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Question on frozen feeders ????

G

Ginger Ambrose

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Okay here is the issue......
I am on the last 25 package of frozen feeders I purchased them
approximately 3 months ago. The problem is that these last ones
look worse for wear. They appear very thin, and when I put them
in hot water to thaw they seem to explode, or tear open. I go
to remove them from the baggie and thier organs are on the
outside.
I do not feel comfortable feeding these to my babies.
Any clue what is going on, the first 100 or so were fine,
now this problem? They are packaged as purchased wrapped
in freezer paper and inside heavy zip lock bags, could they
still have been freezer burned ? This is the only thing I can
think is causing this.

Thanks for any thoughts, Ginger Ambrose
 
No they were not. That is one of the reasons I can't quite figure this out.
They have stayed frozen solid from day one. It only seems to happen
The insides out, when I thaw with hot water, If I just leave them out
to thaw they stay normal, except the skinny appearance.

Ginger
 
Well, Thanks for your thoughts.
These are all rat pups, I just have no idea.
I just wonder if I should go ahead and use them.
Thus far I just toss them and start over, but this gets a bit expensive.
I am considering changing my supplier, as a local has told me they can
provide my feeder needs at a better rate and I can hand pick the
size and date of preparation, so I will know exactaly how long they
have been frozen. This will also allow me to purchase smaller lots at
a time. So I do not have 20 pkgs. of rat-cicles in the freezer for months.
If this all works out then we will see if I have the same problems.
Ginger
 
Frozen feeders

I have had a few do that, but i let mine thaw overnite. I have fed them to my snakes with no ill-effect!! But usually if that happens, i just feed them to my monitors or tegus..Mike Leonard
 
old beginner said:
It only seems to happen,The insides out, when I thaw with hot water, If I just leave them out to thaw they stay normal, except the skinny appearance.
Click to expand...
I've found that thawing them out too quickly, i.e. very hot water, will cause what you have described.

I usually leave them for five or six hours in a warm room. But one day I got the bright idea to "nuke" some water and get it really hot and put my frozen mice in a baggie thinking they would thaw quicker. Yeah they thawed quicker.

Bad idea, let me say that again: BAD IDEA. They were very mushy and even though no water got in the baggie, they were kind of moist and some had guts hanging out everywhere. Yech, I couldn't feed them to my snakes. The cats liked them, though.
 
Last edited:
Karen,
That was it ! I figured it out yesterday. That was the only thing
I had done that I do not normally do. I also usually let them thaw
for several hours but had forgotten to pull them out before I left
for work so I thought that I would just "fix that" NEVER again.
I like a dummy, I'm so dense sometimes.
Thanks all, Ginger
 
I always thaw quickly in hot water and have never had an explosion event. Weird...
 
Perhaps we're talking about two different things? I use hot tap water and never have had this type of problem. Karen used "nuked" water which may well have been significantly hotter.
 
Ahh..Never used nuked water. I put them in a plastic container and run tap hot water over them until defrosted. Normally about 2 minutes for rat fuzzies and 5 minutes for small rats.
 
Yes we were talking about boiling hot water. That I guess
is a big NO-NO, seems the rats rupture due to the higher temps.

Ginger
 
My husband had the brite idea to thaw in the oven when i was not home, he used my cookie sheet and left them for too long and it was a runny gooey mess.
Wonder if HIS peanut butter cookies were good? :dgrin:
 
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