Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have some frozen rat pups and small rats that I would like to switch my snakes over to and my question was how long do I let them sit outside of the freezer, in order for them to thaw out? I dont want to wait too long where they start to rot, or too soon where they are still frozen in the inside. I also have a small colony of rats and threw some rat pups in the freezer so they would stay small for my little hypo boa later on. I hope that was ok? please let me know as I am new to this method.Thanks

should I just put them in the microwave??? haha jk

I think many would agree we've all been through this starting out.

I've heard and have used some methods below:

Oven on PRE-heat
Microwave on Defrost
Leaving out for half a day
Out in the sun
In a warm room (Boiler Room)
Hot Water

and many more... lol

The most convenient way for me these days (efficient, fast, safe) is to drop them in a tub of hot water.

Some leave them in the bag, some don't.

You would start with cool-warm water, than make it hotter each time you change the water, let's say every 5-15 minutes.

Too hot initially can kind of freezer burn them.

Their stomachs and soft parts will deteriorate while the meat and thick parts are still frozen.

Then you're left with a cold rat with a hot, exploded stomach.. lol.. not fun.

I would do something like this...
Throw them in a large tub with warm water.
5 minutes later, make it hot.
5-10 minutes later, hotter.

Unless they are large-jumbo, they usually are ready in half hour, sometimes less.

They also soften up so you can switch them to a smaller bin halfway through the process.

I simply pass the rat through my hand to lightly roll off ay excess moisture.

The rat still is a bit wet, but not dripping. The snake also gets the benefit of that bit of water still on him.

My snakes have NO problem taking them like this.
Even my ball pythons take f/t rats this way!

I'm sure you will get lots of equally valid ways to do this from other members.

Hope this helps.

Best Wishes, Joe
-----
Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

I've been thawing my frozen rodents in hot water for years.
Depends on how many rodents (size and quantity)and the volume of water used.

As a rule, I never use water over about 118 to 120 deg.F.
For example: 2 extra large rats generally are completely thawed within 30 minutes at a start temp of 118 deg.F. in a 5 gal. bucket with an ending body temp of about 87 deg.F. This is an acceptable food item temperature for a snake with a good feeding response.

Use lower starting water temperatures for smaller items like mice and rat pups, otherwise you will wind up with a ruptured abdomen when the snake puts the squeeze on the prey item, as previously mentioned. Uncontained viscera present a potential health risk for snakes, as entrails would be considered an oral foreign contaminant.

The optimum end temperature for water thawed food items would be close to 100 deg.F, as thats near normal for rodents. In Boids temperature is one of the primary recognition senses.

Another benefit of the water thawing method is exposure reduction from flies and other airborne contaminants.

I'd recommend a good remote IR temp gun to maintain required temperature parameters for this method.

Good luck.
jsc

My method, is take them out of the freezer 24 hours before, and put them into a fridge. I then take them out of the fridge 2-3 hours before, and let them become room temp (or close.) I then put them in hot water for 10-15 min. I keep them in the ziplock the whole time. I don't like to have dripping dead rodent. Then they are ready to go. Hope this helps.

Works like this for us too !
I guess it depends on how much effort your willing put into simple task ?

>>My method, is take them out of the freezer 24 hours before, and put them into a fridge. I then take them out of the fridge 2-3 hours before, and let them become room temp (or close.) I then put them in hot water for 10-15 min. I keep them in the ziplock the whole time. I don't like to have dripping dead rodent. Then they are ready to go. Hope this helps.
-----
TnK

As for killing the rats...do a google search on a CO2 kill box. I've heard that putting them in the freezer live can take a long time to kill them and they suffer. The CO2 puts them to sleep humanely. My $.02.

That is what I do, I bought a canister from a paintball shop near my home and the right attachment to stick a rubber/plastic hose on the end, I drilled a hole into a small (shallow) tub and depending on how many I need to euthanize, change tubs to wider ones. Too tall of a tub would probably use too much CO2, shallow is better IMO. I fill my small canister every 50 or so rats, $4 at the same paintball store.
Hope this helps!
Steph S.
ps- I do this because my first pet was a rat, I now have 35 snakes and I think it is a much less personal way to kill a rat than 'thumping.' Less messy too! I champion PK or FT!

thank you guys for all your input i appreciate it. Just on a curious note, does pre killed mean CO2'ed and then fed without freezing or does it mean knocked out right before feeding? Because I see PK or FT alot online for feeding styles.

FT is what you know it to be 'Frozen Thawed.' PK is just 'Pre-killed' regardless of how the animal is killed. You can do it however you'd like.
Some just thump and feed prey still 'twitching' to the snakes, not quite killing them; I did something similar, but in such a way that the rat/mouse would die within a few seconds (hopefully) and I'd feed off a portion to snakes and the rest would be bagged and frozen for times of need, or you can CO2 them. I liked the latter for the reasons I mentioned, and because their death is cleaner. I used to have blood spattered randomly at times manually killing the rats and it made me feel, well, pretty messed up!
I did also have a slightly taller narrow tub for euthanizing single rabbits too. I CO2 my bunnies as well, because believe it or not, a rabbit can be pretty effective at injuring a snake when fighting for it's life! I have scars from kicks received from rabbits, not all of them that bad either, but they don't seem to heal well for me.
I'm sure there are others more experienced here that can chime in if I've missed anything or there are differing opinions. I did try something before I got my canister once, after a lot of internet research... I think it was to mix baking soda and vinegar, to get fumes that would do the same basic thing. I didn't do well with that one, huge mess and not a lot of fumes LOL! I think CO2 is easiest personally.
Good luck!
Steph S.