• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Thawing out prey items

M

machinegun

New member
I currently thaw out my frozen pinkies by letting them sit out at room temperature for about an hour the placing them in a cup of warm water for about 5 to 10 minutes. I was wonder if this was good way to thaw out frozen rodents prior to feeding?

Thanks

Machinegun
 
Hey,
That sounds fine. There's really no specific way that you "HAVE" to thaw out you CS's food. I have one mug that I use just for dethawing purposes, I fill it up with warm water then place the pinky in it, once the belly is soft then you know it's ready, you don't want it too hot. But yea the way you thaw it out is just fine.
Holly
 
You can just pop frozen mice in a cup of hot tap water (not hotter than you can put your hand in) and that will work just fine. Pinkies take about 2 minute to thaw (more if the water is not very hot). Adult mice take longer, about 15 minutes or so. But you must make sure they are completely thawed.
Mark
 
I've tried both the microwave on thaw, and this last time, hot water. My snake readily ate either, but you don't risk the worry of explosion :blowhead: when you use water :) As long as the mouse was nice and warm, my snake snatched it up and ate it.
 
Microwaved Mouse

I too use the hot water method, and when the mice are ready I try to dry them with a paper towel.

Once I was in a hurry and did try the microwave method, it didnt work so well, and unless you want to see the insides of the mouse, I wouldnt suggest it. (I ended up throwing the mouse away and not even attempting to feed it)
 
I must be lazy! I just lay them out on paper towels and leave them ther for about 4 hours. No fuss, no mess. :cool:
 
The only thing I noticed is that my snake ate a warmer mouse more readily, than one that was only warm. I make sure that it is really thawed and warm now so that she will take it quickly. To be fair though, she was slow last week but she was just about to shed. That could have been a factor as well.
 
I don't know if this is right, but I just put frozen mice in a container with my snake and he eats it when ti's the temperature he wants!
 
Canadain Eh?, you should not do that, You MUST wait for the mouse to fully thaw out before offering it to the snake.

Im lazy like CAV,I just put the mice by my window on newspaper and wait 1-3hrs (depending what size mice).

Alex
 
Machinegun;

Don't really know if it's proper, but will tell you, what I do.

I take the "Frozen Mouse", then I create a piece of ice, that is comparable......I practice, by watching, very closely, how long it would take the ice cube, to completely "thaw", once I have that #, I'm ready, just a little bit less time, snakes don't like their food over-cooked.:)

Just what makes me feel good. No scientific evidence assumed or implied.

Good Luck!
 
I'm not sure that would be completely accurate. I think the internal organs of the mouse would be somewhat insulated, so they would thaw more slowly than an ice cube of the same thickness. My snake takes very warm prey much better than only slightly warm. I try to thaw it to about the same temp as a live mouse. Around 99 degrees. I just feel it to see if it's nice and warm.
 
Meg,
I'm going to have to defer to you on this one. I think I might of mis-spoke, or didn't explain it right. I meant it as a "general" rule.

None of us newbies really know, we just try, our damnest to improvise, even on thawing a mouse.

As always, your friend, Lesa

BTW, Meg is 100% right, get that mouse warm!
 
I'm a relative newbie myself, but so far, my snake has been the expert on it. She started on live until she got to adult mouse size. Now she eats f/t. She seems to take the food faster when it's really warmed up, and she'll constrict if I give it a little movement by pulling on the tail a bit. I think she's going to be able to go to medium sized mice soon. I fed her on Sunday, and by Monday evening she was already out and around the viv. Hmmm, she' digesting at high speed :eats02:
 
I too, take the lazy way out I 'spose. Like CAV and Alex, I just take mice out and let them thaw for a few hours on a paper towel.

Just try and keep the cat away ... ;)

Quigs
 
That makes me laugh! I had put my snake in her feeding box with the mouse, and walked out of the room to go wash my hands and let her get started on swallowing. When I walked back in the room, there is my cat with her head in the box, checking out the mouse and WOW bonus snake! Fortunately, she didn't have any idea what to do with either of them, and was just sniffing everything. I chased her off, and made sure the door was closed after that. Didn't slow my snake down at all though. She just kept working on that ol' mouse!
 
I used to place the frozen pinky on a designated plastic spoon, and leave it under the snake's light for like 10-15 min until warmish. They seemed to get dried out a little bit that way.

Now I get a coffee mug of hot tap water, bundle the pinkies up in plastic wrap, and dunk them in the hot water for a few minutes. They stay moister and thaw quicker.
 
Since my snakes don't seem to have a problem instantly recognizing the smell of little mice, I put them directly in a cup of warm water. Also, because sometimes they have mouse poo and bedding stuck to them (grr), I rinse and repeat. I prefer to serve them up nice and warm. Yum, Yum.

Cheers,
Jason
 
I used to use the cup method, but after knowing which cup the last rat pink was in, somehow I no longer wanted to use it for drinking :p

I put the prey in a baggie (keeps it drier), let sit in hot tap water in the sink until the belly is soft. Thaws quickly this way, no danger of exploding rodent :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top