What is the best and safest way to thaw frozen mice?

I've looked everywhere online and I seem to find everyone saying atleast 2 different ways to thaw out frozen mice. For the last few feedings I just let cool water run over them as if I'm defrosting meat for myself but I was told on another forum that this wasnt a good way. I just wanted to get an idea of how everyone does it.

i always thaw my feeders in warm to hot water never any problems

ok cool thank you. I'll give that a shot, I'm sure it'll be alot quicker than using cold-cool water.

i just allow mine to thaw with the room temperature, which is around 82-86 in the snake room. it takes about 2-3 hours to fully thaw.

I thaw my overnight in the frig & then fill the thaw tub up with hot water. The tub goes on a heat mat while I feed.

I have a decent amount of animals to feed & they're spread through out the house so I need the heat mat to keep them from getting cold again.

From a (human)food safety standpoint, thawing should be done either in the frig or under running cold water.

I also have a hair dryer that I use when I'm switching a stubborn live eater to f/t.

throw mine right into hot water, never had any problems

Originally Posted by bradleymoore

i just allow mine to thaw with the room temperature, which is around 82-86 in the snake room. it takes about 2-3 hours to fully thaw.

I do the same, I don't like putting them in water.

I thaw mine in cold water. Once thawed they go into hot water to warm up. The hot water I use is hot but still cool enough that I can stick my hand in and leave it without pain.

I have found that if you thaw them in too hot of water it makes them more likely to burst. The snake will still eat it but it's a mess.

In food preparation classes (for restaurants etc) they teach not to thaw any meat in warm water as it can encourage bacterial growth, and increase the risk of food poisoning. Safest way is to thaw in cold (tap temp) water or even in the fridge if you have time.

Personally I thaw inside a zip-lock bag (so as not to remove scent by direct water contact) in a basin of cold tap water, and serve at room temperature. (can never decide on the garnish though....).

If I was in a colder place I might put the fully thawed and still bagged animal into warm water for 10 minutes just to warm the outer skin.

I put them in the fridge overnight and that works fine.

The worst thing I've ever seen was when I forgot a rat under a heat light and it cooked for a few hours. I picked it up by the tail and the thing sort of rolled out of its skin and onto a bunch of my favorite records ... God, just thinking about it makes me want to gag.