Aaaack!!!

[Klinger]

For the first time(and hopefully last), I overheated the frozen rats. That is a smell that will linger in my nose forever. Just a friendly reminder, keep an eye on those frozen feeders!!!

[REM955]

How did you overheat them? All I ever did was thaw out in hot water for a while til defrosted then dip in hot water again.

[Klinger]

It is 8 degrees Fahrenheit where I live, and it seemed like a good idea to thaw them in front of a space heater. Half an hour and they were still frozen, another half hour and they were a stinky mess. One of them burst, ugggh. At least the snake still ate them all, the smell drove him crazy! I set up a new HD camera to catch it, gotta watch it later. The smell was so bad I forgot to put the top back on, glad the monster didn't escape.

[Piggybuns]

I thaw mine in winter in front of a space heater all the time, and if it's summer, I thaw them by turning my hairdryer down on a low setting and letting it heat them up. If I don't, my BP won't take 'em (she likes warm rodents.) I've never had an overheating or smell problem on my rodents from doing this. All I can assume is you placed them entirely too close to where the heat comes out instead of a foot or so away. Might wanna try that instead!

[jay's reptiles]

LOL, i thaw mine out in water, than heat up again with hair dryer, but first i split the head and than heat it up, and it smells like a cat giving birth... Its STINKS

[Thatjanelady]

Ewww I can only imagine that smell.

[saturnascends]

On my very first feeding to my new snake last week, the abdomen of the pinkie split open as I was trying to get him to eat it. I don't know if I was squeezing too hard with the tongs or what but yeah...hopefully never again!

[Kathryntheclean]

I can happily say I've never smelled anything bad about my snake- neither poo or smelly mouse, course he's only on the tiny ones now-he moves up on the next feeding. And here in good ol Texas, I have no problems thawing a mouse. We, unlike the rest of the U.S., had no winter. So if I have a problem thawing, I can just go outside for 5 minutes with the mouse.

[GyGbeetle]

not the post I should be reading while trying to eat breakfast.

[Kathryntheclean]

If you had all my pets- and everyone of them has some sort of bowel or urinary issue, you'd never eat! Three cats- one's always going potty-and one has an irritable bowel, so he throws up a lot. Two dogs - both have bad tummys and one also has a urinary problem. The snake, who only poops in his bath...and then two teens and a husband. Yeah, i have a tough stomach!

[sattva]

Ya... It's not my favorite smell either... I pull my rats out of the freezer about 3 in the afternoon, put them in a ziplock bag and throw it on top of the refrigerator to thaw... Then couple hours after dark, I'll heat a large bowl of water in the microwave, to where it is almost boiling... Throw the bag in the water for ten minutes... Then when I open the bag that's when smell is strong... I have to feed Moe first off or he'll start biting at the screen on top of his cage... I try to get them all fed in just a few minutes, so I can get the lights off, so they can eat in peace... I'll go back in the room an hour later to make sure they all ate... Ya but the smell kind of lingers in your nose for a few... Yum,Yum... :eek:

[jay's reptiles]

If you had all my pets- and everyone of them has some sort of bowel or urinary issue, you'd never eat! Three cats- one's always going potty-and one has an irritable bowel, so he throws up a lot. Two dogs - both have bad tummys and one also has a urinary problem. The snake, who only poops in his bath...and then two teens and a husband. Yeah, i have a tough stomach!

Try having 26 chickens, 4 geese, 1 pony, 2 cows, 4 cat, 16 goats, 2 dogs, 2 betta fish, 1 leopard gecko, 1 reticulated python, 1 ornate box turtle, 1 american toad, 6 hamsters.

LOL, i love them all. Oh i almost forgot the 2000 feeder crickets and mealworms.

[akane]

I blew up my first hopper lol If I don't have time for a slow thaw I heat them by putting them in a bag and a container of hot water. For the ones that prefer warm food I change it out for fresh hot water and wait a couple minutes before feeding. Occasionally the bag does leak and get a wet rodent but a paper towel solves that well enough. They heat more evenly and the belly is less likely to break open when handling and feeding. I have heard not to lay them belly down on a heat pad if you use that to warm them because the belly will explode. So far mine don't care too much about time of day. Some that will eat dead, still rodents ( I have to do the zombie rodent dance for my older rosy) it will sit there until after dark so if possible I check them before bed to remove any uneaten so I don't get the dead rodent smell the next day.

[Kathryntheclean]

Jay's reptiles...you have me beat! You know what scares me most of your animals? The geese! They can bite....hard!

[akane]

We walked past this frozen pond while exploring parks over winter with the new puppy and it was just solidly coated in geese making unhappy noises at us. There were hundreds starting about 10' away down the bank to probably 100' away in just a solid wall of black shapes yelling at us. It was actually a bit concerning for safety. They just kept going as we went around the corner. I'd kind of hate to be there in the daylight when they are more willing to move around.

[GyGbeetle]

I had a gaggle of geese chase me when I was a little girl. They are mean. Although I am not adverse to feeding them at the local lake now. But they will still chase people if they're in that kind of mood. That's a big "no thank you" from me!

I used to buy rats from my local pet store. There was one employee that didn't quite kill them properly, and when we would defrost them after freezing them, their insides would explode out. The smell would send me out of the room. One was accidentally decapitated because of the cut and the defrosting just did it in. We buy from Perfect Prey now and try not to overheat because that is a smell I will still have nightmares about.

[saturnascends]

I had a gaggle of geese chase me when I was a little girl. They are mean. Although I am not adverse to feeding them at the local lake now. But they will still chase people if they're in that kind of mood. That's a big "no thank you" from me!

I used to buy rats from my local pet store. There was one employee that didn't quite kill them properly, and when we would defrost them after freezing them, their insides would explode out. The smell would send me out of the room. One was accidentally decapitated because of the cut and the defrosting just did it in. We buy from Perfect Prey now and try not to overheat because that is a smell I will still have nightmares about.

I have been thinking of mail ordering my frozen mice once I use up the 4 I have left from the shop...it's not a terribly far drive (maybe 30 minutes), but the mail thing seems more convenient. I will check out this site!

PS - I realize I dug up a pretty old thread - sorry :)

[Kathryntheclean]

Just like Hitchcock's "The Birds".....

[akane]

Everything is growing so fast or still on live that I can't really put together an order.

[Minkness]

I get pinkies and fuzzies that burst all the time. It's bad, but the snakes love it, so whatever lol.

[akane]

Then I get guts smeared all over the rocks and sometimes the snake. With bioactive and lots of natural substrate everything including the snake usually comes out clean within a day but extra reason not to pick the boa up after a meal.

[Andy_G]

Thaw overnight (or 2 or 3 nights if the prey is big) in a container in the fridge and then pop the container in water as hot as it comes out of the taps for about 15 minutes before you feed in a sink or laundry tub. No guts or exploding food, no extra bacteria from room temp thawing (which can cause septicemia in extreme cases or if the snake has some kind of immune issue), and dry prey items!

[Magdalen]

I thaw mine much like Andy described and never had an issue with smell. The first time I tried frozen 10 plus years ago I put the mouse in a cup of almost boiling water, that's when it smelled bad!

[EL Ziggy]

I thaw my feeders in a ziploc bag submerged in WARM water for a few hours, depending on the prey size, then I superheat them with a hairdryer to about 100F and serve them up. No exploding rodents ever! :)

[akane]

I only use the temp that comes out of the tap and my water heater sucks. We have it as high as it goes and you can barely use the cold at all to take a comfortable shower. It stops right about where it gets painful to leave your hand in without the cold on at all.

[ThirteenRavens]

Ick...the only time I've had exploding rodents when I microwaved the water (sans mouse)...it just gets way way way too hot...I learned my lesson and switched to just super hot tap water which works much better lol.