# The safest way to defrost mice?



## Charisma_Love

What is the best way to defrost mice for my milksnake? I've always put them in a sandwich bag in a mug of hot water for 5-10 mins, but someone recently said that was bad for the snake. How do other people do it and is the way I do it dangerous?


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## Magpye

There's a paper that mentions this, I can't recall the name of it, but it runs along the lines that fast-thawing such as using hot water, etc. increases risk of bacteria, might also affect nutrient content but can't remember. The approach I have taken is to take mouse out of freezer, place in polybox with a freezer pack, and allow to defrost slowly overnight.


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## Meko

same way i defrost my own food. Take it out of the freezer the day before, put in fridge in a takeaway tub and leave till defrosted.


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## stephenie191

I have used always done it liek this for all my corns, my oldest being 7 and never had a problem . . .

Just tke the mouse out of the freezer put on the side and wait for around 5 - 6 hours to defrost ! : victory: 

Make sure its not in direct sunlight etc - its not rocket science, just how you would defrost meat from a freezer


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## Meko

stephenie191 said:


> its not rocket science, just how you would defrost meat from a freezer


 
always confused me as well why there seems to be a difference between a mouse and a pork chop when it comes to defrosting.


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## Charisma_Love

My snake will not eat a mouse if it's room temperature.
Maybe I could try warming it up with a hair dryer :/ hmmm okay, I'll try that tonight. Thanks guys!


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## Meko

i defrost mine in the fridge then pour hot water on it to bring back the mousey smell and then its chow time.


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## joe0709

ive alwys defroseted in hot water and fed immeditly and have never had any problems


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## Charisma_Love

From what others are saying, the hot water method can cause long-term bad health effects though


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## DaveM

get them out early in the morning, and let them air-defrost


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## HavingARoyalBall

*Royal feeding*

I've never had trouble feeding my Royal Python with this method:

I feed on a wednesday, so I grab one out before college (around 6:30am) and I finish at 12:30, I get home around 1:30 then boil some water and pour it into a dish, and put the mouse in a glass and put it in the water so it goes up to about half the length of the mouse when frozen (though it's thawed so it's whole body is technically being heated all round as the mouse slumps over) leave it for 5-10 mins, then it's just a simple case of using tongs to hold it in the viv and he strikes and constricts as fast as he would have if he'd seen a fast running mouse in the wild.


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## fishboy

Charisma_Love said:


> What is the best way to defrost mice for my milksnake?


 
lol i read that as milkshake......mmmmmmmmmmmm:mf_dribble:


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## NBLADE

i get them out in the morning and let them defrost naturally during the day, and then sometimes warm them up, depending on what snake i am feeding, using a heatmat


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## ScottyGurn

joe0709 said:


> ive alwys defroseted in hot water and fed immeditly and have never had any problems


Same here



Charisma_Love said:


> From what others are saying, the hot water method can cause long-term bad health effects though


Well the our mate at the pet shop told us to do it in hot water and he knows more than most. Hes Been into reptiles and keeping/selling em for nearly 40 years and never had any problems with that. Ya shud see some of the mad stuff hes had there though, i mean he used to have cages in back of shops where he kept pumas lol

Theres pics of him on his wall with a fuking gaboon viper on his lap and hes stroking it haha


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## Atreyu

joe0709 said:


> ive alwys defroseted in hot water and fed immeditly and have never had any problems


I used to defrost mine in water until it made my corn sick once. Never done it again. Safest way is definately the out of freezer for several hours. I then put the rat on top of the tank to warm it. By the time its ready my royal is drooling from the smell!!


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## Carol

Cold water is better


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## Ferret1959

I use cold water.
Just chuck a handful of mice in a jug of water for about 45 mins.
Longer for bigger mice.(You know when they are defrosted.)

Fussy eaters get theirs warmed in hot water for 30 seconds or so.

Don't wanna spoil them to much by cooking the mices. 


I do the same when defrosting fish and turtle food.


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## SnakeBreeder

I put the mice in a big container and pour in warm water.
Empty the water out after a couple of minutes, as it has normaly gone cold, and then add more warm water.
After a few minutes I check they are defrosted and start feeding the snakes.
I normaly defrost 20 to 30 adult mice at a time.
Stephen


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## rachel132002

Get food out in the morning, go about my day, feed at night.


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## justask4snake

Hi, in my opinion, the best procedure for the snakes long term sustained good health, is to defrost the mice overnight in the fridge, then take the mice out of the fridge and bring the mice up to room temperature before feeding to the snake, this ensures there is no rapid breeding of the bacteria in the mice, which can harm the snake.
Air defrosting allows the centre of the mouse to remain frozen, or very cold and the exterior to get warm, perfect breeding conditions for bacteria, the fridge does not allow the bacteria to multiply as the mouse defrosts.
I use a ex lab high sided polypropelene defrosting tray for the job, works ace :2thumb:


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## start-up

Charisma_Love said:


> From what others are saying, the hot water method can cause long-term bad health effects though


What others would this be then and what would the long term bad health effects be? As far as i can see it the only "long term" effects that this could casue would be a regurge caused by a funky mouse, wouldnt really call that long term? Fair enough if they are doing it all the time then yeah it does become a long term issue but i think by that point you would have worked out something was wrong. 

Someone mentioned we should just do the same with mice as we do with a pork chop, personally i chuch the chop in the microwave on defrost before i cook it, but i wouldnt do that with a mouse, cooking the chop kills any possible bacteria. having said that i do stick the turkey in a basin of water to defrost at christmas so it not just mice that i defrost this way. 

Using boiling hot water is clearly a no no, but using tepid/cold water will have no ill effects at all. The reason it defrosts faster in room temperature water than it would in room temp air is becasue water has a much higher heat transfer coefficient. There reallt is no difference between defrosting in the air or in water of a similar temperature other than the mouse in the water will defrost much faster.

Some one also said that defrosting in a fridge will prevent bacteria growth, the lower temperatures involved do restrict bacterial growth in many cases but not in all. It is also pretty obvious that a lot of different bacteria will be present in water, for this reason a barrier (such as the "sndwich bag" mentioned earlier) is advisable when defrosting in water. Considering all of this however you still have to remember that wild food items will have a lot more natural bacteria on them and that a snakes digestive system is evolved to be able to cope with this. 

In short wether its defrosted in a fridge, in the open air or in a basin of cool water so long as it is defrosted the snke should have no problems with eating it.


M


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## Moosmoo

at home and at work we defrost using hot water (not boiling) :no1:


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## emmipez1989

bigger mice get put in a plastic box then the box put on top of the heat mat the faunarums are on. smaller than fluffs i defrost in my hand. never had any problems myself but im probably gonna get told off 4 it.... if there are any problems with what im doing plz let me know cuz i find it safer than leaving them out all night.


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