Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just recently ordered frozen rats from RodentPro thanks to the advice from people here. I received my rats yesterday and they were in excellent shape. I took 4 out and thawed them slowly on the back porch for about 4 hours. I placed them in 4 of my snakes cages at about 3 o'clock yesterday and left them alone. This morning I woke up and checked on them and I still have 4 (now stinky) dead rats in thier cages. I took one and put it in a ziplock and ran hot water over it and tried to "serve it up" to my other snakes. No takers! So now I wasted 4 rats. This could get expensive!!! Should I wait until they're really hungry before I try this again?? What worked for you? Any advice will be appreciated.

I don't think that they would have been warm enough just by thawing them on the back porch. You want them to be around 90-100 degrees.

I thaw mine by puting them in ziplock bags and then placing these in very warm/hot water for a few hours. Then right before feeding I replace the water with new warm/hot water to make sure that the rodent is nice and warm.

When I offer the food I do it by dangling the thawed rodent with a set of BBQ tongs and moving it a little until the snake takes it. There is one snake that won't take them this way, I need to place the rodent in the cage with it's head under the snakes hide. She only eats this way once every 2 weeks, she used to take mice off of tongs but when switched to rats she became a little more of a pain.

You should let them get nice and hungry for a week or two, then only thaw one at a time. That way if one doesn't eat you just keep offering the same one to eat of them. Once one takes a F/T then thaw another one and continue where you left off. This should help to cut down on any waste.

Mine never take rats that I didn't thaw by taking them straight out of the freezer and running them under hot water until they were warm through and through (meaning I squished them to check). I also like to hold the 1st half of the body under a heat lamp and then I dangle the rat in front of the snake (this is why I use feeding tubs). Enticing usually does the trick.

I prefer to use hot water to thaw out my rats thanks to a food handlers class I took. Leaving meat out (on the counter, back porch, whereever) to thaw invites all kinds of nasty bacteria to start growing on it. When human food items are thawed that way they usually get cooked and thus the bacteria die - unless the meat is rare (then you get food poisoning). Thawing it under hot water minimizes meat to air contact and also the amount of time between the fridge (where bacteria growth is slowed/halted) and the heat of being cooked (bacteria die). Ignorance is bliss - I couldn't eat meat for about a month after that class because of all fun stuff I learned about bacteria and meat products!
Snakes don't get cooked food though, and their bodies aren't evolved to handle decomposing flesh (rats left out overnight). Sooo...I use hot water to thaw my rodents Mebbe it's overkill, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Just something to consider!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

You could try scenting the F/T item with a live mouse or rat's smell if you have one. I still feed my ball mice but when I switched to F/T I scented the feeder tank with a live mouse, which she was used to, and then used tongs to dangle the mouse around in front of her. That usually does the trick.
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0.1 ball python (Kilimanjaro)
1.0 amel corn snake (Houdini)
0.0.1 leopard gecko (Charlie)
1.1 cats (Kitty & Milo)
0.1 mouse (Creepers)

check out this FAQ on thawed feeding tips at our site.
Pro Exotics FAQ- switching th thawed rodents

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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Great advice!
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Kyle
www.royalvariations.com

"be safe, be happy and dont let anyone make you afraid" David Coverdale

First of all - are these guys currently on or off feed - switching them to f/t when they are off feed or feeding sporadically is an uphill battle - if this is the case then you might want to wait for spring.

Second - you'll need to check to make sure that you have the items completely thawed and heated to about 98*-100* (I like to stick them under a heat lamp for a few minutes before feeding). Then it's probably best that you feed them using tongs if you can get some that are relatively long it will decrease the chance that the snake confuses your hand warmth with the feeders. You'll probably have to wiggle and dance them around a bit to get your snakes to key in on them.

I've found most of my snakes have taken f/t without a problem - they may take a minute or two to figure out what to do with it but after they've examined it and watched it bounce around they are willing to take it - as they get accustomed to f/t the wiggle and dance is not necessary they just grab and eat. For the harder ones its a matter of getting them accustomed to the whole transition - feed them live off the tongs for a time or two - then switch to pre-killed off the tongs and then to f/t off the tongs.

Good luck!
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Tosha

All the ones I offered the f/t to were eating everytime I offered (live) food. I wanted to try the overnight method first before I try the whole puppet trick. I will get them switched! I have a freezer full of rodents that says I will!!!! Thanks for the advice.

I've been wanting to get my python to switch over. He's alittle over a year and has small scares from fighting mice I have tried f/t in the past but I didn't get into it as I obviously should have; got discouraged with the rejected bodies tossed away! Reinspired by the posts, I'll get a package of frozen mice @ the Edison show and get him on them for sure! I love him & deserves the best!

ok... well i have a male 3 foot bp and he has never ate a pre-killed animal in his life. i've tried but never gotten him to eat them. he likes live, i've only had one problem ever with live mice.

i say stick with the live mice, i like live.

and i like the live mice coz it gives them lots of exersize chasing those lil rodents around. that's y i like live.

As long as the rodent was thawed quickly (not leaving out overnight) it can actually be refrozed ONCE safely. I have a red tail boa that refrozen mice. If it has been thawed twice and they still dont eat it needs to be tossed.

Courtney