Frozen Rats

Alright guys with the cost of shipping on frozen rats I have to buy 100 dollars worth of rats to get free shipping. That’s almost 30 rats. How long will they last in the freezer? My snake eats approximately every 3 weeks. I’ve only got one snake and that means these rats will be in the freezer for up to or more than a year. I hate to pay 30 dollars shipping on 44 dollars worth of rats.
Thanks guys!

Everything I have read says up to a year. Vacuum sealing may help. I have also read the nutritional value decreases over time?

$74 dollars once a year (or twice a year) is pretty inexpensive in the big picture. Talking $6.12 a month if yearly or $12.24 a month if biannually.

As the snake grows his food size may need to change also?

I've read it's safe up to a year (and maybe longer) as long as they're completely frozen and air tight. I've personally stored and uses up to 1 year of when I place my online order. Anything leftover after the year, while some might say it's probably safe, I just throw out.

I have 4 snakes, but I started buying online even when I just had 1 snake. For me, it was cheaper even if I had to buy a year's worth and throw out a lot of leftovers, because the price in the store here where I live is 3-5x more than what it was online.

Also... look into going to any reptile shows around your area, if any. You can usually buy smaller quantities there, and not have to worry about shipping fees.

I would say they'll be fine.

But,

Do you have another snake keeper close you could split an order with?

Or,

Get a second snake. Lol!

No and not yet on the second. But I’m working on it!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KMG

Get a second snake. Lol!

---

I like the "second snake" idea. That's what I did 2 snakes ago.

The longest I’ve kept f/t feeders was a year. If you vacuum seal them they’ll last even longer. I have a bunch of snakes now and usually order 4-6 months of feeders at a time.

I've had to throw out frozen rats after 6 months because they started to smell rotten, however if you vacuum seal the bags and they stay 100% frozen without thawing at any point during transport to your freezer then they could last longer.

I think in my personal experience with frozen rats (and frozen meat for human consumption) though I probably wouldn't feed anything that's been frozen for longer than 6 months. The quality of the meat also starts to deteriorate the longer the item has been frozen.