how to properly thaw a rat or mouse

[razeraze]

Originally Posted by louise

star if it has worked for you for years than i would stick to it.

razeraze, as i said gary who owns TRR added that part. he totally believes it is bad to refreeze and he has proof this has killed some snakes. but snakes in the wild are known to eat decaying prey. so who knows. i dont refreeze but if my snake dont eat i leave it in over night and toss it in the morning.

What is TRR?

[brooksie2]

Originally Posted by razeraze

What is TRR?

i was wondering that myself...

[louise]

the reptileroom forums.

TRR Forums (Powered by Invision Power Board)

[Masahiko]

Thanks for posting this, Louise. It should help a lot of people out.

i dont understand why you cant just put the rat in warm water, Stargazer? the water grosses you out, but putting a rat in the oven doesnt gross you out? I doubt you are cooking it much if at all. But cooking is definetely not a good thing. I guess if it works, it works, though.

[Stargazer]

I'm not attached to warming in the oven. But I do like thawing them in the fridge overnight (or during the day). I know they get completely thawed that way. Then, there's just the matter of warming them. I've also used heat lamps and hot water.

[louise]

it is good to thaw them over night. i thaw rabbits that way. but rats and mice i do as i stated above.

rick, i have come to really like this site and i enjoy helping the members out any way i can.

[hartsock]

I usually let mine thaw enough to squish them flat and then drop them in the toaster on the lightest setting. Brings them to just the right temp, but I have found my boas like them with a little bit of butter on one side where the pythons seem to enjoy grape jelly....go figure????

[Special_Ed]

Thaw frozen rodents in their bags at room temperature. This will take several hours for big rats and much less for small items. As Louise wrote earlier, rabbits over about three pounds will require 12 or more hours (it's the fur coats)..
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You can stack or group small things together to have all your day's feeding ready at about the same time. Some of the better suppliers seal the rodents neatly in vaccuum bags, if the vaccuum packed bags are still tight make a small cut in a corner to equalise the pressure; that will limit bleeding in the bag.
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Any kind of cooking is risky because cooked food, especially fats, can be a real problem in the gut of a snake. They can't digest it well so it becomes food for the wrong kinds of bacteria in your snake's stomach.
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One bonus of thawing this way is you will find out if your supplier is sending you fresh meals (or if you've had something frozen too long). Even after 10 hours a big rat should still look and feel and smell edible. If it is black or really flat and shapeless, has a spoiled smell or you can see degraded fats or other mixed body-fluids then it was not the best when frozen or has been around in the freezer way too long. Toss it out!
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That's my advice.

[hartsock]

One word of warning about thawing them in their bags if you use water....warm water seems to make some of the bags not airtight. I don't know if it is the inferior bag or what, but Gourmet Rodents from Petco will allow water to seep in soak the rat/mouse. I usually place in a ziplock bag before putting in warm water and then let it for an hour for mice, less for pinks/fuzzies, more for rats. Then I replace with warm water (not scolding hot or it will sorta cook the prey, but also cause blood vessels to pop) and allow it a warm up period of about 15 to 20 minutes, then serve. Never had too much of a problem with this, but I did find that for a rough scale sand boa to eat, I had to heat the pinkies up in scolding hot water and they were sort of "cook" then it would eat. Every now and then he wants his fuzzies that way now. Even if it is at same temps as others will eat, if he refuses, and I give it about 10 minutes in the hot water, he'll eat right away.