# Ball Pythons > BP Husbandry >  Can I re-freeze a thawed mouse?

## Liza

If my snake turns down a thawed mouse, can I put it back in the freezer for next time, or is that a bad idea?

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## seanzee1

Yes i personally do it all the time as long as it hasn't been thawed out for so long that it starts to rot. But if you thaw them try to feed then refreeze them you should be fine. Hope that helps

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## CptJack

Once, yes.  If it's refused a second time, toss it.  They tend to break down and get... gross and kind of fall apart if you got more than that.

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_Mr Oni_ (04-22-2014)

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## RoyalRose

You should never, ever, ever refreeze meat of any kind. Even meat you would eat yourself. Bacteria can grow at astounding rates in warm meat and a second freeze will not kill it all and make it safe to eat. Please don't refreeze mice/rats as this is an entire carcass which contains all kinds of bacterias already. The second the body dies, it begins to degrade and bacteria begins to spread through the system. If it's immediately frozen this process is 'paused' so to speak. Once the carcass begins to thaw, this process starts up again, but this time faster because of the billions of cells that have burst do to being frozen and shredded by ice crystals. The meat or carcass should be used within 12 hours(at most! sooner is always better) of starting to thaw because of the increase in bacteria growth and in casrcass' the organs breaking down and beginning to 'rot' the body from the inside out. Just because it looks ok and smells ok, DOES NOT MEAN IT IS EDIBLE. Please, please, PLEASE DO NO REFREEZE ALREADY THAWED MEAT :Wag of the finger:

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madmunki (04-23-2014)

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## sho220

> Once, yes.  If it's refused a second time, toss it.  They tend to break down and get... gross and kind of fall apart if you got more than that.


x2  :Smile:

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_CptJack_ (04-22-2014)

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## CptJack

> You should never, ever, ever refreeze meat of any kind. Even meat you would eat yourself. Bacteria can grow at astounding rates in warm meat and a second freeze will not kill it all and make it safe to eat. Please don't refreeze mice/rats as this is an entire carcass which contains all kinds of bacterias already. The second the body dies, it begins to degrade and bacteria begins to spread through the system. If it's immediately frozen this process is 'paused' so to speak. Once the carcass begins to thaw, this process starts up again, but this time faster because of the billions of cells that have burst do to being frozen and shredded by ice crystals. The meat or carcass should be used within 12 hours(at most! sooner is always better) of starting to thaw because of the increase in bacteria growth and in casrcass' the organs breaking down and beginning to 'rot' the body from the inside out. Just because it looks ok and smells ok, DOES NOT MEAN IT IS EDIBLE. Please, please, PLEASE DO NO REFREEZE ALREADY THAWED MEAT



I'm sorry, but no.  This depends on the feeding method you're using.  Yeah, if you're going to leave the mouse in there overnight then you should really toss the next day since basic decomp will have had time to start. If you take the mouse out, thaw and warm it in hot water, offer it to the snake and it refuses, it's going back into the freezer and frozen again in _much_ less time than it would normally be sitting there if you use overnight feeding with a reluctant eater.  To that end, yeah, all you've done is pause the process. But you've paused the process earlier on than a snake who's had to have the food left in the 90 degree enclosure for several hours to decide to eat it.

The only issue involved is that the ice crystals continue to break the cells, so more than that 2 times and they turn into a leaky bag of rodent mush.

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Cadance (11-20-2017)

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## Tarzan152

I would toss it.  A frozen rat costs about $2 to $5 each.  What does a vet visit cost?  I wouldn't risk having my "kids" get sick over that small amount.  If your buddy isn't eating, then space his feeding to once every two weeks so you don't waste f/t.  The folks who previously commented gave good points for their side but I would toss it to err on the side of caution.  

P.S. I would rather toss out a rejected f/t than have to clean up a regurgitated one. Been there, done that.  Yuck..

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

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## sho220

> I would toss it.  A frozen rat costs about $2 to $5 each.  What does a vet visit cost?  I wouldn't risk having my "kids" get sick over that small amount.  If your buddy isn't eating, then space his feeding to once every two weeks so you don't waste f/t.  The folks who previously commented gave good points for their side but I would toss it to err on the side of caution.  
> 
> P.S. I would rather toss out a rejected f/t than have to clean up a regurgitated one. Been there, done that.  Yuck..
> 
> Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk


I've done it plenty of times and never had to go for a vet visit and never had a regurge...

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_AlexisFitzy_ (04-22-2014)

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## CptJack

> I've done it plenty of times and never had to go for a vet visit and never had a regurge...


X2.  Ever. 

They're not sitting there over night.  They're thawed, warmed, offered, refused, and frozen again. Total time they're not frozen solid is probably less than 2 hours (maybe a lot less). I promise they're not suddenly crawling with bacteria in that time.  Now, overnight and 8 hours or so at 90 degrees in the hotside of the tank? I'd toss.

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## NH93

Personally I don't, but interested in seeing the opinions.

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madmunki (04-23-2014)

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## RoyalRose

My family raises and butchers all kinds of animals and I've seen carcasses in all kinds of different situations; I don't take any chances with meat because I've seen what bad meat can do to both human and animal. I personally would never refreeze any kind of meat. But that's just me.

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## Mr Oni

I've done it many times myself, just be sure you keep track of time and look/smell the food item. 



hell, i've refroze and ate chicken and steak too

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_MonkeyShuttle_ (04-23-2014)

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## Garnet

My boy has only refused twice.  The first time, he struck the rat pup, started in on it and then abruptly spit it out.  I tossed that one.  Hubby offered him a different one the very next night and ZAP!  He swallowed that one with his usual alacrity.  The next one he refused I'd thawed in a container that smelled of chili spices.  I didn't even think about it.  Skull looked at it, sniffed and then hid from the thing.  I tossed that one too.  I now have a pyrex bowl that is just for thawing prey.

Right now, if he refuses, I figure there's something wrong with the prey so I will toss it and offer a different one the next night.

He's only 9 months old and he eats like a champ.  I suspect that might change when he's a fully matured adult.  Next winter might get interesting.

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## madmunki

I have a picky eater that refuses some times, for me it's not a big deal cause I just feed it to another snake that never turns down food. When picky does eat, I defrost another. So the point is, you need another snake!  :Very Happy:

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## MonkeyShuttle

> I have a picky eater that refuses some times, for me it's not a big deal cause I just feed it to another snake that never turns down food. When picky does eat, I defrost another. So the point is, you need another snake!


This!

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