Successful first feed!

[Naom9Anne]

So, I posted a little while back about my little girl not feeding, well, feed attempt number three and she struck and constricted and actually fed!

I do have a query though, it is possible that she constricted so quickly and with such strength that she may have popped the rat herself? I have checked thawing processes to make sure I haven't thawed incorrectly but, to put it nicely, I have a delightful mess to clean up (so happy she fed that I am ignoring how lovely this clean up will be!)

Any advice or personal stories of exploding rats during constricting out there?

Thanks!

[The Serpent Merchant]

There are some real horror stories about rats exploding. It's just part of feeding frozen thawed rodents (don't worry it won't happen every time, I've only had it happen 2 or 3 times)

[Naom9Anne]

Just making sure I hadn't just done something horribly wrong! I didn't even see her strike, the rat was there one minute and gone the next

I thought I might be in luck today as I saw her head slightly out of the hide whereas she usually has herself tucked right away, unfortunately I have some lovely guts clean up to do....haha!

[Furf]

I have had 1 explode over 10 years. So It should not happen too often. But gratz on her feeding.

[Archimedes]

I've only had 2 make a real mess, one was right out of a horror movie though. Enough to be really careful about how I thaw these days. Haha!

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[Naom9Anne]

Just stuck my hand in to remove any nasties (gloved of course) as I was lucky that she took her feed on the cold side and moved immediately to the hot hide. There was a tiny bit of blood and a small grey mass (perhaps some organs which popped through the skin as she constricted?) Sound like anything to worry about?

[The Serpent Merchant]

Just stuck my hand in to remove any nasties (gloved of course) as I was lucky that she took her feed on the cold side and moved immediately to the hot hide. There was a tiny bit of blood and a small grey mass (perhaps some organs which popped through the skin as she constricted?) Sound like anything to worry about?

Nothing I would worry about. Sometimes you get a wad of guts, many times they squeeze the poop right out of the rat. It's not going to hurt the snake, just remove it from the cage. If you have a really big mess you might have to remove some or all of the substrate in the cage.

At least once per month you should remove the substrate, disenfect the cage (I suggest Chlorhexidine solution or F10) you need to let the disinfectant sit for 20-30 minutes, then wipe it up, finally put new clean substrate in.

[Naom9Anne]

All gone! Once she had moved it really wasn't as much as I first anticipated!

I'm not familiar with the disinfectants you mentioned, will they be available here in the UK? I was just ordering some reptile disinfectant from a UK website for cleaning...

[The Serpent Merchant]

I know that the company that makes F10 is based in the UK so it should be. Chlorhexidine should be as well, but I'm not 100% sure on that one.

Edit:

Here is a UK webstore for F10:

http://www.mah-shop.co.uk

[Naom9Anne]

That's brilliant, thank you!