Hey all,
I would like some comments on your past experience with rats busting open when feeding !!!!!
in all my years I've had it happen a few times and I just hate it when it does... I was sure I knew why it did that, but had it happen again on the week end ??
a little history
back when I only had a few snakes, I would just toss them in hot water and dry them up before feeding.
never had a problem with this way other than drying some rats isn't fun..
then as the collection grew, I started using zip lock bags, keeps the rats dry and they smell more like a rat than one who just took a bath :-D always went well this way too. And no rat soup to deal with
then I tried what some do and leave the rats at room temps for while early in the evening and them just warming them up in hot water a few minutes before feeding.
Well!!! this way of doing had almost every rats rip apart when the snakes squeezes them
my taught were, the gas builds up in them too much and this happens. so I never tried that again. went back to the zip lock bags and lived happily ever after >>
so I taught, on the week end I had a few rip apart from the zip lock method..
they were defrosted in the same way as always..
hot tap water, rats in the bag, remove excess air in bag, submerge bags..
after a while I change water and flip the bags.. then feed once they are nice and warm/defrosted...
why else would you think this can happen...?
I got my latest rats from the same supplier and the quality is top notch..!!! is it possible that they thawed out and got frozen again, would that cause this to happen ??
or is it just something that happens here and there and not much can be done about it .
ohh and the smell :-( not fun at all, most of the time when this happens , the snakes won't eat the rat..
thanks for sharing
steph