Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was feeding Steve (the ball python) last night, and he had eaten his first mouse, so I was warming up the second mouse for him, but when I set it in the cage with the tongs, it kind of burst a little on the stomach. This nasty, horrid smelling stuff was oozing out, and when I tried to remove it with the tongs, more fell out. Very unpleasant! Has this happened to anyone else? what can I do to keep it from happening again? Should I defrost my rodents by leaving them out of the freezer for a few hours instead of putting them in a baggy and putting that in warm water? Also, I usually heat the rodents under a heat lamp for about 10-20 minutes after I have defrosted them. I'm thinking one of these things I'm doing must be wrong, and the heat might be causing the insides of the mice to go bad quickly, or maybe I was just too rough with the tongs?

Any suggestions so I don't have to deal with another disgusting mess?

It is from overheating, don't bother with the heat lamp. Just toss the baggie into hot water for 30 seconds before you feed, that is all I do.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

Same thing has happened to me with a large rat. That smell is horrible, you'll never forget it. I've learned my lesson. I take out my mice/rats and let them thaw at room temp. Once fully thawed, I use a blow dryer to heat them up individually right before offering them to my snakes. Does the trick everytime. They love it. I've also constructed a warming tray simply made of a piece of very thin sheet metal with a large UTH fixed to the bottom. Plug it in and the metal heats up slightly making it warm. I lay the mice/rats on it before offering as well. It works.

T

Yes it's the heat - if you've got your mouse to room temperature you only need it under the heat lamp for about 5 minutes (depending on the wattage of your bulb).

Actually if you only stick the head under the heat lamp you'll do fine with no explosions - they just need to key in on the heat from the head and heads don't explode.

Also rats have a tougher hide - still explode but it really takes some frying to get them that hot.

Ewwwwww
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.34.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.4 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.0 Lizards of unknown origin

i've had it happen while the snake was eating and there was no turning back... whats gross is the mouse's internals flopped out and my snake had to slurp them in ... it was definately gross thank goodness i cant smell lol
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession... if only every one had this much fun

some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

>>i've had it happen while the snake was eating and there was no turning back... whats gross is the mouse's internals flopped out and my snake had to slurp them in ... it was definately gross thank goodness i cant smell lol

It is gross when they explode while they are eatting them. Like you said no turning back lol. But then again if they squeeze too hard (live prey) and they explode lol. I know not the same lol the smell.
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1.2.0 ball python (aragorn, arwen,`eowyn)
1.0.0 100% het pied (frodo)
1.0.0 columbian boa (squiggles)
1.0.0 rat snake (alabastered)
0.1.0 corn snake (baby)
0.0.2 whites tree frog (trevor, kirmet)
0.0.5 pacific green tree frogs
3.2.0 cats (rockie, bs, brownie, lerrado, kole)
1.3.0 kids (dilyen, dakota, chyanne, sierra)
Brian n Chrissy
"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

that happened to me a few days ago! why cant you smell?
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jake

my addiction:
0.0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
1.0 amelenistic corn snake (zyklon)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

well maybe i was a little misleading... i can barely smell.... i have a deviated septum....the inner part of my nose is broken...had it fixed and the doctor broke it again while taking the splints out lol
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession... if only every one had this much fun

some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

Another one burst, and this time I just let it warm up to air temperature, and I heated the head up a little bit with a hair dryer. I gripped on it lightly with some tongs, and the belly burst, revealing more gross moosh!

Do you think this might be a bad batch of rodents? the insides don't look like insides at all...it looks rotten. Very very gross.

Well, what should I do? Luckily the little dude isn't hungry today anyways, so I'll leave him alone until next week's feeding. It just seems weird that this hasn't happened before and it's happening now.

It could be the batch of rodents. Go out and get a frodent from petco or some similar place, and test it with the same method, see if the same results happen. If the same thing happens, then you know it is something you are doing, if not, then you know its the frodents you have. I prefer to place them in a bag and put them on hot water, that if they do pop, its at least inside the bag, not in the cage. Or worse yet, the carpet... I feed live now a days, but when I was feeding f/t, I used the baggie method. Good luck,

~Johnny

Sounds like a bad batch. You might want to try letting the rodents defrost at room temp and let them take the day to do it. It takes a little longer to get them ready to feed out but is more natural for the snake to eat a rodent that is thawed slowly then one that has had its insides partially cooked by being defrosted with heat of any kind. Snakes also seem to take them better when they are prepared this way. We take out our mice and small rats in the morning and they are ready by late afternoon. Large rats get taken out the night before and are ready in the morning also.Also gives them that frsh killed feel to them.Just my 2 cents.

Question? Not saying you did but were these mice refrozen? Like you tried to feed but they refused then you refroze and tried latter? The freeze then refreeze messes things up in side. Along with warming up quick. hope this helps
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1.2.0 ball python (aragorn, arwen,`eowyn)
1.0.0 100% het pied (frodo)
1.0.0 columbian boa (squiggles)
1.0.0 rat snake (alabastered)
0.1.0 corn snake (baby)
0.0.2 whites tree frog (trevor, kirmet)
0.0.5 pacific green tree frogs
3.2.0 cats (rockie, bs, brownie, lerrado, kole)
1.3.0 kids (dilyen, dakota, chyanne, sierra)
Brian n Chrissy
"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

You aren't thawing the rodents out........you are cooking them. This makes the skin very weak and it breaks when constricted. Leave a mouse out over night (or for an 8-12 hour period) and feed him off without warming him up any further. You shouldn't have a problem after that........unless the rodents were thawed out and refrozen again......that will also cause them to explode (rotten bellies).

Corey

your mice have started to taint..they have been partially defrosted at times then refrozen......I'd bet on it.....

,.........be careful.....thaw fast and feed faster

hot water and or a lamp.......but do not cook them........
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JYReptiles

Scales-N-Tails Reptiles ltd........Pa

>>your mice have started to taint..they have been partially defrosted at times then refrozen......I'd bet on it.....
>>

Agreed. I've seen similar with thawed and refrozen mice. The more you thaw and refreeze, the more fragile the skin becomes which causes ruptures.
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PHWyvern

i have had this happen its my opinion that i make the water to hot and the stomach crackes open

I think it was probably a combination of a few things. I think that the mice might have been defrosted at a previous feeding...that's definately a huge possibility. From now on any mice that have been defrosted will either be eaten, or thrown out.

I also think that the heat might have had something to do with it. (the first one at least...which was a lot worse than the second one it happened to), so I'm going to try just defrosting them by leaving them out from now on and then offering them to little Steve.

Finally, I also think it has to do with my supplier. It's a local reptile shop and I would guarantee that the mice have been defrosted at least once, and/or that they probably were not frozen right after being killed. I don't think I'm going to do much more business with this guy, as he never seems to have the right things I need, and he tends to try to sell me things I don't need at all. That's why I now have to try feeding Steve small mice until I get some better ones for him.