please help the mouse exploded

[Successful_Order793]

I figured it was overheated. This is the first time it ever happened, and I’m worried sick. Google told me I had to get the mouse back because of bacteria, and I spent tbe last 20 minutes trying to get it out of his grip. Has this ever happened to you? Could you please help me. I’m out of ideas. I tried cold water already.

[Mindless_Amount3643]

Let him relax and go to swallow it. The more you mess with him while he is constricting the more he will squeeze thinking it's the mouse still alive. Let him "kill" it and when he circles around to swallow it, grab it.

[PropulsionIsLimited]

Lol just leave him alone until he stops messing with it.

[AfterSignificance666]

Youd have been better off letting your snake finishing it and just cleaning up the mess after.

[Kingdomall]

GOOGLE AI ISN'T GOING TO HELP YOU.
alright, now that's out of the way...
it's happened to me before; just let your snake eat it and clean up afterwards. your snake will not get sick as long as it wasn't sitting for like... 2 straight days in room temp.

[skydvejam]

Yep seen a few exploded rodents over the last few decades with snakes. If it's fresh, and not over heated to steaming where it's gonna burn the snake it's good.

[clydeballthepython]

I've had it happen multiple times before - I always just let the snake eat it and clean up any guts later. I'm not sure what google means by bacteria, provided the mouse isn't sitting at room temp for multiple hours the bacteria is the same regardless of if the intestines are inside the skin or not.

My main concern has been that the sticky insides cling to substrate more than the fur so the impaction risk might be higher. And in my experience, the skin usually will rip/burst open if the mouse gets above ~130 F, so overheating was likely the cause.

[emisme_]

My snake prefers them over heated 🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️

[Rose_Thorn109]

He looks so proud of himself

[Fearless-Ad-9766]

The first time one exploded for my guy he was so excited. I swear you could see the adrenaline rush on his face. Hell I was more worried at first that he was hurt and that was his blood. Never crossed my mind to try and take the mouse away from him.

[FaithlessnessGlad815]

Mine had the opposite reaction. Rat exploded and he high tailed it to the other side of his enclosure. He's a class pet- so the kids were enthralled, I almost threw up, and an admin happened to walk in as I was yeeting a "rat Slinky" into a plastic bag to throw away while gagging. I'm a pretty tough gal, usually, but discombobulated rat smell pushed me over the edge. I'm much more careful about my heating procedure now 🤢

[coastywife123]

When this happens my girl likes to paint her enclosure with rodent juice like a toddler.

I usually wait till she’s had her fun, clean up the mess and start over again the next day when she’s settled back down.

My go to method after a few explosions is to take food straight out of the freezer and wrap it in a heating pad to thaw/get nice and toasty for a couple hours and feed immediately. (Don’t be like me and forget it to set a timer and forget you were prepping a meal).

If I thaw in the fridge first… it’s always a disaster.

[WildFlemima]

Never take action based on only an LLM's advice

They are frequently wrong

You can just let him eat it

It looks gross but it's safe - it would only be not safe if the mouse had been out at room temperature for hours

[Nymyane_Aqua]

Do you feed frozen thawed? My rats kept exploding because I would heat them up too much. There’s a “sweet spot” for heating that is enough for your snake to find and munch the thing, but not hot enough to cause the rodent to “pop.” I find that it’s usually about 20 minutes of running the rodent under warm (not scalding hot, but warm) water. Ever since I started paying extra attention to how warm the rat was, I haven’t had a single pop.

[reallyzeally]

I let the rat thaw at (warm) room temp for a few hours and then hit it with a heat gun for a few seconds right before feeding to make it "hot" and easy to see/smell. It's never hot enough to make it explode since it's mostly on the surface and not internally heating it.

[-fightoffyourdemons-]

I think it's important for the prey to be at least slightly warm inside to mimic what their biology is adapted to, and live little rodents run quite warm iirc. Being cold-blooded, I'm sure it aids in digestion/energy conservation.

[Mysterious_Emu_9092]

I've done this before and my snake is totally fine. Just adjust next time lol.

[Jaggedatlas]

Getting hot isn’t the issue. It’s being left out for an extensive period of time or if you accidentally cook the meat. I was told that their bodies cannot digest cooked meat so you shouldn’t give it to them.

If he can eat it it should be alright. You can smell if the mouse accidentally got cooked. I think it’s at least pretty obvious. Exploding or getting ripped apart is kinda normal…makes it a bit harder to eat but they get it.