rotten feeders or doing something wrong?

[AlbertaBP]

I stopped buying frozen rats from the store and have been sticking to mice, my pythons are big enough and should really be feeding on rats.

I usually take out the night before, and keep in the fridge to unthaw, then before feeding, i place them on top of the stand for around 20min, then apply heat with a blow dryer, keeping the blowdryer somewhere around a foot or so away. and leave untill warm..

then proceede to feed, and always have legs falling off tails always fall off everytime. stomacks rip open if grabed by belly.

and i only have this problem with the rats, and the very odd mouse.

am I doing something wrong or is there feeders rotten?

[RobNJ]

Most likely improperly frozen/stored or thawed and refrozen. If mice is your preference, you can always feed multiple per feeding.

[Daybreaker]

I usually hear about feeders falling apart when people heat them up too much or too fast, but your regimen for preparing frozen feeders is very similar to what I do and I don't have issues. I sometimes get the odd mouse that gets ripped open if a snake squeezes too hard, but it doesn't sound like you're over doing them.

Maybe they were partially thawed prior to you getting them (ie they got somewhat thawed while being delivered to the store) and once you refroze them and then prepared them for your snakes the limbs and skin were more fragile than usual?

[brdash549]

I used to have that problem when I would use warm water to thaw. It takes 2-3 hours but I put em on a plate about 3-4 inches under my heat lamp. I usuall feel around the back of the head to make sure its warm enough. I feed weenling rats so if your feeding smaller then it wont take as long. Don't know if this will help ya, but its worth a shot.

[Slim]

Sounds like your rats were not frozen correctly. Try changing suppliers if possible and see if that helps. I don't see anything wrong with your thawing procedure.

[RetiredJedi]

I do almost the same as you except I take them out of the fridge in the morning and they sit in the snake room while I'm at work. Then right before I feed I hit just the head with the hairdryer. don't know if it makes a difference but I haven't had any exlpodes yet. I had one a few weeks back but I was trying something different using a heating pad and it didn't work at all.

Maybe going from the fridge and then 20 minutes later getting warmed up by the hairdryer might be the difference...I don't know for sure.

[kitedemon]

I would look to a new supplier, that is odd given the way you are describing the de-frosting methods.