refreezing prey items

[recycling goddess]

correct me if i'm wrong here please... once a prey item is thawed you do not refreeze it. it looses it nutritive value and is no longer healthy.

any other reasons other than that?

[Cubby23]

I have the same question. I'm not sure if its ok but i have done it a few times.

[Jake_la_serpiente]

I certainly do NOT do it. Having said that, I do not think it would hurt if for some reason your snake was not interested in the food and it was refrozen within 5 minutes or so of heating. Once the food becomes room temperature you could run into problems of bacteria and so forth setting in. I most certainly do NOT recommend refreezing an item more than once. If it would not take a second time.

[tigerlily]

I've refrozen a prey item a time or two. Usually I just throw it out because it's sat out over night. I never refreeze more than once, and be warned that refreezing mice can cause exploding insides. Very nasty.

[recycling goddess]

exploding mice... YUCK!!!

well since you have to leave a prey item for a period of time... it would be thawed and beginning to grow bacteria etc on it... so i can't imagine that re-freezing would be good to do.

everything i've read says don't do it... i'm actually very surprised to hear people do it. (not judging just surprised)

[4theSNAKElady]

I have a question regarding this......how long after a live mouse dies is it still considered "fresh" enough to freeze and offer again as a f/t??? Reason I'm askin' is that I have a few guys that will somtimes (not often) kill a mouse and not eat it.......when I peek in on em', I see they've killed it, and think -ok, cool, gettin ready to swallow; check again, mouse still there....-ok, some just need a little more time....when three hours go by, and he starts roaming the cage like he wants explore instead, I usually just toss it, thinking its bad.......well, I got to thinkin', that's a lot of mice yearly that I've wasted!!!! Why do they do that??!!!!

[Jake_la_serpiente]

everything i've read says don't do it... i'm actually very surprised to hear people do it. (not judging just surprised)

Like I said I would NEVER and have NEVER done it and would not recommend. There is just too much risk and not enough reward.

[Jake_la_serpiente]

I have a question regarding this......how long after a live mouse dies is it still considered "fresh" enough to freeze and offer again as a f/t??? Reason I'm askin' is that I have a few guys that will somtimes (not often) kill a mouse and not eat it.......when I peek in on em', I see they've killed it, and think -ok, cool, gettin ready to swallow; check again, mouse still there....-ok, some just need a little more time....when three hours go by, and he starts roaming the cage like he wants explore instead, I usually just toss it, thinking its bad.......well, I got to thinkin', that's a lot of mice yearly that I've wasted!!!! Why do they do that??!!!!

After 3 hours of sitting there and the snake is not interested, just toss it and get a fresh one later.

[jglass38]

I will refreeze once if I have to. Anymore than that and you are asking for an exploding rodent. Not cool!

[tigerlily]

If I plan on refreezing it, I do it within ten minutes of thawing it and offering it. Either they're going to eat or not.