Mice

[LeoEyes]

Hello,

I'm going to be getting my corn snake shortly and have a few questions about mice. Since I will only have 1 snake (this is my first snake) would it be cheaper to buy online or look around at my local pet shops and see who sells them.

Also about defrosting, which are the best methods to use. Ones that are safe and work well.

My last question is how do you tell when the mouse is properly warmed up?? and no longer frozen. Thank you!

 

[bmm]

It depends....if your local pet store has good frozen mice prices, then go for it. But online producers are very cheap, you just have to buy in bulk. The more you buy the cheaper it will be. This is not always the case with pet stores though.

You can thaw mice in a few ways....leaving them out at room temp will take a couple hours but works. A faster and more common method is putting the mice in a ziplock baggie, then putting the baggie in a cup of warm water. This takes under an hour. You jsut keep the water warm. Not hot. You don't want to thaw them out too fast because you risk the chance they will "explode" so use just luke warm water.

If it is properly thawed then when you take the baggie out of the warm water for a minute and then touch the mouse, you won't feel cold. Right when you take them out they will be warm, but a frozen mouse will become cold again fairly fast. Not frozen cold but you will feel the cold.

bmm

 

[Danny C]

ive had my two corns for a while now and the way i feed them is to boil a kettle. put a mouse in a bowl and pour the water in, simple. But whatever you do, DO NOT PUT IT IN A MICROWAVE.

 

[canadianjoe]

Mice in microwave may seem like a good idea...... until u have to clean it up. Ever put a potato in the microwave without poking holes in it, or an egg. not good!!!!

 

[fateamber]

The way I defrost mice.

Step 1. take mouse out of freezer
2. Put mouse in defrosting cup
3. After 1- 2 hours put the mouse in a sandwich bag (with no holes)
4.fill cup with warm water and put in it sandwich bag'd mouse
5. Wait a few mins till mouse is very soft and warm
6. take mouse out of bag and wrap it in a tissue (just in case there were any holes in the bag)
7. put mouse in tweezer things
8. Feed to snake

 

[13mur 6]

If you use a heat lamp as your primary heat element in your snake's enclosure, you can leave the mouse out for an hour to thaw and then place the mouse under the lamp for about 15 minutes, remember to flip the mouse in the middle after about 8 minutes. This will get the mouse nice and warm and my snakes seem to respond to the warmth more markedly than a cool mouse that was simply left out to thaw.

-13mur 6

 

[LeoEyes]

Thx everyone :-]

I'll probably be doing the warm water in a cup method.

Can't wait to get Dugan (my new snake) :-]

 

[CowBoyWay]

Do not pour boiling water on your pinkie...

Patience grasshopper...
Tissue/ Mouse meat will start "cooking" at at about 160 degrees fahrenheit (71. celcius) +/-.
Boiling water is 212 degrees farenheit, give it a minute or two and one has rare to med rare pinkie at that point in time. imho.
Steeping in boiling water is how you make mousee tea

The idea is to rapidly, but not to rapidly, go from frozen to quickly thawed and to be warmed up to a approximate a living mouses temperature without cooking the tissue i.e. Fresh thawed, "raw", slightly warmed, sushi mice.

Slow room temperature thawing is probably improper technique as you are dealing with raw meat, slow eventual thawing promotes bacterial growth if present on/in the thawing body.

Thawing rapidly in warmish, not hottish
water in a water tight (freezer) bag in a cup is probably the ideal method for a pink or two.

With just one snake, its tough to buy pinks in quantity mail order and use up a couple hundred before they go bad, get frost bitten on ya.
You just better get more snakes to feed, I reckon.

I would suggest getting a pair of mice and make your own pinkies to freeze, save and serve to order...
That would be the cheapest and freshest way to go. A consistent supply and you get to feed quality, plump and healthy, homegrown pinks to your Corn Snake.

Otherwise find a buddy to order online express with and split the order & shipping maybe.
I think rodent pro is like 72 dollars U.S. for two hundred pinks delivered with the insulated box, dry ice and the actual shipping.

When ordering in a hundred pinky mice all by there lonesome, the shipping will actually cost more than the pinkies will.

Join your local Herpetological club, and attend meetings, the room is full of people who raise mice and have extra frozen pinks at a good price. Just ask around.

 

[LeoEyes]

unfortunently my family is allergic to small fuzzy animals (mainly my sisters and father) so thats not an option for me, until I have my own place ;-]

I am actually adopting Dugan from a local reptile rescue and will be buying my frozen mice from one of the staff memebers. They buy their mice in large bulks so I can get a small group of them cheeper than from pet stores.

 

[Muggerz]

I use the microwave

Here's my method. It works well for me and it's quick and easy.

1. Take the mouse from the freezer
2. Put it in a ziplock baggie
3. fill the baggie half full of water
4. put it in the microwave. (Place the baggie in a bowl or cup if it won't stand without leaking)
5. Nuke it. lol. Keep checking it every few seconds though. 10 is usually more than enough for a pinkie.

 

[jdub]

i think it might be cheaper to look around online, since they have many, the company will sell them for less. About heating, i get a dixie cup, put in the pinkie, and then hot water. Let this sit for about 10 minutes, and you will be ready to go. DO NOT microwave!! It has the chance of exploding the mouse, and it might get too hot, or too cold in the middle.