I made the jump.....

[Stormyva]

Well everyone said it would be addictive.

My wife and I went out last night and purchased our second snake, a Bay of LA Rosy Boa.

I also learned something last night.......
DO NOT TRY TO HEAT A SMALL MOUSE FOR MORE THAN 10 SECONDS IN THE MICROWAVE!!!!!

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[phaedrus]

Stormy, don't microwave the mouse to defrost. You run the chance of uneven defrosting of the internals. Let it thaw in the fridge and then let it come to room temperature. If you want to speed thaw, put it in a plastic zip baggie and place it in a bowl of hot tap water. Rather than changing the water as it cools, you can place another bowl on top and run a stream of hot tap water into it.

This is a good topic and I'm sure others will be along with their ideas. Also, check out the feeding forum and the caresheets. Good info in both.
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[eddie]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>DO NOT TRY TO HEAT A SMALL MOUSE FOR MORE THAN 10 SECONDS IN THE MICROWAVE!!!!!

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Hmmm... I smell pork!

Anyways, microwave is a NO NO!
What I do is put the food in a ziplock baggie , run a sink full of hot water and drop the bagie(s) in and forget for a while.
When the water is cool, the food is usually thawed out BUT needs to be warmed again.
Another sink of hot water and about 15 minutes later, I feed the small food working my way up to large food.

Also, small food like pinkys and some hoppers only need one sink full of hot water to be ready to eat.
Just check on the food and you'll be able to judge how long to go with the water.
To check, just squeeze the heads and see if they are cool or warm.
Cool means still frozen in the brain. Warm means thawed.
Never feed any snake a partially frozen food item! EVER!


Also, if the bags leak, no big deal. I just blot enough to stop dripping and feed wet in that case.
A little extra water never hurts the snake.
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[Stormyva]

The mouse had already been thawed by soaking in warm water, but the water had gone to room temp and I wanted to to warm the mouse up prior to feeding.
The intention was to warm it just a little bit.... by a means that would be faster than soaking in warm water.

Oh well.... we all learn from our mistakes [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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[Kohm]

i think using just killed mice is a 100% no-need-to-thaw method. But of course, live is mroe expensive, unless you breed em.

good luck with the rosy boa! They're lovely!
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[phaedrus]

Kohm, F/K is fine, but the freezing process helps kill any internal parasites so they won't be passed onto your pet. (Not to mention that you can stockpile for a couple months and not have the hassle of actually raising them - the mice/rats, that is). Of course, you can recycle. If the snake won't eat the F/K for that feeding, then freeze it.

Hey Eddie, (or anyone else, for that matter)....what's the shelf life on frozen goods?
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[travis66]

Its happening.next thing you know you will have 10 to 15 of them.lol
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[BadKarma]

Ooops made that mistake once to. Of course I was sixteen and lazy. Anyway I had to buy rissa and joe a new microwave after that. I'll never make that mistake twice. I never thought of the hot water thing. I always just put them on a heat pad and rotate them ocasionally. Oh I know next I'll put one in the rotisary, Or maybe my autoclave that should be interesting. LOL [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]
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[PythonChick]

When I was working with birds of prey, that are being fed LARGE F/T rats, the animal care chick put one in the microwave for me to speed up the defrosting process. Well, she did this for a few minutes and the rat EXPLODED in the mocrowave!! It was REALLY gross, and of course, she learned her lesson!


[addsig]

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[Ophiophagus-hannah]

I tried thawin a rat on the top of my oven using the heat of the pilot lights. It has worked all the time for me. Except one time when I forgot the rat was there!!! My wife asked is something burning?!? I realized what it was and the rat had burnt hair on it. Disgusting is what I call it! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_redface.gif[/img]
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[XzyluM]

I always use warm tap water to thaw the prey. It seems to work best for me. As for getting your second snake...good luck with it. You'll have plenty more in no time.
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[Tom]

Note to self If I am ever at Stormyva house do not eat anything that was cooked in the microwave. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]

I thaw my rats ( 12 to 15 large rats ) out in Rubbermaid tub and they are not in any type of bag they are just floating around in the water.
The extra water on the rats does make it easer on the boa to swallow the rat and they get a little water to drink to. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]

1st. I put the rats in cold water and let them sit for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

2 nd. Then I drain them and put them in hot water for about 1/2 hours.

3 rd. I drain them one more time and add some more hot water for about 10 to 15 minutes.

4 th. Take them out of water and cut or poke some holes in the belly.
This is so the rat does not start to bloat when it is inside of the boas stomach after a day or two.
This is way some of your boas regurgitate the rat after 3 or 5 days. The rat is rotting inside of your boa before it can digest the rat.

5 th. Now they are ready to be feed to my boas. Just let them drip dry first. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[addsig]

	1.1 One Male and One Female

	regurgitate Throw up. Reptiles will regurge when they feel they are in danger or if they have some sort of health issue. If your reptile has regurgitated his/her food please seek help!