Mom thinks frozen rats/mice in a fridge is unsanitary, how to convince her it isn't?

[JJV]

So apparently my mother is a huge germophobic, and she thinks that frozen feeders are full of germs and disgusting particles that will infect the food. She also can't stand the sight of a dead mice, so theres that.

[Tigerhawk]

You are fighting a losing battle. Get a small dorm room freezer to keep your feeders. I keep my feeders in a freezer in my reptile building. True you may not have room for a full freezer. However I could not imagine having feeder rats and mice in with my food. I really don't see how you can convince her. However I wish you the best.

[CaGirl5]

Yeah, Im kinda the same way.. I had to buy another freezer. lol

[DVirginiana]

Small freezer is probably the way to go. I love how people who eat meat have no problem with a bloody, butchered carcass that has been handled by god knows how many people, but when it comes to a whole mouse they freak out.

[Mr. Misha]

I wouldn't want frozen mice or rats next to my steak either whether it's sanitary or not. Gross... Listen to everyone else and get a small fridge on craig'slist.

DV, please don't compare these two things because they're COMPLETELY different. You're talking about professionally butchered meat that has health inspections to rodent that pee and crap on themselves.

[Penultimate]

Mine was exactly the same way. I picked up a freezer off of Craigslist for $50. Trust me, you most likely won't change her mind. Honestly, while I don't have a problem with dead mice near my food (neither does my dad, he keeps food in the freezer with the rodents), it does look kind of gross and out of place to have weird furry things in there.

[Spiritserpents]

I figure the mice are in bags, the meat in my freezer is wrapped, and is a whole mouse really different from the whole fish that I have in there? I also store the mice on the lower shelves, and the meat/frozen dinners/frozen fruit on the upper shelves. And if I have a houseguest who's being a pest, I can offer them a mousecicle if they want food.

[alucard0822]

Frozen Rats don't have much of a standard compared to most food sold for human consumption, even my wild venison is inspected and deemed safe by the butcher. It isn't uncommon to find feeder rats with parasites, feces or urine on them, and who knows what bacteria, freezing probably kills most or all of it, but there is still a possibility from getting cross comtamination, and then there is the sight of rats in your freezer. I keep mine in small plastic bags wrapped in small paper bags with the freeze-on date, then wrapped up in a big paper bag along with my other frozen pet food in a basket inside my chest freezer with bulk food, opened or small food items are in the kitchen freezer.

None of us are squeamish, and I bought the house, so there is that too. Back when I lived at my folk's house, I kept them in a small freezer, would do the same if anyone had a problem with it, there really is no way to get the majority of people to be OK with keeping rats with food. Can pick a small freezer or fridge/freezer combo for under $200 new, costs around $1 a month to power, and as a side benefit, mom will never look in it, so perfect place to keep your beer

[Sonny1318]

Yeah, I keep my f/t in a freezer in the garage. I just bought a new one that was a little bigger then my first. My wife said to me keep on one side, I want to store food in there. I was shocked, after twenty years she never wanted to mix. The mice come vacuum packed, I wipe off the packages before I double bag them in garbage bags. Then keep them on one side. Yeah it's a little strange, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. Everything is frozen and wrapped, and everything in there needs to be cooked anyway. P.s we keep the ice cream in the house freezer.

[SCWood]

We just got a new fridge so my MIL has me keep feeders in the old fridge in the garage. It's not a sanitation issue, it's more on the lines of we have company a lot. Maybe she can designate a certain portion of the freezer for your feeders that is relatively far away from the food, i.e a shelf or drawer (that's what I do)

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