Hey guys, I hope this question isn't too dumb lol; but I was wondering how do you know if you've potentially overheated your f/t? Solidus has had four consecutive feedings now and everything has gone smoothly, he's got a great feeding response and is growing fast, I just fed him however and before I offered him his rat fuzzy I noticed the rat was /extremely/ soft and "squishy" and was bleeding from the mouth slightly after thawing it. Solidus struck and coiled and the rat did not explode or anything, but some more blood came out of its mouth, which makes me wonder if I possibly overheated the rat. I thaw his f/ts directly in hot water and let them soak until they feel thawed, this time I just feel I either used water that was a bit too hot, or left the rat in the hot water for too long - - I made a quick run to get groceries while the rat was thawing, I was gone about 15 minutes more than the usual time I left the fuzzies thaw.

I've heard and read about the trauma that is exploding rats lol, and I want to avoid that from happening, but yeah, what are the signs of an overheated rat??? A bit of blood doesn't bother me and I doubt it bothers my boy, either, considering there is blood involved in the wild as well sometimes, but I'm mostly worried about an exploding prey item. Was the blood/squishiness just the quality of the rat, or did I accidentally heat/thaw it too much? The three other fuzzies I've offered him were nowhere near as soft or squishy as the ones I have in stock in the freezer rn.

And before anyone asks; the water I use is hot but definitely not /boiling/ lol.

Thanks in advance for any comments/help.