Smelly F/T Rats. Is There a Fix?

My BP has had some trouble with eating recently. When I try to feed her, she just ignores or tries to avoid the frozen thawed rat. I think she's not going for the rats because some of them have pee/poop on them and that smell might be covering up the natural rodent smell. Is there a way I can get rid of the pee/poop smell without getting rid of the rodent smell? I've tried the soaking in chicken broth thing, but that didn't work.
Thanks in advance for any helpful advice you can give.

Where are you getting your Frozen rodents from?

Also, are you smelling anything?

I got them from Rodent Pro.
And yeah, today, before I tried feeding my snake, I sniffed the rat after it had thawed and it smelled like urine and poop. It wasn't a super strong smell, I had to get my nose pretty close to pick up the smell. I hadn't smelled any of the rats before that, but because the rats aren't individually packaged, I would assume all the rats in the bag would smell as well.

I actually thaw frozen rodents in cold water, & change the water (depending on how big they are & how long it takes), so that tends to wash off such contamination
& some of the scent, but that said, I've never seen snake that objected to rodent droppings, & they even eat them backwards sometimes...:rolleyes:

Now spoilage is another thing altogether...if that's the case, that can make your snake ill, & there's no excuse for that, unless you thawed them incorrectly.
Thaw in refrigerator, which takes a LONG time, or thaw in COLD water, which is much faster; never thaw rodents by leaving them setting out at room temp.-
& if you thaw rodents in WARM water, they can spoil on the outside (where they thaw faster) before the insides are completely thawed. Remember that
frozen foods aren't bacteria-free...it's there but dormant in freezing temperatures, & when you thaw it, bacteria comes to life & causes spoilage.

At some point, we can smell if rodents are spoiled...but snakes have FAR better noses than we do & will know things that we don't.

I used Rodent Pro in the nineties, they were kinda not the best back then. I not saying that’s why he’s not eating, but I would never use or recommend Rodent Pro. Maybe the fix would be switching to Big Cheese or Perfect Prey. Layne Labs is really good too.

I use rodent pro and have no complaints. I have noticed a smell but they are dead rats. I can't say that the rats that I got elsewhere smelled any different. There is no matting of the fur and I have never found any droppings. Our two snakes have only turned them down when they were in shed and obviously couldn't see well. They have the lowest prices I could find when they are on sale, which seems to be all the time. I will continue to buy from them. Ymmv.

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If you put your nose close to anything thawing out rodent wise you're going to smell something. Some BPs just don't like frozen feeders. I personally would never order from Rodent Pro as I used them over a decade ago and I would never recommend them either. I would stick with Big Cheese or Perfect Prey. They're the best quality wise.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I actually thaw frozen rodents in cold water, & change the water (depending on how big they are & how long it takes), so that tends to wash off such contamination
& some of the scent, but that said, I've never seen snake that objected to rodent droppings, & they even eat them backwards sometimes...:rolleyes:

Now spoilage is another thing altogether...if that's the case, that can make your snake ill, & there's no excuse for that, unless you thawed them incorrectly.
Thaw in refrigerator, which takes a LONG time, or thaw in COLD water, which is much faster; never thaw rodents by leaving them setting out at room temp.-
& if you thaw rodents in WARM water, they can spoil on the outside (where they thaw faster) before the insides are completely thawed. Remember that
frozen foods aren't bacteria-free...it's there but dormant in freezing temperatures, & when you thaw it, bacteria comes to life & causes spoilage.

At some point, we can smell if rodents are spoiled...but snakes have FAR better noses than we do & will know things that we don't.

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Now here's where I'll correct you. In the wild snakes will eat carrion(dead & decaying animals), so please don't start saying things that you don't actually know. It's one thing to make recommendations but don't go throwing false facts.

Wow.... shots fired... lol

Yeah, while pre and poop is disgusting, I doubt a snake will care.... My guess is that your bp is just doing what they do best.... not eating. Lol

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

Wow.... shots fired... lol

Yeah, while pre and poop is disgusting, I doubt a snake will care.... My guess is that your bp is just doing what they do best.... not eating. Lol

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Nah. I just hate when people state things making it seem like fact wen it's their opinion or something they wouldn't do, not actually because they know what they're talking about.

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Originally Posted by Neal

....Now here's where I'll correct you. In the wild snakes will eat carrion(dead & decaying animals), so please don't start saying things that you don't actually know. It's one thing to make recommendations but don't go throwing false facts.

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Yes, obviously in the wild many or most snakes will eat carrion, some more willingly than others, and depending on their level of desperation.

That is still not what we (at least it's not what I-) aspire to for our pets, as rotten prey is not without health risks.

Saying snakes will eat carrion is as scientifically inaccurate as saying snakes will not eat carrion. There are over 3000 species of known snakes and maybe 50-100 have been observed to possibly eat carrion. There is no field research to prove conclusively that snakes are carrion eaters. Some are opportunistic feeders and some are very selective in the type and living state of their prey.

It would be just like saying primates speak English.

Can't correct someone with an inaccurate claim with and inaccurate claim. I am an expert in making inaccurate claims so that makes me qualified to state this :p

Well... All I can say is that sometimes rodents that get left in my cages overnight are pretty darn ripe the next morning, and at that point none of the species I own will willingly eat them, even my kings, and they will eat anything.

All generalizations aside, I assume we all want what's best for our pets, & not to debate whether or not they'll eat road-kill if they have to for survival?
And we shouldn't be getting rodents that are spoiled from suppliers, or knowingly feeding those that spoil because of later mishandling...bleah!

I've seen a few odd things in my years of keeping many kinds of snakes, & as long as we're all veering a little off topic, I'll be brief. It's just "food for thought"-

I took in a young Crotalus mitchelli (speckled rattlesnake) that came out of someone's woodpile one January. Months went on & it refused all food. Finally I ended
up tube-feeding it (Gerber's chicken baby food) once a month, several times, to keep him out of a downward spiral. I offered a f/t fuzzy before I left for work one
morning, and when I came home that night I was greeted with the awful aroma of dead rotting fuzzy. I got my hemostats to remove the stink but before I could,
my phone rang. I got off the phone just in time to see that young rattlesnake gulping down that putrid mouse! W-T-? As I got over my shock, I gave it more
thought as to why that happened, & my guess is that normally his prey would have been envenomated, which starts the breakdown (aka 'digestion') process.
Snakes have an acute sense of smell, so I believe that only when that mouse (which could well have been his very first meal too) began to "ripen" did it give off the
right odors to trigger his instincts to feed. Thereafter, he recognized mice (live or f/t) as food without waiting for them to spoil. :D He grew big & healthy too. :snake:

That does make sense... They are used to prey that has been... tenderized. Lol

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Originally Posted by SDA

Saying snakes will eat carrion is as scientifically inaccurate as saying snakes will not eat carrion. There are over 3000 species of known snakes and maybe 50-100 have been observed to possibly eat carrion. There is no field research to prove conclusively that snakes are carrion eaters. Some are opportunistic feeders and some are very selective in the type and living state of their prey.

It would be just like saying primates speak English.

Can't correct someone with an inaccurate claim with and inaccurate claim. I am an expert in making inaccurate claims so that makes me qualified to state this :p

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It's actually not. I never once said every single snake eats carrion, I said snakes will eat carrion. I never said they only, nor did I say they always. Yes, snakes are opportunistic feeders, and some are very selective like ball pythons, but again my statement which is proven fact and actually has been documented in the past that snakes will eat carrion. I never mentioned a specific species. So you may want to go back and actually do some research before you assume that my statement is inaccurate.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

All generalizations aside, I assume we all want what's best for our pets, & not to debate whether or not they'll eat road-kill if they have to for survival?
And we shouldn't be getting rodents that are spoiled from suppliers, or knowingly feeding those that spoil because of later mishandling...bleah!

I've seen a few odd things in my years of keeping many kinds of snakes, & as long as we're all veering a little off topic, I'll be brief. It's just "food for thought"-

I took in a young Crotalus mitchelli (speckled rattlesnake) that came out of someone's woodpile one January. Months went on & it refused all food. Finally I ended
up tube-feeding it (Gerber's chicken baby food) once a month, several times, to keep him out of a downward spiral. I offered a f/t fuzzy before I left for work one
morning, and when I came home that night I was greeted with the awful aroma of dead rotting fuzzy. I got my hemostats to remove the stink but before I could,
my phone rang. I got off the phone just in time to see that young rattlesnake gulping down that putrid mouse! W-T-? As I got over my shock, I gave it more
thought as to why that happened, & my guess is that normally his prey would have been envenomated, which starts the breakdown (aka 'digestion') process.
Snakes have an acute sense of smell, so I believe that only when that mouse (which could well have been his very first meal too) began to "ripen" did it give off the
right odors to trigger his instincts to feed. Thereafter, he recognized mice (live or f/t) as food without waiting for them to spoil. :D He grew big & healthy too. :snake:

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I get what you meant, I was simply stating that what you said is inaccurate, that's all. I wouldn't feed anything decaying as well, I won't even feed my snakes something that has freezer burn even though I know for 100% fact it won't harm them.

I have thawed frozen prey in hot tap water for over 3 decades. Bacteria growth on the outer most part of the prey occurring in 30 minutes? Guess I missed that in science class.

Rodent Pro vs Big Cheese vs Whoever......a rat smells like a rat. I doubt quite seriously if in the wild a snake insists it's prey take a shower and apply some smell good before it eats it.

Your snake is doing what all snakes do at times with of course BP's being the best at it..."I don't want to eat right now".