Safe Defrosting of Frozen Rats (refresher course)

[slim6y]

It's fully open for discussion!!!

(this has been discussed before - but a refresher course that comes up in new posts may help people decide what is best for them)

In the years I have kept snakes all my rats are killed and frozen.

Whether they're purchased from pet-shops or from private rat breeders.

There has been occasions I have fed fresh killed - but only as available.

The main advice is to defrost your rat at room temperature. It is only advisable to defrost in the fridge if you're not feeding for a couple of days.

There is also a suggestion that the scent of a defrosting rat could trigger feeding responses.

Once mostly defrosted, a quick heating with warm water can also help trigger a feeding response plus it adds valuable water to the meal.

Usually I defrost in a dark area of the house through the day, and come evening I heat the rats in water, and serve fully thawed.

And you do???

 

[Aussie Python Lover]

I defrost at room temp for 1-2hrs then I drop in warm water to heat a bit b4 I give them thier food...

But previously have dropped in a snap lock bag and dropped in warm water.

I also know of people putting rats/rabbits or whatever else in buckets of water and leaving in the sun...

 

[Kristy_07]

If prey item is small, I just put straight form the freezer into hot tap water, and change water a couple of times if necessary. However, now that I'm feeding larger food items, too, I find it easier to leave medium or larger sized rats out for a few hours, and then warm in water before feeding.

 

[grimjob]

I get mine out of the freezer and place in hot water until defrosted but I only defrost fuzzy rats atm

 

[pythonmum]

I use a ziplock bag in hot water. I have a special bucket at home with RATS written on it just for this purpose.

Thawing in the fridge isn't really an option due to lack of space and family protests. I don't like thawing at room temp, because it encourages bacterial growth. Hot water is quick.

Things NOT to do:
- Thawed one in water from an instant boil machine once - never again! The rat cooked and popped. Snake still ate it with no ill effects, but it was disgusting and really stunk.
- Thawed a mouse on top of an enclosure vent once - never again! Snake went crazy with the scent.

 

[Snakewise84]

i use a ziplock bag too but put mine in the fridge in the morning till late after noon for their feed

 

[wokka]

I feed only thawed frozen rats mice,quail,rabbits and chickens. I thaw about a kilo at a time in about 10 liters of hot water straight from the tap. Hopper mice or smaller take about 10 minutes in hot water to thaw a couple of hundred, and an hour or so to feed out. We feed everything on one day so when we collect the first bucket of thawed food we thaw another couple of buckets. That way we can thaw and feed out a 1000 or so feed items on our feeding day and minimise the time for which food is "hot" and so multipying bacteria.
Whilst there is normally no issue if thawed food sits around for a while there is always a risk that the food may contain "bad" bacteria which may multiply to lethal levels at warmer temperatures. Obviously the more food items you feed the higher the chance of coming across a potentially lethal food item.

 

[TigerCoastal]

Depends on when i remember to get them out of the freezer, if i get them out:

Before work they spend the day in the fridge

After work its room temp on the bench (i finish work at 2pm)

Tea time is a bucket of warm (under 40degrees) water

I wont use water over that temp as i have had tails deglove just picking them up from the water temp cooking the tail.

I find that doing it this way the rat is still occasionally frozen in the middle before i warm it to give to my snakes so i just leave it in the bucket of warm water for a little longer.

 

[Tikanderoga]

At the moment, I am unthawing them on top of the eclosure. The area 'round the heat emiter is always warm, and a small metal plate (ok, it's a metal cover from the stove turned upside down) serves as warming dish.
I usually place the mice in the dish and leave it for 30 mins, then turn them 'round for another 30 mins. After a total of 1 hour on the warm plate, the mice are hand warm.
My male jungle python can be a fussy eater and sometimes I have to resort to cooking "mouse soup" -> a bowl of hot water, place the warm mouse in the hot water for 5 - 10 sec, take it out and dry it off on kitchen paper. now the mouse has a warmer temperature and my jungle always takes them - no exceptions.

 

[slim6y]

Size really does matter!

I find my large adult rats can still be frozen in the core several hours after taking out of the freezer.

This is why speed is of the essence - to stop the blood, outer muscles and defrosted organs from beginning to grow large amounts of bacteria.

Other threads have indicated something I would have said 'unsafe' and defrosting in the fridge is reserved for xmas turkey and chickens without their organs. Defrosting in the fridge is not recommended for rats unless you plan on feeding a couple of days later.

So far all our ideas are fairly similar.

Not using water above 40'C is also a good idea - with some added water during the defrosting.

Microwaving is not an option.

 

[Kristy_07]

The rat cooked and popped. Snake still ate it with no ill effects, but it was disgusting and really stunk.

I thought feeding anything cooked was no good? Cooking/microwaving changes the protein structure entirely (I think?!?), and they would never eat anything cooked in the wild, so I thought it would be a bad idea? Can anyone confirm or deny this?

 

[scorps]

Put them in ya microwave on high for 5-7 min

all jokes aside, let them defrost in luke warm water

 

[slim6y]

I thought feeding anything cooked was no good? Cooking/microwaving changes the protein structure entirely (I think?!?), and they would never eat anything cooked in the wild, so I thought it would be a bad idea? Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Not all proteins are changed by heat....

And microwaving is not an option (as suggested) but not because they wouldn't 'cook' anything in the wild....

In reality - humans (in their early form) also never cooked anything in the wild.

You can sometimes physically see the result of protein changes in heated food items.

Take eggs - the egg white (rich in proteins) is translucent and almost colourless. When you heat it - the long chain protein molecules begin to stretch and fracture (just like when you bend plastic) and they become reflective (and absorbent) to light. This is a change in protein structure - as far as I am aware it's a non-reversible physical change.

I do not know if there is an actual chemical change as well....

 

[Kristy_07]

I was just doing a quick google... the thing I had read about it was to do with enzymes, actually, not protein, but protein changes, also.

Wiki summarised quite nicely... Cooking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For myself, I would still rather stick to the assumption that cooked meat might not be okay for snakes...

 

[ShaunMorelia]

Take eggs - the egg white (rich in proteins) is translucent and almost colourless. When you heat it - the long chain protein molecules begin to stretch and fracture (just like when you bend plastic) and they become reflective (and absorbent) to light. This is a change in protein structure - as far as I am aware it's a non-reversible physical change.

I do not know if there is an actual chemical change as well....

I know there is a definate taste change

 

[TA1PAN]

Ive been keeping snakes for 2years now and i have always defrosted my rats/mice in hot tap water then dry them of with a paper towel.

 

[Snakelove]

I put my rats straight from the freezer to a bucket filled with hot water.

To those people doing it differently, why don't you do it the 'fast' way? Is it just your personal preference to thaw it out at room temp? I mean, frozen to bucket of hot water is quick, easy and the water is a bonus for the snake.

Also, the ziplock, what do you do when you're defrosting rabbits or a large prey item? Is there a ziplock that size?

Cheers,
Nick

 

[TigerCoastal]

To those people doing it differently, why don't you do it the 'fast' way? Is it just your personal preference to thaw it out at room temp? I mean, frozen to bucket of hot water is quick, easy and the water is a bonus for the snake.


Cheers,
Nick

It might be faster to put them in a bucket of hot water for the whole process, but if the rat is already defrosted or partly defrosted when put in water it will be heated through faster than a frozen rat, so if like me and have an hour off between jobs and then an hour after the second job before you need to go to bed it actually works out faster to have the rat/s defrosted.

 

[shortstuff61]

Also, the ziplock, what do you do when you're defrosting rabbits or a large prey item? Is there a ziplock that size?

Yep, I use the ziplock bags for rabbits for my Olive pair, think I got them from Coles. They could easily fit 3-4 rabbits but they're a little more expensive, from memory they're $3-$4 for a pack of 10 or 15....

 

[Snakelove]

It might be faster to put them in a bucket of hot water for the whole process, but if the rat is already defrosted or partly defrosted when put in water it will be heated through faster than a frozen rat, so if like me and have an hour off between jobs and then an hour after the second job before you need to go to bed it actually works out faster to have the rat/s defrosted.

Well that's true, it's convenient for you. Each to their own I suppose hey?