No worries about all the questions - we all had to learn the basics before we could answer questions. Like many, I use a small bag (sandwhich or snack sized, depending on who i’m feeding) and some room temp water.
- Toss rodents into the water straight out of the freezer and let them thaw for 1 - 1.5 hours.
- Perform the “squish test” where I take my tongs (and hands) and gently palpate the rodent for frozen spots. If everything squishes, on to step 3!
- Put rodent under heat lamp for ~2min 30 sec.
- Repeat on other side of rodent.
- Check temp, no higher than 98F. If too warm, let cool. If too cold, warm in 10sec incriments.
- Once warmed, grab rodent by tail with tongs and offer to snake.
I have also used water I have microwaved, but some of my kiddos are picky and don’t like wet food or are very picky on temp so the heat lamp method has worked well for me. I’ll probably get a dedicated sous vide as my collection grows, but it gets by for keepers with only a few animals.
I will say that if using a heat lamp you need a method of checking temperature because you may accidentally give your snake burns or pop the feeder, neither which are fun to deal with.
Best of luck!
EDIT: As for feeder size, I would say he could probably handle a medium mouse or rat fuzzy. You can offer either at this stage in life but it’s important to remember he’ll be on rats for his adult life so if you want to try those out of the gate there’s no harm in trying! I’d say maybe get one or two feeders to start out since you don’t know him yet and he may have preferences to one feeder type. Plus it hurts less financially to toss out a single rat vs six months worth of rats.