Feeding f/t rat problem...kinda

Every once in a while when trying to feed my snake a f/t rat the rodents skin will come off when I try to grip it with the hemostats and there will also be a pile of goo after the snake swallows the prey. Do you guys encounter this? Is this to be expected or is there something up with my rats?

I have had tail skin come off, but never their body skin. And I dont ever recall seeing "goo"

Usually happens when you leave the rat in the water for too long when defrosting or the water was too hot.

I guess I should ask how you defrost your f/t?

Ughh... never had that happen! :puke:

I've never had it happen with hemostats but I have had it happen with one of my strong feeders; squeezed so hard it just went ....POP. Pretty nasty....ewwwwwwwwwwwww

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

Usually happens when you leave the rat in the water for too long when defrosting or the water was too hot.

I guess I should ask how you defrost your f/t?

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I take them out of the freezer, put them into a baggy, and let them thaw in the refrigerator. When they get soft I put them under a heat lamp for about 10 minutes and offer them to the snake.

I used to let them thaw out in room tempurature but I was told that was a bad idea because their insides might still be frozen even though they may seem thawed.

You can get a lot of rodent degradation if you 1) heat it too fast or 2) heat it too long.

I let mine thaw to room temp (which varies in time, depending on how many rodents and their size).

I then use a human heating pad on the LOW setting until they are warmed throughout. You'll have to have two heating pads (top and bottom) or turn them over like hot dogs on a grill. And for the very last couple minutes I will blast them on high to give them a nice heat signature.

I have had "goo" (and exploding!) problems when I got them too hot for too long. :D

JonV

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Ughh... never had that happen! :puke:

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I have a picture of the left over goo and guts but I figured noone would want to see that.

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

I have had "goo" (and exploding!) problems when I got them too hot for too long. :D

JonV

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Aren't bacteria wonderful. They survive freezing, do the job they're meant to do, disolve organics, so well that we not only get to see decomposition in action but, if we're lucky, get a little private show as well.

Who doesn't like an explosion now and then?

Sounds right to me, I dunno strange :confuse:

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

You can get a lot of rodent degradation if you 1) heat it too fast or 2) heat it too long.

I let mine thaw to room temp (which varies in time, depending on how many rodents and their size).

I then use a human heating pad on the LOW setting until they are warmed throughout. You'll have to have two heating pads (top and bottom) or turn them over like hot dogs on a grill. And for the very last couple minutes I will blast them on high to give them a nice heat signature.

I have had "goo" (and exploding!) problems when I got them too hot for too long. :D

JonV

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Ahhh ok. I'll cut down on the heat up time and see how it goes. Thank you. :)

If you have problems with your snakes striking your prey when you cut down the heat time you could try giving the f/t a blast with a hair dryer for a couple of minutes to bring up the heat signature; i tend to focus it on the head if I ever need to use the hair dryer.

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Originally Posted by wilomn

Aren't bacteria wonderful. They survive freezing, do the job they're meant to do, disolve organics, so well that we not only get to see decomposition in action but, if we're lucky, get a little private show as well.

Who doesn't like an explosion now and then?

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I know, right? Who needs hand grenades when you could just chuck hot rats at the enemy? The smell is just as effective :-)

JonV

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

If you have problems with your snakes striking your prey when you cut down the heat time you could try giving the f/t a blast with a hair dryer for a couple of minutes to bring up the heat signature; i tend to focus it on the head if I ever need to use the hair dryer.

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I'll have to be sneaky about that one. I don't know what the wife would say if she caught me blow drying dead rats with her beauty products.

I had to buy a chest freezer because she hated the idea of having dead animals next to her ice cream. The woman is very serious about ice cream.

:8:

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Originally Posted by Earl

Ahhh ok. I'll cut down on the heat up time and see how it goes. Thank you. :)

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No prob!

As other people have said, a hair dryer to the head of the prey item works too (just make sure the body is thawed/warm).

I tried sticking the prey item up to the ceramic heater I have in the room. It works quite well....and it freshens the room with a lovely rat scent.

I was thinking of getting one of those industrial food warmers (it's basically a 500 watt pig lamp) and arranging the rats in a circular fashion underneath that. It would give them a good head to tail heat graident, and you could probably do a lot at once...I might have to go to that system when the number of BP's gets out of hand :)

JonV

LoL...we have 3 refrigerators in the house I sorta took over the basement one. Little by little lean cuisines were replaced by bags of rats... 0 Trans Fat!

I have had it happen. It was a nasty shipment from RodentPoppingPros, I believe they must've thawed and been refrozen at some point. The tissue degradation wasn't noticeable until they were thawed. *YUCK*

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Originally Posted by Earl

Every once in a while when trying to feed my snake a f/t rat the rodents skin will come off when I try to grip it with the hemostats and there will also be a pile of goo after the snake swallows the prey. Do you guys encounter this? Is this to be expected or is there something up with my rats?

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My tails break all the time - :rage: drives me NUTS!! I've also had the goo thing happen a few times when they constrict on the prey it shoots out both ends :O It's not pretty, but they eat it just the same :P. IMO I wouldn't worry about it. How are you thawing them? Heat lamp? Hair dryer? In a baggy submerged in hot water? You could try a different approach to thawing them - that may (or may not) help. :weirdface

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

I know, right? Who needs hand grenades when you could just chuck hot rats at the enemy? The smell is just as effective :-)

JonV

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HAHA! :rofl:

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Originally Posted by lenastorms

My tails break all the time - :rage: drives me NUTS!! I've also had the goo thing happen a few times when they constrict on the prey it shoots out both ends :O It's not pretty, but they eat it just the same :P. IMO I wouldn't worry about it. How are you thawing them? Heat lamp? Hair dryer? In a baggy submerged in hot water? You could try a different approach to thawing them - that may (or may not) help. :weirdface

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I use a heat lamp. I'll try out a few different ways and see how it goes.

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Originally Posted by jknudson

I have had it happen. It was a nasty shipment from RodentPoppingPros, I believe they must've thawed and been refrozen at some point. The tissue degradation wasn't noticeable until they were thawed. *YUCK*

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What he said ^^^^^^

I used to get this every now and again from one supplier when they got to the bottom of the freezer and tried to palm me off with the ones that were either refreezes owing to thawing during delivery or just left too long in the freezer.

Sometimes you can tell by the look of the animal but generally the smell is the main clue - Taking back one stinking rat and enquiring if they would feed that to anything they cared about seemed to make the point.


dr del

For me I just keep it simple. I feed med rats and they come 10 to a pack. I pull out two packs and let them sit 4 hours in my snake room at room temp, around 80. Then before I offer the food idem to the snake I hold the head of the rat to a 150 watt bulb for about 30 seconds then the snake should take the item right off the tongs. Don’t hang the food item over the snakes head, offer it to them on there level and this will make the snake feel more secure. If it is not taken I then leave it close to the snake and check it the next morning. I always feed at night so the dead rodent sits in the cage less than 8 hours if not taken

I do the same with smaller food items; I just dont defrost them as long.

Also make sure you are getting your rats from a breeder that knows how to do F/T rodents. I have gotten the soup rodents in the past and it is no fun, they were used for gator food.

I hope this info helps, JMHO.

Tracy

I got this shipment from the Mouse Factory. Are they reputable as far as you all know? I switched to them after a purchase from rodentpro with bags loaded with rat poo. :(

I've never had the soggy skin problem. However, I have had several snakes hit rodents so hard that rodent hair was left on the forceps. :weirdface

Yo Spaniard! The hair dryer worked out nicely. I blasted that rodent for a few moments but I was a little unsure how long to do it. He didn't feel too warm but my snake gobbled him down.

How long do you all hold them up to the dryer?

Glad to hear that! :)

I usually just blast them with the hot setting for 10-20 seconds.