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Well tryed to switch some of my snakes over to frozen rodents since my live rodent supplier has raised his prices threw the roof.. Seem to be a big failure.. None of my snakes seemed interested.. I defrosted under warm water in a plastic bag for about 30mins til they were completely defrosted and I was out of hot water..

How do you all Defrost and Feed frozen thawed...

A lot of my snakes are potentialy gravid so I understand why some didn't eat but a few of the smaller ones who didn't make it to breeding size this season they would seem interested come right up to the rat then all of a sudden lose interested.. I was thinking I could have possibly used too warm of water?? TIPS?? PLEASE before I go ahead and order a couple $100 in frozen rodents ....

Get rid of the plastic bag, put frozen rats directly in a 1 gallon water jug that has the spout cut off (you can razor it off), put the rats inside the jug (no bag), draw HOT water, fill the jug to the top and let sit for 25-30 minutes, repeat 1-2 more times depending on the size of the rats, decreasing length of time they sit in the hot water each time. Drain water and dump rats out on a bed of paper towels or clean rag(s) and pat dry, keep covered so they retain heat, feed with tongs and keep covered between each feeding. Don't thaw too many out at one time, but if you do, no problem, just repeat heating method and let sit for a couple of minutes so they absorb heat again in the hot water.

If you're thawing pinks or small fuzzies, decrease water temp so you don't make a disgusting soup. Weaned rats and adult mice can handle water that's hot, not just warm, they thaw faster with this method and you save time and water and it's effective.

that's about how you do it...
container of hot water ,don't keep the water running on them (wastes water)...I use old stainless steel steam table pans

...I use towels for drying them ,wash towels,no wasted paper towel

...hair dryers work for making them hot and dry and tasty..

ALOT of ball pythons will never eat a thawed....nothing we can do

as they said...tongs /huge tweezers,,,and wiggle it at them...

...good luck
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.....................................
....dumbest thing ever created...
NO, not a hybrid....well....it is becoming one....

I have had picky ball pythons in the past that just wouldn't do no matter how long you starved them and only offered frozen. A lot of them will probably come around. Just give them time. Make sure they are warm. you could always boil water too if your hot water runs out. we thaw our animals in really hot water (our hot water heater over does everything even though we have tried to fix it) so I almost always have extremely hot water available. Another thing you could try, it just leave them out for a night and then put them in hot water in the morning just to get their surface temperature up. Or use a hairdryer to get the surface temperature up.

Make sure you dance the warm prey item around. That can make a big difference sometimes.

Pull them out of the freezer the night before and defrost them overnight in the refrigerator.

Take them out of the fridge and let them sit out a bit before feeding and come to room temp

Stick them under a heat lamp or hit them with a blow dry for a few minutes until they reach about 98*

Present on stats -- wiggle if necessary.

This tends to keep them less cooked and more alive looking (thus more appealing) than defrosting in water once you get them readily taking f/t you can defrost in water but the stubborn ones you need to cater a little more to.

Good luck.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

The way I was able to get mine to switch over after feeding live for years is different from everyone else.
I soak them directly in hot tap water to defrost and give them warmth. I then dry them with a towel to get the extra water off them. Then present them to the snake on tongs, I dangle them for about two minutes in front of them. If they strike it but not grasp it I drop it in their enclosure and 99/100 they eat at their leisure. Also I have some that will not strike it at all so I just drop the rat in their enclosure and 9/10 they eat it. Check back three to four hours later to make sure they have consumed it.
For the hard ones that show no interested I use the GTP method. Which is take the rat and rubbing and annoying the snake until I provoke a strike response. Also I have place the rat in their coils and some tend to wrap it at this point and then eat it.

Out of all my snakes only one wont take F/T Rats, she will however eat F/T Mice.

Hope this Helps

I switched my 1.5 year old female from live to F/T recently. It was tricky, but now she gobbles them up easy! Here's where I eventually arrived at:

I place the mouse in a bag and fill a small tubberware container halfway with hot water (as hot as the sink will give me). The bag with the mouse goes into the container, and I put the lid on (leaving one corner unattached so steam can escape). This holds the bag in place. I give it about 20 minutes...

I always use a bag because soggy mice are messy and smelly... just generally undesirable.

Once thawed, I place the snake in her feeding container, grab the mouse by the tail with my feeding tongs, and I gently but persistently put the mouse right in her face. She moves out of the way a few times, but after about 10-15 seconds she suddenly stops evading, and then she strikes.

I don't know if she eventually strikes because she's pissed off at the mouse, or if that's just what it takes for her to realize it's food. With live mice, she was VERY eager to eat, so I was a little discouraged when she was initially so uninterested in f/t. This method has been working for me for about a month now- even while she was in shed!