How to Thaw and Store Rodents for Snakes (and where to buy them) 

When she put the mouse in a mug, all I could think of was "oh look, a nice cup of lukewarm mouse tea" - and then I went and made me a cup of tea 😂

Mental note to self: _don't help yourself to cups while at a snake owners house._ You may just end up with the "mouse mug". :-D

Emily: don't use the microwave it's terrible. *watches her reaction* Me: you've done it haven't you

I don’t even have a snake but I’m watching this anyway

I'm just imagining the first time she put a mouse or rat in a microwave and hearing this loud popping noise

Step 1 get out of freezer Step 2 put in microwave on 1 minute 30 seconds Step 3 buy new microwave

Has anyone ever gone to your rodent freezer by accident and gone “aaaaaaaah?!” Nice job modeling the freezer at 9:05

I adored how after Popcorn was introduced, he just decided "*smooch* A'ight, Imma be a sash now. Imma be the prettiest sash for mom!"

Emily: giving useful information Me: S N E K

I don’t own a snake (or any reptile of the sort), I don’t want a snake but I still watch your vids as I find them super interesting! *boops noodle’s nose*

When thawing out my Snook's food, I just use a dedicated plastic container with about an inch of "as hot as I can get it" water from the faucet. I just toss the mouse in, put on the lid, and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. After thawing, I just pat it dry with a paper towel and Viola! One warm mouse for one happy little sand sausage! The only thing that worries me about this method is the fact that tap water can be harmful to snakes, unless you use reptisafe or some other method to nullify its harmful effects. Also, I just wanted to add that I love your channel. I've learned quite a bit from you and your videos! Can't wait to see more! lol

Normal human: ah ok so this makes them thaw quickest Culinary Student Me: ah don't let it get it ThE dAnGeR zOnE

Novice tips for thawing rodents if a family member is a germaphobe: 1. Put rodent in a plastic bag, then place it in a disposable cup. 2. Thaw in fridge to reduce bacteria growth. Do NOT thaw it at room temp. 3. When thawed, remove from fridge. Heat water in the microwave and pour it into the cup. 4. When warm, feed to snake using tongs. Afterwards, throw used cup and bag away 5. Thoroughly clean tongs and hands. Disinfect sink if you have to. This is honestly what I have to do because my mom is afraid of cross contamination. As much as I’d like to designate an old plastic container for thawing rats (thus saving myself from throwing an insane amount of solo cups in the trash) she won’t let me. Even though I’ll happily clean it out like I do with the tongs. Oh well. The fact that she’ll let me keep a snake and frozen rats in the house at all is more than I could have asked for.

I just got my first pet snake. Its a ball python I named her “Nagini”. Thank you for this video! :D

I use Perfect Prey for frozen feeders; they’re located in Florida. They’ve been awesome! Would recommend.

Bro I got scared😱 I thought you were actually gonna turn on the microwave and show us what happens..... ( ﾟдﾟ )

Guest: "so... whats that little thing at the back of your fridge?" Me: "ahh... don't mind the dead rodents... the chocolate you wanted is next to it."

snakes are illegal here in Hawaii, but Emily's such an awesome teacher, it's fun to learn anything she puts down!

Fed my ball python frozen/thawed for the first time yesterday. She was severely confused at first, but it might have been because the has never seen a BLACK mouse before. I put it outside her cave, she came to out and just started tonguing at it for a few minutes. I thought it might be too cold for her to recognize as food, but when I bumped it just a little bit with the tweezers she immediatly grabbed it and dragged it into her cave. She didn't try to wrap or choke it like she's used to with live food, so she must've realized on some level that it wasn't alive anymore. Still gobbled it right up though. Anyways, keeping snakes is fun.

2:03 Emily’s friend is watching this and says “Wait heyy I just ate popcorn out of that bowl a little while ago!!! 😭😭😭😭”

7 year old me: EW!!! RATS! Me now: oh look snake food

Timestamps for the different methods in case you need a refresher on a specific method (would it be too selfish to ask to get this pinned?) 1. Thawing in the fridge 0:35 2. Thawing in cold water 1:18 3. Thawing in microwave 3:07 (Don't do this for rodents......) Begin Warming-up your rodent section: 3:45 Method - Placing your rodent in warm water: 4:47 Method - Placing rodent under a heat lamp/hairdryer or leave sitting at room temp 5:12 Tip on holding and feeding the rodent to your snake: 6:25 Storing and longevity of rodents in one's freezer: 8:05

You've got to be my favorite pet youtuber. Thank you for showing me how to take care of reptiles, I even got a ball python after watching you. Love the channel and keep up the good work

I WAS LITERALLY LOOKING THIS UP WHEN YOU POSTED I LOVE YOU EMILY

Do I have a snake? No. Am I ever going to get a snake? No. Do I watch a whole video about how to get rodents ready for a pet snake? Yes! Edit: OMG I have never gotten so many likes! Thank you and I will be liking every reply!

Your midwestern way of saying “bag” sounds weird to my mid eastern ears. Baig

I love you Emily! You have such a wonderful personality and I love to hear you teach about your pets. Your love and passion for what you do is so obvious and heart warming!

I dont even have a snake and i watch each video faithfully. I just love Emily and Ed. So knowledgeable and such fun to watch.

7:40 My California Kingsnake does just that when I wiggle the mouse from the tail. He quickly strikes and coils up, so he doesn't care about the mouse's position. Great video as always

I recently got a little snake and I always get so concerned when he doesnt take the mouse straight away That being said, these videos really help me haha

Thank you for making this video! I am just starting to search for good deals for supplies online. Thanks for the info about each rodent supplier.

These video's are great and SO helpful! I've been trying to convince my parents to let me adopt a snake and your video's help me so much by giving me the right knowledge I need to know to try and convince my parents so thank you!!

One day I will have a western hognose....and a leopard gecko😭😭 just need to convince my husband to

Thanks to channels like yours and Clint I felt educated enough to get a snake..... I'm a very proud hognose owner as of this week.

Yes! I've been waiting for this sort of video for a long time, thank you!

Tuesdays and fridays are now my favorite days! Often times i will sit infront of my computer in the morning just waiting for your video! I am in the process of making one of the snake skin necklaces! I love snakes but my mom dosent so i dont have one but i am using a shed of a snake around my house!

I'm lucky to live 5 minutes' walk from my local exotics shop and so I only buy about 8-10 mice at a time, which last me about 2-3 months with my 2 corn snakes

Imagine friends coming over and seeing a bowl of mouse in your fridge 😂

These videos are so helpful! My fiance and I are planning on getting a noodle soon. Probably after Christmas. So I've been doing loads of research on care. This channel has been a wealth of information. ❤️

yeah i've always just thawed them right in warm water cause it makes thawing super quick and easy, i was so afraid this video was gonna call me out for doing that lmao! i'm glad it's what you guys do too

For those of us in Canada, but specifically Alberta, First Strike Snakes is fantastic! And if you live near Edmonton you can do pick up and skip the whole shipping cost. I just got my first snake a few weeks ago and one of the people at one of those 'big chain pet stores' recommended them as the place they go for mice, and they have been extremely helpful and have decently priced mice.

Oh mah godness, you have alot of snakes! :o I love snakes so much! Can you do a video showing all of your albinos by the way? I just love albinos so much! :)

Thank you so much! Your videos ALWAYS have amazing educational content in them!

Always relevant and informative. Thank you for the educational content.

Do I own a snake? No. Will my partner let me have a snake? No Did I click this video as fast as i could? Yes.

Great video. I actually discovered recently that getting a three month supply through my local reptile expo is cheaper than ordering online anywhere. Online my bulk order would have been over 300 before shipping but at my expo i got all that i needed for less that 220. So totally planning to go the expo again in 3 months to get my next order!

I just wanted to say thank you for your videos. I only recently discovered you guys and I'm so happy that I did. I have 2 corn snakes who are around 14 years old, I have had them from a few months old, and you have helped me realise I can make their homes more exciting and interesting for them. More importantly though feeding time is now lovely and calm and I don't feel like they are completely unreadable mysteries thanks to your body language video! I've also realised that the female (I think) is becoming underweight, so I'm starting to increase her feeds slightly, she's always been bigger and I was feeding them both the same. I just didn't realise until I saw your video about snake weights. So thank you!!

I’ll finish watching after work!! Love ur vids guys!! ❤️❤️🐍❤️❤️

"99 dollars" Ow. I'll uh, check the other two.

Do I own a snake or any reptile whatsoever? No, I don’t. Do I watch every video multiple times and play them as ambient noise? Yes, yes I do 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m hooked on Emily and Ed x)

Awesome video, thanks for all the great info.

I was looking for this for so long! Thanks! 😁

My salmon hypo bci prefers room temp. If it's too warm she lets go and leaves it till later when it's her ideal temp.

Unrelated completely. But my dog started wagging when you said "hey everybody" and is now currently staring at my phone from his bed 😍😍😍 hes as obsessed with SD as i am clearly lol

I love the way you say bag. My friend from Minnesota pronounces bag the same way and it always brings me joy (as someone with a heavy accent from a different area)

Thanks so much for the videos. I bought my teen daughter an African black house snake for Christmas and was shocked at the cost of frozen feeder mice. The website you talked about was 1/3rd the cost of the online store I used initially. I also watched a half a dozen of your other videos for tips on heat/humidity care, when/where/how to feed your snake etc. and all of your videos are packed with wonderful information that seem to cover a wide range of reptile care tips from a neutral stand point. Terrific work.

Hey guys! Love the content- always! I was wondering if you guys would consider making a video on heat tape and how to work it? I have a few snakes and am trying to implement a diy snake rack of sorts (kinda like the ones you have in your main snake room. Thank you for all the videos! I know that it must be a lot of work on top of your already busy schedule!

Having both a python and a corn, this is insanely helpful. Thanks, Em!

Such a great video! Thanks Emily and Ed! 💚

Actually early this time lol Your videos are so amazing and so educational that it actually changed my mind about snakes and I'm definitally planning on getting one! Thanks Emily ^-^

Thank you for this video, Emily! My Ball Python is 3 years old and for her whole live she only ate live. The reptile shop could not get her to eat thawed mice. I have only had her for a year, I failed once when I first got her. After watching this video and taking the tips, I decided to try again. I thawed it out correctly and instead of holding the mouse by the tail, I held it by the back end. Sure enough, she took it! I wanted to get her to switch, since she almost lost her eye from a live feed, but I didn't know how. I'm so happy I can now feed her thawed without worry anymore. I'm sorry this is drawn out, but seriously, thank you for the amazing education!

The rate for shipping frozen rodents is a standardized rate by UPS. I have bought frozen meat for human consumption, and it's shipped the same way. (Fancy chocolates are also shipped that way as well.)

I absolutely love these videos, I mean they’re what got me hooked on Snake Discovery to start with. But I am so glad the new videos are mixed with education and personality! Ed and Emily are two of the funniest humans, I just love them. I’ve had a really rough day and I’m sitting in my car at almost midnight rewatching old SD videos to make sure I’m doing the right thing for my BP and enjoying the progression of Ed and a Emily’s personalities in current videos 🥰🥹

I am so glad you mentioned the warm water method. personally I put the rodent in a ziplock bag and put them in a dedicated bowl with warm water and another dedicated bowl on top with warm water in it to hold down the bag.

Splitting the cost with friends/people is genius!

Oh my goodness, I needed this video in my life. I was just telling my son yesterday to please not put the pinky in the microwave!! (He was warming up a snack while waiting for the mouse to thaw, it's ok now.) Thank you so much for your videos!! I've learned so much from you, and our Noodle says thank you! (Male hatchling western hognose)

Honestly this is useful. I've been looking into getting a corn snake so I've been doing a lot of research

This answered all my questions! You’re the best! Thank you :)

13:17 - “if you have any other snake owners or *snake friends*” Ah yes....my local garter snake friend from my backyard, I should ask him if he wants to go halfsies on an order of rodents!

Hey! So I am really looking foreward to have a petsnake. I fell in love with the mexican Black Kingsnake but the problem is that I live in Germany... It is really hard to find anyone who sells those Snakes and (very important as well) the food! It is not as common to keep snakes as a pet here as it is in America. But America does not ship to germany (snakes/food) (wich ich totally understandable) If you should not have any more Videoideas some time: Would you like to make a Video about how to find breeders (in general) and food etc in other countries? Maybe simple tipps? Shoutout to everyone loving Snake discovery who is not living in America❤ I really love your Videos and they really made me wanting to know EVERYTHING about how to keep a Snake🥰Thank you Snake Discovery❤

The feeding tray thing is really smart! I've been working on figuring out a way that I would be able to feed my ball python without substrate getting stuck to it once he's off paper towels (out of quarantine). Thanks for the tip!!

Happy to hear I’m thawing my rodents correctly! Good tip on how to hold the mouse/rat for feeding. Mine have eaten tail first a time or two! Very fortunate in where I get my rodents. We have a local aquarium store that used to sell snakes. They don’t any longer, but they still sell the food. We’ve dealt with them for over 40 years, so I can go in and pick each individual rat/mouse I want. Very close to home, too!

"Don't use the microwave" *puts the mug in the microwave *

Referring to a python as "a liiiiitle bit special" made me laugh, and made my night. Sorry, Butter, it was funny. 😂 I'm a little special too.

I’m planning to get a snek when we move and this was very helpful, thank you! :3

Great information....I order from all those mentioned in the video....have a nice day !

I feel like im watching animal planet when i watch these 😂

When you don’t have a snake but you now want one cuz of these videos

I love your channel! Great educational video. Thank you!!

soon i’m getting a piebald ball python male and this is really helpful! my relatives really hate it’s feeding processes as they’re put in the microwave but the fact u can heat them up in boiling water really relieved them! thank you so much !

When my cane toad gets bigger I will definitely be getting her some rodents every once in a GREAT while to feed her with! Good to know they only last a few months; it wouldn't be worth it to get a whole big pack if she's only going to be eating one every other month.

I just put my rats in really hot water. Not boiling, just to where I can’t put my finger under

THANK YOU!! You just saved me so much time in research and price comparing. I'm keeping my F/T local ❤🐍❤

This is a very helpful and informative video, thanks for making this

I watch this channel so I can imagine if my grandma was alive then I would prob have a snook And I really REALLY wanna get a snook when I’m older

Lol my ball python is such a good eater she strikes and coils right away 🥰

I do feed my snake a bit differently and thaw it out differently but that’s because like you said, snakes are different, and mine does perfectly fine the way I do it. But I’m glad I came across this video because as a beginner when it comes to these things, I am always glad to learn as much as I can about how to feed and take good care of my sneks.

i literally needed a video like this lol thank you!!

microwaving rodents seems like a great way of making a mess in your microwave.

I like how Emily causally is picking up and moving around a limp, dead rat like a kid with blocks

I know this is an older video, but thank you so much! Great info😊

Thanks this is actually helpful

I love the way Emily says “bag!” Idk why!

When ever I’m defrosting my rats , they always float. I know that it’ll be fine and it’ll thaw the same way but I always prod it to try and keep it down 😂😂 they’re strangely boyent

I'm convincing my mum to buy one,this have been so much help

This channel is so friggin helpful

Tge first time I fed my Ball Python, I tried dangling the rat by its tail, and its tail popped off. Needless to say, I've held it by its midsection ever since.

:( but the BABIES that were hatching the same day as the lizards we still haven't seen them

GREAT always wanted you to do a video about this.

Hello Emily, yet another very helpful and informative video. Thanks. I only have 5 snakes so I order from LLI or Layne Laboratories Inc. Because I have fewer snakes they allow you to order smaller amounts whereas some places smallest amount you can order is like 100 of an item. I don't need that many at a time, they will go bad before I can use them. Also they come in colored Ziplock bags so you're not seeing Frozen rodents through a clear plastic bag in your freezer.