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I've always thawed my snakes food in a ziplock in warm water. I thought I'd try thawing at room temp. I was wondering about how long it takes for say an adult mouse?
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"Kira"

I usually thaw my snake food in the fridge the night before then just set them out till they are room temp. I have thawed adult mice at room temp and it took a couple hours at least. Pinks and fuzzies take like 45 minutes. Frozen rats take forever at room temp. I usually put them in hot hot water to help thaw them. My Jungle Carpet likes her rats a bit on the warm side.

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"Kira"

Some snakes really need the hot (body temp) mouse/rat to trigger a feeding response. Depends on what you're keeping, with most colubrids it doesn't really matter but for many pythons or boas (and the whole pit viper family) that sense heat from their prey- the warmer the better. A motionless, room temp prey item might not get their attention. Also, with heat comes more odor dispersion (airborne molecules move more when heated), so that also helps them to recognise the prey item. Some snakes would eat a brick if it smelled like a rat on feeding day, so it just depends on your snakes. Mine generally prefer warmed prey and I've found picky eaters will turn up their noses at cold, thawed mice.
Good luck with your experiment and let us know how it goes.
Lora

I know I'll still have to warm the prey for my Ball Python - and I probably still will for all my snakes. I'm just thinking that trying a different method of thawing (in fridge and/or at room temp instead of thawing in warm water) might be more convenient. I'm also wondering if I'll see a difference in feeding responses - say for instance the smell of the prey seems stronger, etc.
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"Kira"

I read somewhere that leaving food to thaw out was a better way to do it, so I began leaving prey items on a ceramic plant pot bottom near the heater in my snake room to thaw them. It does take a long time to thaw them this way if say, you are thawing a medium or large rat, but it is very reasonable for anything up to a jumbo mouse or rat pup.

I love this method to thaw out a couple larfe fuzzy mice that my garbage disposal JCP is proud to get rid of, but. . .

I swear my ball pythons prefer thawed in warm water. The prey seems to be warmer after being thawed in the water and of course they go for that. Even if they get soaked, my balls seem to eat the water-thawed more regularly than the sitting out F/Ts.

This is only my experience. You might want to try both ways since individual snakes can be so finicky. Good luck.

Thanks! It would be interesting to see if the method of thawing is related to getting some snakes to switch.
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1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"