Dry or Wet Thawing

[Wrath]

I've thawed a few different ways, but I don't know if there are any significant pros and cons to each method.

[mykee]

First I de-frost in air until room-temp, then toss in a hot bucket of water. Feed wet and hot.

[Jayson]

I thaw with hot water in a zip lock bag, i have done so for many years. My son just throughs them directly into the hot water and serves them wet.
I dont see a problem either way.

[marisa]

I throw 'em in a ziplock...hot water...

If I didn't have different snakes needing different things, I would probably just throw them in water with no bag. But I use the bags to scent mice with rats, some just eat rats, some only mice and won't if they smell like rats. etc etc.

Marisa

[anaconda]

1 big bucket of hot water.
4 med rabbits.
6 hamsters.
2 large rats.
2 small rats.
simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
serve immediately and warm.
serves 8 to 10.
repeat twice a week.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Both. Depends on the snake and time of year.

[Bartman]

I usually just put it right into hot water. Sometimes I use a bag for my male bp as it seems he wont even think about taking a wet meal.

I also dry off the rats/mice before feeding it. Maybe I should try a wet rat with my bp. See if he goes

[Wrath]

Jeff - What does the time of year have to do with it?

Bartman - You really should, I fed my BP a wet one for the first time last feeding and she went crazy; she usually is so nonchalant about meals.

[daiyoukai]

pag in hot water. wet dead rats STINK!

[Jeff_Favelle]

Jeff - What does the time of year have to do with it?

Everything. Sometimes, I want to hydrate more than other times, sometimes the snakes won't accept rats thawed in hot water (gives them a new kind of smell), and sometimes I'm thawing so many out at one time, that its impossible to do them all one way.

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

WRATH:

I usually take out 4 - 5 rubbermaid sweater boes head to the freezers pull out what I plan on feeding and let it all thaw out during the day. I do this early around 9 am and start the feeding depending on what thaws first from 12pm - 11pm. I normally heat up the prey a bit as well with a few heat lamps taking turns on different food.

A normal feeding schedule is like:

6 - 10: 1.5 / 3 lbs rabbits
10 - 20: large rats
15 - 30: medium rats
30 - 45: small rats
20: jumbo mice
20: hopper mice

I try and get half the collection feed on a schedule, and the rest get the next day feeding. Day 2 is just medium to small rats. With in these 2 days I usually feed 90% of the collection. Only my ETB' s eat on a 2 week span so they are the 10%.

Also I find thawing all these different rodents seems to get the snakes interested in anything I present them

JEFF:

Imagine seeing a JCP take down a rabbit, lol.

Cya...

Tony

[boa]

I like to thaw all my f/t feeders to room temps my snakes do not like wet feeders the dryer the better.

[coldblooded]

Mice in the sink works for me...
Cold water for a couple of hours (untill they are squishy or pop when pinched) hot water for about 20 minutesafter that.

[Linds]

I usually just toss 'em in a bucket of hot water. I like to serve them wet when possible, as to give my snakes a bit of extra moisture, especially since some gets lost during the freezing process. I prefer to thaw them as quick as possible, to keep bacterial growth to a minimum. I occassionally thaw small items at room temperature, usually just mice since I don't want to mix up smells thawing them together. I only have a handful of mouse feeders though, as most of mine eat rats or rabbits.