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Heating up mice with hot water?

Is warming up a dead mouse ok?

  • Yes

    Votes: 81 98.8%

  • No

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Total voters
    82
Phoeb

Phoeb

Captain Awesome
I have always thawed/warmed up mice in a food bag when its feeding time. Just out of curiousity I was wondering how many other people do this?
My mom went in "ewww thats really disgusting" mode and was saying about the germs it creates on the dead tissue? I never really considered this and was wondering if its something I should not really do if I want to keep my corn healthy.
 
I know microwaving them would be bad, so I always just thaw them under hot tap water. Seems fine to me, but I'm no expert, so I'm curious to see what others would say.
 
Tell your mom leaving it out to thaw naturally is more akin to leaving your dinner for the night out to thaw for awhile, lots of bacteria :p

The faster you can get them eatten before they get all icky the better.
 
Phoeb said:
I have always thawed/warmed up mice in a food bag when its feeding time. Just out of curiousity I was wondering how many other people do this?
My mom went in "ewww thats really disgusting" mode and was saying about the germs it creates on the dead tissue? I never really considered this and was wondering if its something I should not really do if I want to keep my corn healthy.
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Well, first of all, pretty much everything is covered in germs and bacteria.

There are many ways to warm up your snake's food. As long as it's done relatively quickly, there won't be time for harmful bacteria to start propagating in the mouse. Bottom line is that the mouse you feed your snake needs to be at, well, mouse temperature. I might enjoy munching on a chicken leg right out of the fridge, but your snake doesn't have the capability to warm up its food inside it's belly for proper digestion like you and I do.

B
 
I always thaw mine in a small plastic bag set in warm water. I always feed the thawed mouse to the snake as soon as I know it's completely thawed.

I was also told that a snake is more likely to regurgitate a colder mouse. I figure the warmth makes it more like a freshly killed mouse.
 
It's a good thing that corns aren't really as delicate as some people around here think they are. :grin01:

If I'm feeding 40 hatchlings, I thaw 40 pinkies. After the thaw, they're probably at about 100*. I keep my place at about 66* ambient temp. So by the time I get to pinky number 10, the remaining pinks are probably less than 80*. By the time I get to number 30, the pinkies are probably close to ambient temps (lower than 70*). No one pukes as long as they're returned to 80*-85* temps after eating. I've never seen any correlation between pink temps and acceptance by a picky snake. I've seen hatchlings refuse a hot pink only to accept a cold one that had been washed in soap and rinsed well. :shrugs:
 
Last edited:
Phoeb said:
I have always thawed/warmed up mice in a food bag when its feeding time. Just out of curiousity I was wondering how many other people do this?
My mom went in "ewww thats really disgusting" mode and was saying about the germs it creates on the dead tissue? I never really considered this and was wondering if its something I should not really do if I want to keep my corn healthy.
Click to expand...
yEA its all good as long as it eats it and its not bad and rotting i guess
 
Emanon said:
I just thaw mine in the morning cup o joe.

Puts a little hitch in my giddyup!!!
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That is just WRONG!

Anyway, we do pretty much the same thing as Dean... thaw multiples and as we feed them off they get chilled to room temp. We have very few regurges and those are usually due to other factors (such as an overly hot day here in the desert and an ineffectual swamp cooler or the snake is in blue).

I thaw all of ours directly in the hot water, replacing the water when it gets cold (every 10-15 minutes) until the mice are nice and toasty. Then dry them off, slit the backs, and feed away. I don't bother with baggies at all.


Jenn
 
I thaw right in the water as well.

How's about those ones left out overnight for a finicky eater only to find it all gushy and disgusting the next morning? :puke01:
 
water

straight in the water
I get a large tupperware dish, fill it with tap water as hot as it can get, throw in all the feeders, wait about fifteen minutes, drain the water and fill it up with hot tap water again, give them about ten more minutes, take them out of the water, place them on a trey layered with paper towels and start feeding. They drop to house temps pretty quickly but there is never a problem.

I HATE warming them in a bag. It basically cooks them and enhances any nasty odors. You get mice with a urine odor, thaw them in a baggie and they smell ten times as bad. Thawing IN the water helps to eliminate odors.

a normal feeding is 35 adults, 17 hoppers, 3 fuzzies and 4 pinkies.
Then you throw in the hatchlings that are still here and you can add 43 pinkies to the mix. That would be one big nasty bag of stink...LOL
 
Eve always takes at least an hour to approach her f/t, so I figure the little thing's probably cold by the time she gets to it. It's a pink, so it has no fur to keep the heat in. But she's never regurged or refused, so I assume she's fine.

Oh, and to keep this post relevant to the thread, I put the pink(s) in disposable sandwich bags; then the bag goes into a Gladware cup full of hot tap water for about 10 minutes or so while I get Eve in her feeding tank. I figure the water cools pretty quickly, so I re-fill the Gladware with another batch of hot water and let it sit for another minute. Then Robert is your mother's brother. :)
 
Roy Munson said:
It's a good thing that corns aren't really as delicate as some people around here think they are. :grin01:
Click to expand...

Amen to that. :rolleyes:

On another note, a few weeks ago I was in a hurry to get a jumbo rat thawed out so I popped it in the oven. 200* until the red button pops.

I've always joked about throwing one on the George for a little while...you'd even get that nice little scraper thing for easier handling once it's warm.
 
TrpnBils said:
I've always joked about throwing one on the George for a little while...you'd even get that nice little scraper thing for easier handling once it's warm.
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Nice

I just use a jar of hot water and feed them to my snakes soaking wet. The only one I don't do this for is my one year old female Brazilian rainbow boa who is a very picky eater and will only eat dry thawed or live mice. Since I hate paying for live mice, she gets dry thawed from a plastic bag placed in hot water.
 
Mrs InsaneOne said:
Interesting Dale... just be sure the Ziplock doesn't have a hole in it while you're holding it there as you type! *snickers*
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Heh heh heh!! Or as Emanon wrote to me, be sure to have a chili dinner earlier that evening.....they'll be thawed in an instant! :roflmao:

regards,
jazz
 
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