Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HI all,

I was just wondering what was the best way to defroze my rodents?
To defroze a mouse, i put it for 3-4 minutes in boiling water then dry it. A friend told me that leaving it for 4 or 5 hrs in the room was better, than warm it up in the microwave for 1 sec so the snake thinks it just got killed.
What do u think?
Advices would be appreciated.

ERik

Boil it? Good god that sounds awful. Their are people out their with more experience then me on this, so who knows, but here goes.
I have some picky wc Bulls who like live mice and I have wc Bulls who eat f/t just fine for me. The picky eaters I am trying to move to f/t by giving one live mouse and when that is goobled up I then try f/t which I have defrosted in hot water, then blow dried. Some people defrost with out using hot water, but I don't have the time for that,or maybe it's plan ahead for that.
I do belive that dry mice/rat, get taken better by my snakes then wet mice/rats. My good eaters don't seem to care if it's wet or dry. But if it's picky I dry it.

On another note, anybody out their working with Montana Bulls?That is what all my Bulls are and would love to see other people with this great locality Bull.
-peace

For defrosting mice.....I simply just thaw them out in a cooler by putting them in the hottest tap water possible straight from the faucet and let them sit there for 15-20 min and then dry them off.

Here is a pic for TerryD....my Carbon Co. Montana Dwarf bull.

Billy

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Genesis 1:1

Billy,
Thanks for your post.
Love that Carbon Co. Bull photo. I would'nt mind seeing a more recent photo. How big is this guy now? Did you say this was a male in your email to me? If so I have a female that would fit him just fine. With that said I'm pretty full now with Bulls and adding more of other types, like Milks and Hognose. Not sure if I'll have room. But lets talk a little after I see more of your Carbon Co..
Take it easy,
-Dell

I prefer to let them sit out and thaw at room temp, or thaw with very warm water. If you use to hot of water it can cause the stomachs to pop open after the snake constricts, thats a nice stinky mess. I personally wouldn't boil rodents, there is no reason to cook them for your snakes, plus my wife would kill me with the cooking rodent aroma in the house. I was banned from the kitchen when i decided to defrost some rats in the oven on one of her cookie sheets, I left them in to long and blew the stomachs open on every single jumbo rat, talk about nasty mess and the smell, well i can still taste it!!!

I will agree that using boiling water is strange and probably not good. I simply put them in warm - hot water in a bucket and even my rats will thaw within 10 minutes.
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Matt from Minnesota