Exploding mice and other questions!

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

zoe87

Not so new Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2012
Messages
44
Reaction score
0
Location
Gold Coast
I have several conundrums that require all your herping brains. I have a 15 month old MD called Hisskers. He is between 80 and 90cm and weighs 200g. I've had him since mid feb and he has shed twice for me and has grown quite substantially. He came to me feeding on adult mice. When I got him they left a very decent lump but now you can't even notice. My question is I still have 9 mice in the freezer and as he is my only snake I don't wish to just throw them out, can I feed him more often or even two mice at once? Also why do the mice pop when he strikes and constricts? They are defrosted in the fridge then warmed in a freezer bag in hot tap water. And my last question is where can I buy rats on the Gold Coast that isn't a pet shop who wants to take all my money? Many thanks in advance,
Zoe
 
1) Feed him 2 mice at a time, he'll have no problems eating them.
2) The mice might be thawing for too long or have previously defrosted maybe, I defrost all mine straight out of the freezer into hot tap water and the only popping rodents I've had are pinky rats when left to defrost for too long, if my smaller snakes don't take them I give them to my adults and they mangle them.
3) Not sure where you'll be able to get rodents sorry, I would recommend DOA rodents but they're low on stock, as many others are atm.
 
get 9 rats slightly bigger than adult mice, feed 1 mouse first then immediately follow by a rat - at the same feeding time, if needed rub the mouse on the rat to get the snake to accept the rat, do this until you have no mice left then stick to rats.

don't use too hot water or they will explode, hot not boiling (you can stick your finger in the hot water). sometimes they just squeeze too strongly.
all shops wants to make a profit, buying from a rat breeder will be cheaper.
 
I find some of my rodents bellies blow out when I'm dryinging them off if I have left them in the water for too long.
 
Yeah feed two. I feed two to most of my pythons. Hnn17's suggestion might be good too so you can get it used to rats. Some take them immediately, some are fussy.

Another reason they could be breaking is due to freezer burn. Do they have all these weird spots on them? It doesn't mean anything in terms of food quality but if they're not sealed in the freezer the moisture will be removed from the skin of the mouse leaving "burns" that look like discoloured spots. This weakens the skin of the animal causing the "blowouts". Particularly visible in pinkies. If you have them in an unsealed container in the freezer that could be the problem.
 
Mice popping will be down to thawing too long.

I like to use a heat lamp to get the temp up after thawing for a few minutes. I havent had any issues and save the messy "guts" clean up.
 
I have several conundrums that require all your herping brains. I have a 15 month old MD called Hisskers. He is between 80 and 90cm and weighs 200g. I've had him since mid feb and he has shed twice for me and has grown quite substantially. He came to me feeding on adult mice. When I got him they left a very decent lump but now you can't even notice. My question is I still have 9 mice in the freezer and as he is my only snake I don't wish to just throw them out, can I feed him more often or even two mice at once? Also why do the mice pop when he strikes and constricts? They are defrosted in the fridge then warmed in a freezer bag in hot tap water. And my last question is where can I buy rats on the Gold Coast that isn't a pet shop who wants to take all my money? Many thanks in advance,
Zoe
You will need mice to get your snake switched to eating rats. Buy some weaner rats (Rodentfarm weaners are 35grams, about the same size as a large mouse). Thaw the rat and mouse in the same water so as to cross-scent the food items; feed the mouse closely followed by the rat. I suggest you dont defrost in the fridge. Just put the frozen mouse in hot water straight from your hot tap which should be no hotter than 50C for say 10 minutes.
The only people who dont want to take your money are the idealist on aps, unless of course they have rats for sale, and then they charge as much as anyone else.If you can find someone who doesnt pay for feed, labour,rent electricity or tax then their rats should be cheaper.
 
Thanks everyone for your quick and informative replies. I shall get my hands on some weaner rats and start giving him the mouse/rat combo then moving him up to the next size. If anyone knows off the top of their head what is the next size up from a weaner rat? Ill also employ the straight hot water thaw as my defrosting method and hopefully there won't be any more stinking mouse guts all over the place. Also what I meant by not having the pet shop take all my money was that I know I can get them cheaper from breeders and that if anyone knows anyone who does on the Gold Coast.
Many thanks
Zoe.
 
weaner rat - hopper rat - small rat. snakes can eat bigger prey than you think, your yearling md will be able to take hopper to small rats.
 
I haven't got pictures of every time it has happened but I have one of it happening the other night. Ill upload it later.
 
In all the years of feeding 6 pythons I've only has one 'explode'
All thawed the same way every time (zip lock bag and hot tap water) I put it down to over enthusiastic cuddling on the pythons behalf.

Never had an issue with swapping to rats either. Kept them on mice until adult mice were to small, next feed slightly smaller rats (so I downsized one feed) then next feed was the upsized rat.
I've only every had one python refuse a feed but suspect it was the rats- different supplier and they didn't seem 'fresh' when I thawed them

I guess I've been lucky
 
Ive never had an exploding mouse or rat.....thank god lol because i think i would vomit. I dry reached the other night just having to put them in his tank!
 
Peter Nicholson's Photos | Facebook

How about a nearly exploding snake instead
Yes
They definitely can eat a lot more than we think
936963_10201128275993560_1781336771_n.jpg
 
At one stage I was getting exploding rats, worked out that the water I was using to defrost was to hot. Dropped the temperature a bit and soaked for longer and have not had the problem again.
 
I'm thinking now the hot tap water may be the problem. My tap water gets super hot. Longqi, I think that very full snakes look like sausages. Pretty, bitey sausages.
 
I was able to get my hands on some fuzzy rats which where the same size and almost the same weight as the adult mice. I gave him one of each and he happily took both. I did a quick defrost in hot tap water and nothing exploded so I'm happy. Thank you everyone for your assistance in this matter.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top