Can you refreeze mice after there been thawed out?

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Lachie2261

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Hey today I offered my snake an extra hopper mouse to see if she was still hungry she wasn't now Im just wondering if I can refreeze the mouse or do I jus chuck it out haha thanks
 
If it hasn't been out to long then yes you can refreeze it but seriously for a dollar mouse I wouldn't bother
 
I recently purchase 30mice they unfortunately arrived defrost due to ignorance, but anyway we refrozen them, when we defrosted them again every single one that got refrozen they guts popped out, so yeah..
 
It's just like our meat I guess would u refreeze it?
if my snake doesn't go for its food I tend to put it in a container in the fridge and try again the next day if it still doesn't take it, it's in the bin!
 
once food is defrosted the bacteria starts growing and cannot be re-frozen,reptile food should be treated the same as human food
 
I wouldn't refreeze any already frozen and thawed out food items - but that''s just me.
But I do know some people that do and they haven't had any problems...
At least as far as Snake food goes.
 
I have heard that it's generally a no-no, what with the bacteria growth etc. I have heard (couldn't provide evidence, so it's hearsay at best) that re-freezing thawed out rodents has actually killed a snake. I wouldn't refreeze for snakes, my logic is that snakes have not evolved as scavengers in any way, so are ill-equipped to deal with food that is not "fresh". I re-freeze food for me, and for various other animals if necessary. That said, I don't need to re-freeze anything, if one snake doesn't want what's offered, it goes to the next one, and if none of them want it, it goes to the ferrets, and they never don't want it :D
 
I re-froze once when I left a pack out of the freezer.. But now well of next week I'm going to be feeding freshly killed so if they don't eat it I can but it back in the freezer :)
 
I won't do it.
I wouldn't refreeze food for us, so I wouldn't do it for any animal either.
 
I have heard that it's generally a no-no, what with the bacteria growth etc. I have heard (couldn't provide evidence, so it's hearsay at best) that re-freezing thawed out rodents has actually killed a snake. I wouldn't refreeze for snakes, my logic is that snakes have not evolved as scavengers in any way, so are ill-equipped to deal with food that is not "fresh". I re-freeze food for me, and for various other animals if necessary. That said, I don't need to re-freeze anything, if one snake doesn't want what's offered, it goes to the next one, and if none of them want it, it goes to the ferrets, and they never don't want it :D

Much of this is untrue. Many snakes, even pythons, will opportunistically eat dead animals such as road kill, and often in a state of putrefaction, without harm. Snakes MUST deal with food that is quite quickly not "fresh" - a snake which eats a large prey item, even a Carpet which eats a fair sized rat, will have to deal with the rotten contents of the gut of the rat when its stomach juices eventually penetrate the gut cavity, which can take days in some instances. Snakes don't do as mammals do - chew their food and mix it with saliva bfore swallowing it and sending it down into a bath of hydrochloric acid, which, incidentally in mammals, is further quickly mixed by the muscular activity of the stomach.

Anything larger than a half-grown mouse or rat is going to mean the snake has to deal with putrefaction as part of the digestive process, and as long as temps (the most critical factor at this time) remain suitable, there will be no problem, because it's routine. That's why you should NEVER feed snakes large meals when anticipating a heat-wave or a cold snap - when it's very hot, the food will decay faster than the snake's system can deal with it, and in cold weather, the snake's system will once again be too slow.

To suggest that snakes will suffer if given food that's a bit "off" is like saying your dog will die if it digs up and eats a bone it buried 2 weeks ago - of course it won't - neither dogs nor snakes have anywhere near the sensitivity to "germs" that we humans do.

Having said that, naturally we like to give our snakes (& our dogs) fresh food. But on the odd occasion that a rodent or other food item has been rejected, and it has been previously quickly thawed, it is certainly OK to refreeze after a couple of hours, to try again later.

Jamie
 
I recently purchase 30mice they unfortunately arrived defrost due to ignorance, but anyway we refrozen them, when we defrosted them again every single one that got refrozen they guts popped out, so yeah..
I receive a lot of enquiry for small quantities of frozen food to be delivered. Just because some suppliers do it doesn't mean it works. You need thermal mass to maintain temperature without refrigeration and so shipping small quantities can lead to dissappointment. Just becuase some suppliers do it doesn't mean it works all the time. Having said that we have shipped small quantities by overnight post and they have arrived frozen but i wouldn't recommend it on a regular basis. The packaging reqired was'nt worth the risk, but in an emergency-Maybe.
 
Much of this is untrue. Many snakes, even pythons, will opportunistically eat dead animals such as road kill, and often in a state of putrefaction, without harm. Snakes MUST deal with food that is quite quickly not "fresh" - a snake which eats a large prey item, even a Carpet which eats a fair sized rat, will have to deal with the rotten contents of the gut of the rat when its stomach juices eventually penetrate the gut cavity, which can take days in some instances. Snakes don't do as mammals do - chew their food and mix it with saliva bfore swallowing it and sending it down into a bath of hydrochloric acid, which, incidentally in mammals, is further quickly mixed by the muscular activity of the stomach.

Anything larger than a half-grown mouse or rat is going to mean the snake has to deal with putrefaction as part of the digestive process, and as long as temps (the most critical factor at this time) remain suitable, there will be no problem, because it's routine. That's why you should NEVER feed snakes large meals when anticipating a heat-wave or a cold snap - when it's very hot, the food will decay faster than the snake's system can deal with it, and in cold weather, the snake's system will once again be too slow.

To suggest that snakes will suffer if given food that's a bit "off" is like saying your dog will die if it digs up and eats a bone it buried 2 weeks ago - of course it won't - neither dogs nor snakes have anywhere near the sensitivity to "germs" that we humans do.

Having said that, naturally we like to give our snakes (& our dogs) fresh food. But on the odd occasion that a rodent or other food item has been rejected, and it has been previously quickly thawed, it is certainly OK to refreeze after a couple of hours, to try again later.

Jamie

I did say it was hearsay at best:p
Thanks, Pythininfinite, I learnt something:) Although now that you mentioned it, I think I vaguely remember hearing something about the opportunistic feeding habits of snakes, I think it may have been one of those pieces of information that I heard and did not absorb. I've gotten a lot stupider since I finished school.
 
Ha, haven't we all... and I left school soooo long ago :)!

J
 
Much of this is untrue. Many snakes, even pythons, will opportunistically eat dead animals such as road kill, and often in a state of putrefaction, without harm. Snakes MUST deal with food that is quite quickly not "fresh" - a snake which eats a large prey item, even a Carpet which eats a fair sized rat, will have to deal with the rotten contents of the gut of the rat when its stomach juices eventually penetrate the gut cavity, which can take days in some instances. Snakes don't do as mammals do - chew their food and mix it with saliva bfore swallowing it and sending it down into a bath of hydrochloric acid, which, incidentally in mammals, is further quickly mixed by the muscular activity of the stomach.

Anything larger than a half-grown mouse or rat is going to mean the snake has to deal with putrefaction as part of the digestive process, and as long as temps (the most critical factor at this time) remain suitable, there will be no problem, because it's routine. That's why you should NEVER feed snakes large meals when anticipating a heat-wave or a cold snap - when it's very hot, the food will decay faster than the snake's system can deal with it, and in cold weather, the snake's system will once again be too slow.

To suggest that snakes will suffer if given food that's a bit "off" is like saying your dog will die if it digs up and eats a bone it buried 2 weeks ago - of course it won't - neither dogs nor snakes have anywhere near the sensitivity to "germs" that we humans do.

Having said that, naturally we like to give our snakes (& our dogs) fresh food. But on the odd occasion that a rodent or other food item has been rejected, and it has been previously quickly thawed, it is certainly OK to refreeze after a couple of hours, to try again later.

Jamie

This is the best answer, and the only answer worth listening too. Everything else just goes against common sense and and sounds RIDICULOUS! If they can handle a partly decomposed bit of carrion in the wild then they can handle a re frozen mouse.
 
Yeah but still there's got to be some sort of limit on how long (or the amount of times) the frozen food item(s) can be thawed out and refrozen until negative effects start popping up? I would of thought so anyway.
 
Buy a monitor they will take care of any left over food....
 
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