Thawing frozen animals

[Hawkeye]

Just a quick question, do you put the frozen mouse/rat in a plastic bag and then thaw it or can you dunk the little bugger in water by itself with the same effect? If you use one or the other way can you also explain why?

Cheers Hawkeye

 

[Bendragon]

I defrost out of the bag, 2 reasons
1/ putting each prey item in a bag would really give me the irrits.
2/ The snake can get a small ammount of water from the prey item after thawing.

 

[Fangs]

Hehehe you ready to feed gummy already??

just get a stinkin rotten frozen vermin and swim him in a small container of hot water straight outta the tap.I usually do a second time once the water cools just to make sure.

 

[africancichlidau]

I do Zactly the same as Fangster, besides frozen rat tails do a good job of putting holes in the bag On all occasions when I have thawed in the bag I have always ended up with a bag full of water anyway, lol. Just out of interest I fed fresh kill to my Bredli tonight for the first time and I don't think I have ever seen them strike so hard and fast as they did tonight

 

[cyber_crimes]

I place rodents in a bag in warm water to thaw out then place them under a light to warm them up a lil before feeding

 

[Nicole]

Into the warm water for me too...
Thaw, add more warm water to heat to 30 degrees if neccessary...

 

[sobrien]

How long does it usually take to thaw completely?

 

[pythonss]

frozen rats

hi everyone.

we use to throw them into hot water but have found a better and cleaner way..
we lay the frozen rats in a plastic tub put a lid on then we float the tub in the hot water. this way we have nice dry rats at the end of the process.
to make the process faster all you need to do is turn the rats like on a bbq
cheers paul.

 

[stretch]

warm water in a cup for me too! I replace the water when it gets cold until I can feel that the fodder is no longer frozen.

Up until Buffy came along I had only been using fuzzy mice so it never took long. I noticed that the hopper sized mice for Buffy (which were only a snack really I discovered) took a little longer, but I find it an easy way of thawing.

Sue

 

[Hawkeye]

Ok,

Mouse fuzzies went into cup of hot water (if my other half sees this I am a dead man) and when it seems warmed through I fed Chili with the barbeque tongs (very technical here). After a couple of denfensive strikes he got the idea and grabbed the mouselet in the middle. Then he prceeded to turn the mousey and ate it bum first. Didn't make much of a bulge so thawed another. That one went down head first and really fast (ie he took bite I turned to turn off kettle for coffee and mousey gone on return!) so thinking that they were small fuzzies tried a 3rd one and that went down bum first as well. Now he is lying at the bottom of his enclosure to full to move! :lol:

These things eat more than me!

Cheers Hawkeye

PS: Fangs, "Gummy" will no longer tolerate his nickname :lol: :lol:
PPS: Dlutz I thought you said it was hard to get these guys to feed? (said with total tongue in cheek and knowledge that your olive is finally eating :lol: :lol:

 

[Fangs]

Ok I wont call Snappa Gummy anymore.

Its good to know that they are feeding so soon eh Hawk?

Ours fed on friday night 24hours after the plane ride.For what its worth I think that Roy had them feeding really well before they were sold.Probably left them hungry in the week before sending as well (they looked like they were in hunting mode to me anyway).Another reason why I think they settled in so well is because they seem to me to be very confident and not at all nervous,maybe they had been handled a fair bit prior to coming.

Dunno about giving 3 rodents in one sitting though.IMHO I think 2 is ample considering the snakes age and size although someone might disagree with me on that.

How big were the fuzzies Hawk? compared to the ones in my freezer?

cheers

 

[Magpie]

I agree with afrikaan, if i use a bag, i get a bag full of bloody water anyway. I just use whatever bowl or jug is in the washing up, rinse it out, fill with hot water from tap, add rat. When water is cool, replace water. Repeat once more, check for frozen spots in rat and feed to snakey.
PS I reckon if it ate 3 then three was fine.

 

[africancichlidau]

Mein Gott, someone agrees with me

 

[Magpie]

Mein Gootness, did I actually say that?

 

[Hawkeye]

The fuzzies were smaller than the ones you had Fangs. Probably the total feed was a bit larger but not by much. Novelty factor of him feeding and I got a bit carried away

Nah I also think he needs to go up in size in food maybe to a pinky rat or a little larger maybe. He seemed to wolf down the fuzzies pretty quickly so he could go up a size or 2 probably.

Will feed him again next weekend I think.

I agree that he may not have been fed for a while prior to being sent as he was stalking from the top of the cage at a very early point.

He is funny though as he tried to climb vertically up the cage and his now ample tummy overbalanced him and he fell over.

Cheers Hawkeye

 

[Fangs]

Hawkey,
We fed ours the frozen ones that you saw and they handled them ok.That size I think is just about perfect for them,could even go a touch larger.
If you are thinking about rat pups then probably get ones only a day or two old they would equat to that size of pinkie.

cheers

Ps have he got a branch to climb around on?

 

[Hawkeye]

No no branch yet...looking around at the moment. He spent most of his time IN the fluorescent tube on Saturday....little bugger!

Yeah may try a rat fuzzy.....see what happens.

Cheers Hawkeye