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Thread: Thawing Rats

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    BPnet Veteran SCWood's Avatar
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    Thawing Rats

    So, whilst thawing out my kids' food today, I noticed something. If I thaw in a bag to keep them dry, it takes 3x as long! This time, I plopped them in hot water and BOOM. 45 minutes and DONE. Didn't even change the water. I stopped doing it because I thought it affected whether my snakes ate but that's not so. Thoughts? Opinions?
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    Super Moderator bcr229's Avatar
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    The thermal conductivity of still water is 0.58 Wm−1K−1, while still air has a thermal conductivity of 0.024 Wm−1K−1.

    In layman's terms, it means that heat transfers 20-25 times more quickly to/from an object in water than to/from an object in the air.

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    Re: Thawing Rats

    If you have a vacuum sealer you can vac seal them and heat in water as well. Best of both worlds. Thermal conductivity of water and they stay dry. To take it a step further, you can get an immersion circulator and heat the water to the exact temp you want. So in theory you could heat the water to 98-100°, vac seal your mouse/rat and in 45-60 minutes the whole thing will be heated through to exactly the temp you have the water at.

    I have not dine this but I plan to try it when I switch to frozen/thawed. It helps that I already have an immersion circulator.

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    BPnet Lifer redshepherd's Avatar
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    Some snakes don't like water-logged food, so I guess that's where the dry baggie comes in. But if yours don't mind it, then gee lucky! LOL

    I'm feeding my Dumeril's Boa medium rats, and takes some 5 hours to thaw even in a bag in hot water... So I just put a frozen rat on the counter in the morning, air-thaw, and when I come back from work 9 hours later, it's thawed.




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    BPnet Veteran BWB's Avatar
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    Yeah, I do the same thing. Take the rat out of the freezer in the morning (in a sealed baggy) and when I get home from work, or later in the afternoon, if I'm not working, I put the baggy on top of my hot water tank. It is a bit warm, not hot, and helps bring the rat up a few degrees. this seems to work as my ball and boa are usually pretty good eaters.

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    Re: Thawing Rats

    I vac seal mine and then put them in warm water. I have too many snakes that won't eat soggy rodents.

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    BPnet Veteran Streller's Avatar
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    My rats don't take very long to thaw at all.

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    BPnet Royalty EL-Ziggy's Avatar
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    Re: Thawing Rats

    My medium rats take about 2 hours to thaw inside a ziploc bag immersed in warm water. I have had a few bags with small holes that allowed the water in. In those cases I just put the rats on paper towels and blow dry them before serving them to the snakes.

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    BPnet Veteran SCWood's Avatar
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    Re: Thawing Rats

    Quote Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy View Post
    My medium rats take about 2 hours to thaw inside a ziploc bag immersed in warm water. I have had a few bags with small holes that allowed the water in. In those cases I just put the rats on paper towels and blow dry them before serving them to the snakes.
    Same here. My blow dryer has gotten many of my picky snakes to eat.
    Quote Originally Posted by bproffer View Post
    If you have a vacuum sealer you can vac seal them and heat in water as well. Best of both worlds. Thermal conductivity of water and they stay dry. To take it a step further, you can get an immersion circulator and heat the water to the exact temp you want. So in theory you could heat the water to 98-100°, vac seal your mouse/rat and in 45-60 minutes the whole thing will be heated through to exactly the temp you have the water at.

    I have not dine this but I plan to try it when I switch to frozen/thawed. It helps that I already have an immersion circulator.
    I would if I had the money for one x.x
    Quote Originally Posted by redshepherd View Post
    Some snakes don't like water-logged food, so I guess that's where the dry baggie comes in. But if yours don't mind it, then gee lucky! LOL

    I'm feeding my Dumeril's Boa medium rats, and takes some 5 hours to thaw even in a bag in hot water... So I just put a frozen rat on the counter in the morning, air-thaw, and when I come back from work 9 hours later, it's thawed.
    Yes, but mine didn't seem to mind
    2.1 Ball Python(Sterling, Boots, & Eden)
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    0.1 Bearded Dragon(Beatrix/Trixie)
    0.1 Kitty Cat(Willow)
    1.0 Chihuahua(Panda-Bear)
    2.0 Betta Fish(Finnley & Pescado)
    0.2 Rats(Mishka & Laney)

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    BPnet Veteran Jabberwocky Dragons's Avatar
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    When I used f/t, I'd always defrost using a heat pad. Couldn't be easier and no water logged rats.

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