Meal Prep

[Danielle(THM)]

Since I haven't seen this thread before, What's the most used method of prep for f/t mice and rats? I know all people use different things, and personally I like my microwave, just curious about what you guys use.

[daniel1983]

....with a microwave you are just asking for a mess.....

When I feed f/t, I put the rodent in a ziploc bag and put it in hot water until it is defrosted.

[Smulkin]

I always used to do it like so:

Pop em out of the freezer and into a ziploc (whatch them lil claws can perforate the bag)

Fill Igloo (or styro) cooler with hot water

Pop in bag and retreive when ready to roll

If they got wet i sat em under a heat lamp a few minutes

Touched their heads/noses to the bulb for that bright heat stamp

Present to snakes who would almost invariably WHOMP on it.

[Adam_Wysocki]

You should never use a microwave for thawing frozen rodents. Microwave radiation actually cooks the rodent from the inside out. Even at the lowest setting a small degree of their internal tissue becomes cooked "meat".

A reptiles stomach is not designed to process cooked meats and you could end up with an undigestable mass rotting inside of your snake.

Thawing with warm water, in the refrigerator, or on a counter in a brown paper bag are much safer ways of thawing prey for your animal.

-adam

[Danielle(THM)]

I think you may have misunderstood, I understand that microwaves are bad for thawing, and I'm certainly not cooking them or making a mess, one second on low doesn't do either, only gets it warm enough. And I thaw them out before hand.

[TekWarren]

if your using the microwave for 1 second...then what's the point?? Aside from thinking about how gross that is if you use it for your own food as well, Adam is right about cooking the rodent from the inside.

If I have to do any thawing I use a hot water method similiar to what smulkin explained. I would not recommend thawing by leaving the rodent out for an extended period of days that is not healthy either.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I think you may have misunderstood, I understand that microwaves are bad for thawing, and I'm certainly not cooking them or making a mess, one second on low doesn't do either, only gets it warm enough. And I thaw them out before hand.

Microwave radiation is extremely powerful even the smallest amount of time can change the composition of the rodent on the molecular level.

-adam

[Gecko Den]

Microwave radiation is extremely powerful even the smallest amount of time can change the composition of the rodent on the molecular level.

-adam

Then you get a bunch of pissed off X-Rats running around, blowing stuff up, it isn't a pretty sight...

[sirhissball]

I know that I feed every Friday, so I just grab a mouse out of the freezer and put him in a plastic bag when I leave the house. When I get home from work, the mouse is completely thawed and at room temp. A little time underneath a hair dryer gives that extra heat signature....boom great feeding responce every time.

[amcgltdchix]

Ya know, I wonder if thats why my girl woudnt take food yet. I didnt put the mouse in a bag- but I would dry it off some. maybe if I defrosted it in a bag and fluffed it with the dryer it would help more.


do most of you feed in the tank or in a seperate box?