Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What are the dangers involved in feeding frozen mice that are not entirely thawed to an ectotherm? How long is a good amount of time to set them in a bag in hot water? I ask because I fed my snake a mouse that appeared to be thawed, though it could have been cold in it's core still, but he got very cranky afterward, hissed at me when I stuck my hand in there and after trying to climb toward the heat light, he finally buried himself. I raised the heat to two 100 watt red bulbs to help him digest, but I just want to be sure I am not hurting them or freezing their gut. Any advice?

Best peice of advice would be from now on make sure it's 100% thawed and warmed for the snake before feeding it. The reason the snake was probably acting aggressive towards you was because it was still in feeding response. You shouldn't mess with the snake for a day or two after it eats to prevent reguritation. I don't know how frozen the mouse/rat was, or the effects of feeding a cold mouse (because most snakes wouldn't take it in the first place), but try and make sure it's 100% thawed from now on, just for the snakes saftey if something could happen.

I thaw all my rodents out in warm water, if it's a rabbit or collosal rat, I will throw it in the sink the day before feeding, if it's smaller, I will throw it in the sink in the morning and usually feed at night. This is all in a ziplock bag of course, so the rats don't absorb water. Or you can take a large sponge and absorb it with warm water and set it on the bag, that thends to work nice also.

Ben

Thanks a lot for the info. I will definitely take my time from now on in thawing out the feeders. And keep my hands out of their cage for at least a day or two after feeding!

I know I am getting to this conv a little late but I dont get to get on here much and thought I would throw in my 2 cents.
I have not fed my snakes anything that is not fully thawed...that i know of...but I usually let them soak for quite a while chaning the water out regularly.
Any way I dont think the cold rat would have anything to do with the snake acking aggressive. When one of my snakes had RI I had to give here medicine and the vet said to refigerate it so I would just suck it out and give it to here oraly. When i wouldnt warm it up she would imidiatly regurge it so I would expect something similar with cold rats not acting aggressive....ok that was long enough
hope that helps
patrick