Preparing Food Items
Everyone has a different way of defrosting food items. I am going to show you my way of defrosting rodents.
First you will need to workout what size rodent your snake/snakes will be able to eat.
Do this by comparing the thickest part of the rodent with the thickest part of the snake. You want the rodent to be anywhere between.
1. Just thinner then the thickest part of the snakes body.
2. The same size as the thickest part of the snakes body.
3. Only just thicker then the thickest part of the snakes body.
Don't worry about how small the snakes head is, because they stretch like you wouldn't believe.
Now you've picked what size rodent you will be feeding to your snake, you will need to defrost it. It is very important to fully defrost the rodent, if you don't, your snake could get sick and in some cases, die.
Find a bowl or container (I use an ice cream container), fill it with hot water straight from the tap and place your rodent/s in the bowl/container. If you want, the rodent/s can be in a zip-lock bag so they don't get wet. I use to do it that way, but it would take to long to defrost, so I simply place the rodent (no bag) straight into the hot water now.
Do not use boiling water, it will cook the rodents skin and when you go to feed your snake, the skin will slip off, leaving a nasty smell. Also if you leave the rodent/s in boiling water to long, you will cook the meat, this is bad for your snake and should be avoided.
To tell if the rodent is ready, simply pick it up (yes you need to touch it), feel it to make sure it's not still cold in the middle and make sure the rodent is floppy (like it was never frozen). If it's floppy and not cold in the middle, then it's ready to feed, if not, place it back in the hot water and try again later.
Some people may tell you to defrost your rodents by just leaving them out to slowly defrost to room temperature. Their are two reasons why you shouldn't do it that way.
1. If you're feeding hatchlings or problem feeders, you need the rodent to be warm, so they think it's alive. By defrosting to room temperature, the rodent never gets warm enough to convince the snakes it's alive.
2. It will take a long time to defrost a rodent by just leaving it out. During this long period of time, not only will the rodent stink out the room, but bacteria will start to grow and the rodent will start rotting, if this is left for to long, the rodent becomes poisonous to the snake and it can make the snake sick or even kill it.
By defrosting the rodent quickly, using hot water (not boiling water), you don't give the bacteria enough time to grow to a dangerous level, meaning your snake will be fine.
*Extremely Important*
Never refreeze a already defrosted rodent. when you defrost it for the second time, bacteria (that has already grown from the first time it was defrosted and during the many hours taken to refreeze) gets a second chance to grow even more, at this stage the rodent is classed as unsafe to feed, if fed, you run a pretty high change of killing your snake.
*Extremely Important*
I hear a lot of people argue that "snakes in the wild eat rotten animals and they survive".
Firstly, it's a wild snake, so unless you follow it everywhere it goes, then you can't be sure it does survive.
Secondly, wild snakes have a much stronger immune system then captive snakes. Wild snakes are exposed to everything from the second they're born. While captive bred snakes are born into near sterile environments and kept that way throughout their entire lives. Making things like bacteria in decaying rodents, very dangerous to captive snakes.
Be careful when defrosting pinkie mice and rats, that you don't over cook them, it is very easy to do, because they are so small and their skin is so thin.
Pinkies should only need around 1-2 minutes in hot water (depending on how hot your tap water is). Still make sure they are warm and floppy before feeding.
First you will need to workout what size rodent your snake/snakes will be able to eat.
Do this by comparing the thickest part of the rodent with the thickest part of the snake. You want the rodent to be anywhere between.
1. Just thinner then the thickest part of the snakes body.
2. The same size as the thickest part of the snakes body.
3. Only just thicker then the thickest part of the snakes body.
Don't worry about how small the snakes head is, because they stretch like you wouldn't believe.
Now you've picked what size rodent you will be feeding to your snake, you will need to defrost it. It is very important to fully defrost the rodent, if you don't, your snake could get sick and in some cases, die.
Find a bowl or container (I use an ice cream container), fill it with hot water straight from the tap and place your rodent/s in the bowl/container. If you want, the rodent/s can be in a zip-lock bag so they don't get wet. I use to do it that way, but it would take to long to defrost, so I simply place the rodent (no bag) straight into the hot water now.
Do not use boiling water, it will cook the rodents skin and when you go to feed your snake, the skin will slip off, leaving a nasty smell. Also if you leave the rodent/s in boiling water to long, you will cook the meat, this is bad for your snake and should be avoided.
To tell if the rodent is ready, simply pick it up (yes you need to touch it), feel it to make sure it's not still cold in the middle and make sure the rodent is floppy (like it was never frozen). If it's floppy and not cold in the middle, then it's ready to feed, if not, place it back in the hot water and try again later.
Some people may tell you to defrost your rodents by just leaving them out to slowly defrost to room temperature. Their are two reasons why you shouldn't do it that way.
1. If you're feeding hatchlings or problem feeders, you need the rodent to be warm, so they think it's alive. By defrosting to room temperature, the rodent never gets warm enough to convince the snakes it's alive.
2. It will take a long time to defrost a rodent by just leaving it out. During this long period of time, not only will the rodent stink out the room, but bacteria will start to grow and the rodent will start rotting, if this is left for to long, the rodent becomes poisonous to the snake and it can make the snake sick or even kill it.
By defrosting the rodent quickly, using hot water (not boiling water), you don't give the bacteria enough time to grow to a dangerous level, meaning your snake will be fine.
*Extremely Important*
Never refreeze a already defrosted rodent. when you defrost it for the second time, bacteria (that has already grown from the first time it was defrosted and during the many hours taken to refreeze) gets a second chance to grow even more, at this stage the rodent is classed as unsafe to feed, if fed, you run a pretty high change of killing your snake.
*Extremely Important*
I hear a lot of people argue that "snakes in the wild eat rotten animals and they survive".
Firstly, it's a wild snake, so unless you follow it everywhere it goes, then you can't be sure it does survive.
Secondly, wild snakes have a much stronger immune system then captive snakes. Wild snakes are exposed to everything from the second they're born. While captive bred snakes are born into near sterile environments and kept that way throughout their entire lives. Making things like bacteria in decaying rodents, very dangerous to captive snakes.
Be careful when defrosting pinkie mice and rats, that you don't over cook them, it is very easy to do, because they are so small and their skin is so thin.
Pinkies should only need around 1-2 minutes in hot water (depending on how hot your tap water is). Still make sure they are warm and floppy before feeding.