxer,lol,that looks nothing like a boxer..it's a pitbull,have you ever seen a pitbull before,lol..or a pitbull mix..side shot looks like mastiff and pitbull." - In response to a member asking about the breed of a dog another member posted a picture of.


"Juice head!!! We can all do gear and look like that.. Training all natural is the way to go!!!" - In response to a member's picture in the Male Keeper's thread. A member who coincidentally works his ass off to look like that.

Are you really in any position to tell someone else their replies are pointless?

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You go girl :D. I wish I could thank this twice.

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Originally Posted by BrandiR

Guess who made all of these pointless remarks -


"The sink? That's disgusting!! Really is. i run to the toilet and have before . Sink never crossed my mind" - In response to a member saying she bolts for the sink when she thinks she's going to get dumped on.


"I'm happy with my to ball pythons..I have no time for nasty pets" - In response to a member posting a picture of their new snake.


"Sterling is a porn star. Doing his thing like a champ...he's doing one girl better than me :(" - I don't even know what you were talking about here.


"Boxer,lol,that looks nothing like a boxer..it's a pitbull,have you ever seen a pitbull before,lol..or a pitbull mix..side shot looks like mastiff and pitbull." - In response to a member asking about the breed of a dog another member posted a picture of.


"Juice head!!! We can all do gear and look like that.. Training all natural is the way to go!!!" - In response to a member's picture in the Male Keeper's thread. A member who coincidentally works his ass off to look like that.

Are you really in any position to tell someone else their replies are pointless?

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Apply liquid nitrogen to the burned area. :gj:

I would be very interested in the reasoning behind this "water depletes prey of nutrients", as it defies every basic chemistry axiom I can think of.

I use two equal sized critter keepers.
I feel the first keeper up with hot tap water.
Then I put the rats/mice in zip lock baggies and drap them into the water so the tops of the bars are over the side.
I put the second keeper on top of the first one and fill it until it starts to push water out of the first.
This way they stay dry, and are surrounded (mostly) by hot water.

They thaw out and warm up in about 30 minutes.

Serving size: About 8 Snakes.

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Originally Posted by Kodieh

Can you describe in greater detail about how to palpate the specimens? I'm concerned my python regius specimens might be getting still partially frozen prey specimens or cold in the center specimens.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

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You know how you mold hamburger meat into a patty for cooking? Similar to that, and I will also the squeeze the rat gently with the tips of my fingers going right into the abdomen...if the tips of your fingers do not detect any cold spots then the rat is thawed.

I put the rodents in a Rubbermaid tub with the lid on. I than fill a sink (laundry sink for me, you could use your normal sink if it doesn't gross you out) I than place the tub in the sink and put something heavy on top (pot filled with water) I than add hot water to the sink every hour for about three hours. This usually gets the rodents to around 87-91 degree's. they have never gotten wet this way and I have never cooked them.

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

You know how you mold hamburger meat into a patty for cooking? Similar to that, and I will also the squeeze the rat gently with the tips of my fingers going right into the abdomen...if the tips of your fingers do not detect any cold spots then the rat is thawed.

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Last night was feeding night for my Python Regius colony, and I decided to try your methodology for thawing specimens and ensuring that said specimens are thawed.

I don't really know where to begin. Not only did many of my Python Regius specimens NOT take a soaking wet, burning hot prey specimen but most of the prey specimens ended up being gutted with intestines everywhere. After throwing out several perfectly good prey specimens and being nearly bit several times by a handful of my Python Regius colony I switched back to my method which worked out a lot better especially for these prey specimens.

I specifically tried your molding hamburger patty method for my prey specimens to ensure they were thawed, this is what caused my hands to be covered in guts. I must say, that is one of the grossest things I have ever had to deal with personally. I'm sure my prey specimens liked (even though these specimens are, of course, dead) not being man handled and poked and prodded but thawed and constricted by my Python Regius specimens much better.

I believe I will be sticking to my methods, no offense intended. I'm sure your Python Regius specimen(s) eat just fine with yours, however mine do not.

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Originally Posted by Kodieh

Last night was feeding night for my Python Regius colony, and I decided to try your methodology for thawing specimens and ensuring that said specimens are thawed.

I don't really know where to begin. Not only did many of my Python Regius specimens NOT take a soaking wet, burning hot prey specimen but most of the prey specimens ended up being gutted with intestines everywhere. After throwing out several perfectly good prey specimens and being nearly bit several times by a handful of my Python Regius colony I switched back to my method which worked out a lot better especially for these prey specimens.

I specifically tried your molding hamburger patty method for my prey specimens to ensure they were thawed, this is what caused my hands to be covered in guts. I must say, that is one of the grossest things I have ever had to deal with personally. I'm sure my prey specimens liked (even though these specimens are, of course, dead) not being man handled and poked and prodded but thawed and constricted by my Python Regius specimens much better.

I believe I will be sticking to my methods, no offense intended. I'm sure your Python Regius specimen(s) eat just fine with yours, however mine do not.

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Lol. You kill me!
Haha

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Dang what did you do? You don't have to pound it, just like a patty, vigorous but gentle or like when you hold a cute girl, firm yet gentle. I feel bad for all the prey items you lost but at the same time...:rofl:

I find this method the best and been working fine.

First, put the feed in a little plastic zipbag

Second, thaw them in the cold water first
(Instantly thawing frozen/very cold item will thaw unevenly or just imagine cooking frozen stuff that you eat without thawing them but throwing them right on to the hot pan)

Third, after the feed is all thawed, change water to warm/ -ish hot water.
(It should be mild warm or so)

Finally, take the feed out of the bag and hairdry it for about 2 minutes.

"Snakes don't bite. Just humans."

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

Dang what did you do? You don't have to pound it, just like a patty, vigorous but gentle or like when you hold a cute girl, firm yet gentle. I feel bad for all the prey items you lost but at the same time...:rofl:

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I assure you I made simply sweet love to the prey specimens I attempted to palpate, however they did explode all over my hands.

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Originally Posted by Kodieh

I assure you I made simply sweet love to the prey specimens I attempted to palpate, however they did explode all over my hands.

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Pics or it didn't happen!

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Originally Posted by BrandiR

Pics or it didn't happen!

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I thought you were there?

I totally thought about this thread last night while thawing the mice. I'm happy to say that not a single rodent exploded, despite my not-so-gentle prodding of them to ensure thawedness.

The dog got bit by the adult Okettee corn, but that was likely unrelated, and mostly his own stupid fault. The dog also did not explode.

Sent from the land of autocorrect

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

I would be very interested in the reasoning behind this "water depletes prey of nutrients", as it defies every basic chemistry axiom I can think of.

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Water actually DOES deplete nutrients... If you're boiling rodents in it.

On a serious note, when I bring home a package of frozen mice, I take them all out of the bag and vacuum seal them individually. The night before feeding, I'll take out the ones I'm going to use and toss them in the fridge. By the time I'm ready to feed, they've been thawing for at least 24hrs. I warm the packets individually, and since they're all vacuum sealed, they're totally dry when they go in the tank.

Oddly enough, Ajja will actually eat her mice at room temperature, and has taken them right out of my palm. She doesn't strike or constrict unless they're warmer.

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Put rats in bucket. Run hot water from tap for a min or two on em. Then soak em in hot water for 30-45 min. Mak sure they are fully defrosted then heat em up before feeding by running real hot water on em for another min. Wipe water off w paper towel right before dangling the warm rat in front of snakes face.

I put the prey in ziploc bag and let it thaw overnight in the fridge. Then, when I get home from work, I pull the ziploc bag out and let it sit on the counter until it comes up to room temp. Since my husband likes a cool house, room temp isn't warm enough for the snake to eat. So, when I get ready to feed, I dump the prey into a tupperware dish I have just for that purpose. I cover the prey with cool water and then add hot water until the temp is about 95 - 98. I have a digital probe thermometer I use to monitor the temp. We've found that our snake won't go for prey if it's below 90. 95 - 98 gets a fast ZAP! I dry the prey with a paper towel before my husband offers it.

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Originally Posted by king james

let them thaw a little bit before you warm them up. I feed mostly live but back when i fed frozen i would always set them in the fridge the day before i was planning to feed. I would pull them out of the fridge about an hour before feeding and let them start to creep up closer to room temp. About 15 minutes before feeding i do the whole rats in bag, bag in warm water thing.

So i take it cooked rat does not smell good lol? Slow and steady on the thaw is the way to go :d

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x2