Badly thawed mice

[lutzd]

Hi guys!

I fed a couple of my snakes last night on freshly thawed rats. These were raised and frozen by me, and I'm guessing that somewhere along the line they partially thawed and refroze.

When one of the snakes grabbed and squeezed the rat, some rather unpleasant black watery stuff oozed out. Another thawed rat that I left in another enclosure overnight was severely bloated and again, contained an excess of the same unpleasant stuff.

I've seen this from time to time in frozen prey that I've purchased from various places and put it down to the same thing - thawing and refreezing.

My question is whether prey items in this state will do any harm to my snakes.

Obviously I wouldn't deliberately feed them with food in this state, but what about accidentally, as per what happened last night? Will it harm them? If not, will they still get the same nutritional value from these items?

Thanks in advance for any answers.
:wink:

 

[Fangs]

Nah david I think its ok shouldnt hurt em although obviously the fresher the better.Having said that even the insides of fresh rats stink sumfin awful.
Only thing with thawed/refrozen ones Ive found is that they tend to be extra soft the second time around and split real easy with the obvious mess coming after that when they get hit/strangled.

cheers M..............

 

[africancichlidau]

Yeeeuck!! Personally I don't think refrozen would be good for ya snakes, don't know why I think this though Whenever I have thawed a rat to feed and it ends up not eaten I put it in the garbage, I never refreeze. What makes you think it may have thawed accidentally Lusty?

 

[Magpie]

I'd be pretty concerned about bacteria. As the fish man said, once defrosted, turf it to the garbage or feed it to something else straight away (or to the woodies.) If this has happened a few times David, maybe you should check your freezer? Sounds like maybe things are partially defrosting in there if these mice were bred by yourself.
There is no way you could predict if it would harm them, it shouldn't but keep an eye on them. I'm sure you would anyway

 

[lutzd]

Thanks

Thanks for the advice, guys!

Africa : I think it's possible that my boy left the freezer door ajar and closed it when he noticed. That's my theory, anyway. In any case, they have only been there for about 2 weeks, so I know they are supposed to be near fresh, so the refreezing theory is the only thing I could think of to explain the yucky substance emanating from their nether regions.

Mags : They weren't defrosted for long (like about 15 minutes) so I doubt they would have had time to build up much in the way of bacteria, particularly in this weather. However, I know that refreezing destroys the cells of the meat, so I'm thinking that is what the gunk is - dissolved rat guts! [YUCK!]. Let's hope no-one is reading this around dinner time! :wink:

 

[Magpie]

I was more thinking the bacteria that could grow whilst the mice were defrosted the first time. If they were unfrozen for an unknown length of time, bacteria could grow or even if defrosted briefly, they take time to refreeze. Anyway, probably not a problem, just something I thought I'd mention.

 

[NoOne]

I've heard of juvi snakes dieing from off pinkies. You can normally tell if they are bad, they really stink even while frozen.
Good frozen or defrosted rodents shouldn't have a strong smell.
I don't think it would worry large snakes but it's probably best not to do it.

 

[Hawkeye]

David,

I think an issue is that the bacteria that the mice carry in their gut may get out of control and its not any external bacteria that'll be the problem. I would throw away as I know that people get sick off refrozen food.

Cheers Hawkeye

 

[lutzd]

:-(

:cry: [sigh!] You're probably right, Hawks. What a waste! Still, better than losing one or more of my babies. :cry:

 

[wattso]

Hi all, just thought I'd throw 2 cents worth in, not sure if anyone will even read these old post but.... i recently tryed to feed my coastal a refrozen rat and he wouldnt have a bar of it,maybe they can tell. what is the best way to thaw them???

 

[wattso]

hey..i've hatched..im a snakelet now, whoohoo!

 

[Brodie]

Hey Omo . The best way I have found to thaw mice is give the laundry sink a quick clean, fill it up with warm water and chuck in the rats/mice for 10-15 mins, heats em right through - YUMMY

 

[wattso]

thawed mice/rats

hi brodie, yeah i do that now cept in an icecream container, but i have to bugger round dryin em cause he wont touch wet ones!

 

[Brodie]

I just get a paper towel and dry em off. If Monty i really fussy, just get a blow drier , sounds silly but worked for me when trying to get a friends NT onto thawed Rats.
CHeers