Exploding Rat!

[chrid16371]

I use hot tap water, no hotter than what comes out of the tap. Thaw them in that, then dump and get fresh hot tap water to get them nice and warm. I tried the blow-dryer method, but find that no matter how long I leave them under the heat, by the time I turn it off, pick them up, and offer them to the snake, the external temperature has cooled off too much. Soaking in water gets the internal and external temperatures up enough, and takes longer to cool down. I've considered getting a heat lamp, and seeing if that works better than the blow-dryer.

I heat mine standing right by the enclosure with the rodent in tongs in hand blowing the smell into a open cage door and as soon as it's to temp I instantly put it in and wham every time, the head is all that needs to be around 100. I don't shut off what I use to heat the head, check the head temp real quick and put heat on for another 30 seconds and put rodent right in. The less you do when taking off heat source the less the temp of the rodent will drop.

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[ceh23]

Thawing the night before is 100% the way to go. After I thaw in fridge. I put out at room temp then hear up with heat lamp and they are good to go.

When I did dethaw with hot/warm water I also had guts.


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[BMorrison]

Been there done that! Before I switched to feeding live my male normal probably exploded 2-3 of them. Stunk the house up for what seemed like an eternity! Glad you've got the issue resolved seemingly!


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[HanabiraAsashi]

Thats way too hot, if you were to put chicken in water that hot, it would cook, and so would a rat. Snakes dont want cooked meat. I take mine out of the freezer and thaw them in water thats between 95-100 degrees for about a half hour. After that, if you need to heat it up more, use the hair dryer, but honestly my snakes have no problem snatching them at 85.

[Skeletor]

Thawing the night before is 100% the way to go. After I thaw in fridge. I put out at room temp then hear up with heat lamp and they are good to go.

When I did dethaw with hot/warm water I also had guts.


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This is the way to go....exactly what I've learned to do over the years.