Not warming Frozen/Thawed before feeding?

Lost here, no one said the rats would get over that? They’re left out to defrost so surely you mean lower?

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Room temperature > 40 degrees Fahrenheit. (4 degrees Celsius.)

The rodent would have parts of it warmed above that temp for prolonged periods of time = bacteria begins to grow.

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I’m so lost haha.
Room temp here is like 18 degrees Celsius. Roughly. Maybe 20.
That’s atm anyway.

Well with this cold the rooms around 16 atm :woman_facepalming:t2:

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I think my point about 40 degrees Fahrenheit got misinterpreted.

bad bacteria can grow on raw meat/perishable foods (rodents included) when they’re over 40F (4C)
so thawing at room temperature, 16-18 C, the food item is going to be warmer than 4 c for a prolonged period of time. During that time bacterial can and will grow.

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Yeah I think so too.

Not something I’ve known about.

I don’t think I know anyone here that doesn’t get their rat out to defrost and then feed…
Occasionally some need to blast with a hairdryer for fussy eaters.

But usually more often than not that’s it.

So how is it you defrost?

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I had a few explosions doing this way and wasn’t nice to clean :smiling_face_with_tear:

Also had them not wanting rats :sweat_smile:

Never even heard of putting in a ziplock Bag first either.

Knowing my luck I’d change this after years and no one would eat for me :woman_facepalming:t2:

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For me, I place in the refrigerator overnight in a ziplock bag. they’re not frozen by the morning, then I place the bag in warm (not hot, as you mentioned earlier with your experience of having one burst, very hot water can cause them to burst) for around 30 minutes max. Then feed.

Too much risk thawing things at room temperature. Too many hours of the food being at an unsafe temperature.

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This is pretty close to what I do. When I need only a couple of small mice, I have also been known to take them straight from the freezer and thaw them in several changes of "hot bath temperature " water over a short time. (Our hot water heater is set at a maximum of 120°F.) A couple of pinkies in a 1-L container will thaw completely in very short order. Not to say an explosion couldn’t happen with 120°F water, but so far, I’m happy to say that it hasn’t. Hope I haven’t jinxed myself, there. Lol

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My concern would be a greater potential that the center of a larger prey item would be incompletely thawed. Partially frozen prey can lead to serious issues with digestion and even death.

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This has always been the main reason I thaw in warm water

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@dsed I dethaw in warm water as well. This is how I have always done it. I personally don’t like the idea of leaving the food out, just because of the sight of it would make my mom and family sick.

@mblaney before you feed the best way to check if a prey item is completely thawed is to give it a quick massage of the abdomen and see if it is cold and firm. You can feed once you notice that it is warm all the way through and softened.

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Exactly what we do.
Plus I suppose they’re not left out long enough for anything bad to happen as we feed as soon as we can and they’re ready, as does everyone else I know.

Blimey we really do things differently here… :sweat_smile:

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I thaw in warm water as well. First lukewarm, then truly warm to ensure the middle of the prey item is fully thawed, and then I do hot water right before I feed. I’ve only got two or three animals that will take a warm feeder - most of mine have no interest unless they’re at least 100+ degrees :joy:

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I sous vide them to 98°F, since thats the body temperature of mice/rats. Works great, helped to get some of my pickiest live feeders onto f/t.

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I think the one thing people forget about snakes is that they aren’t nearly as fragile as us. If they come across a carcass in the wild that is slightly rotten, they eat it. They aren’t phased by bacteria like we are. I personally thaw in warm/hot water inside a sandwich baggy for smaller mice, and ziplocks for larger ones. My rosy boa and ball python need their food heated slightly to be really interested, but they have eaten cold food before too. My ratsnakes and kingsnake don’t care about temperatures. I usually heat the ones for my babies up a bit just to make it easier to digest. Since they don’t have to spend time warming it themselves.

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I have mine start in warm/hot water and then leave it set for way longer than it needs to thaw to make sure this doesn’t happen. You can also lightly squish the mouse or rat to figure out if it is thawed. Since mine are always in bags this makes it easy for me to do.

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I called it lightly squishing, but a quick massage works to. :rofl:

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Same reason I thaw mine like you tbh. Been thawing my rodents the same way all my life too.

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For my snakes that eat medium sized and large sized rats, I unthaw in fridge overnight and then warm up in hot water before I feed.

The rest of my guys eat from rat pups on down to pinks. These rodents go from freezer to hot water and straight to snake.

I agree with the above. However I am not sure if this applies to snakes that are CBB. Would they possess the same immunities as a snake that is born and lives in the wild?

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Ok.if you “unthaw”, that means freeze, right?

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