exploding mice

[Reptilekyle64]

:crying:This thread comes with a complaint aswell as a question, i know F/T mice and whatnot get all nasty due to necroiss and tend to break easily, And i seem to have a batch of mice that were almost all popping, I had to clean off guts all over my ball pythons face tonight and he wouldn't even eat the mouse after the whole chest cavity exploding when he struck. My question is is there any reason why some mice exploding seeming easier then others or is there any way i can lessen this, this match of mice did kinda look skinny. :crying:

 

[Emily1188]

EEWWWW... sorry that happened to you.

Were they thoroughly frozen?

 

[Lennycorn]

How are you thawing them??

 

[Reptilekyle64]

This paticular batch came from daytona so they were thawed a lil then refroze and I use a space heater type thing

 

[Lennycorn]

Well I guessing here but the "imports" might not like the defroze and refroze to much. And thawing them with a space heater might be too fast, but that just guessing here.

 

[Reptilekyle64]

I let them thaw to room temp, then i warm em

 

[pwargcm]

cant find it right now but someone held a home study on this.

if you thaw to quickly rodents skin gets weaker and theyll tear or blow open when coiled and bit hard.

they suggested thawing in room temp for a while then putting in warm water. thawing in fridge overnight and warming with water before feeding. or to thaw in cold water and to warm with water again right before.

this could be your problem i think. i usually just throw mine in some tap water and let them thaw out for a good while near the snakes to get them smelling and ready to "hunt". and then warm them up by running hot tap over them right before feeding. never had one blow up, have had a couple rips, but nothing that wasnt eaten. hope this helps.

 

[Crimson.Dawn]

there overheated. when they get to warm gas builds up in the intestines of the mouse, it was warmed to hot to long. I always feel my f/t mice before I give them to a snake(gross i know). if it feels like a balloon, I left it under the heat lamp to long and in the dumpster it goes.

 

[RobbiesCornField]

I always just throw my mice and rats into a cooler full of the hottest tap water I can get. I put the lid on the cooler, and leave it for about an hour or so. I don't normally have an issue with popping mice, except for one of my baby boas, and my Japanese rat snake. They're the only ones that pop the mice because they hit them so hard.

 

[CaptBogart]

Oh no, you should defrost in cool water then drain and fill with really hot water about 10 minutes before feeding. It's best to think of them as the meat you'd defrost for yourself. You wouldn't defrost your steak under hot water, so why mice?