Petco Frozen Feeders?

Good call on the expo, Lovebugs. We have a Repticon coming close in March. I'm hoping to attend and will see about that then. If I haven't ordered online before that.

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Originally Posted by imitha

If you have a petsmart in your area they usually sell the Arctic mice brand, those tend to be in very good shape

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We don't have any Petsmarts anywhere near us, only Petcos.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

I too have had horrible experiences with frozen feeders from petsmart and petco. I got a mouse once that was so smashed and rotten that it was immediately rejected by my snake.

Definitely order from Big Cheese Rodents. They have a 29$ flat rate shipping that is best in the business. The feeders come vacuum sealed on dry ice. I have feeders in my freezer from them that are many months old and they still look amazing when I open the package.

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No wonder, I would reject that too! But that's great, it was always my main concern buying in bulk that they'd get freezer burn. I'll definitely check them out.

And thank you to everyone for all the response, I'll definitely consider online. I'm happy I'm not the only one with these issues. I have several Petcos in my area and all feeders are the same. I don't see how my snakes get very much nutrition or much of a meal from a rather flat and pathetic looking mouse.

I love both Big Cheese and Layne Labs, both have very clean and well packaged feeders.

I used to keep extras in zip locks but was finding freezer burn after a month or so (which could be due to my freezer). I bought a vacuum sealer and now I pre-portion out the bags into the quantities I need per feeding. Those will last 6 months. This is one of the best things I've done and wish I had done it years ago.

An option you might want to look into is finding someone local to you, then you can go in together on a buy, split the feeders and split the cost of shipping that way it's not such a big hit to the wallet.
Good luck!

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Originally Posted by imitha

If you have a petsmart in your area they usually sell the Arctic mice brand, those tend to be in very good shape

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I've actually had horrible luck with this brand. Every once in a while I'll get a decent one but the last one was kind of the last straw. I got desperate for feeders to get by till I could drive out to my usual place. I bought a box of four and they were all mangled, half bald, and the white fur they did have was actually really yellow. I'm assuming from that and the smell that they were covered in urine. But the worst part was the one turning green with a big fatty tumor on its side. I have since sworn off the Arctic brand.

I actually called Big Cheese and spoke to a sales person before I placed my order with them. I wanted to make sure that they humanely euthanized and that no chemicals were used. From what I was told, they have a huge breeding facility and they only ship the prey on Monday's and Tuesday's. Through the week they collect orders and then euthanize batches to fill the orders, then the rodents are flash frozen, packages in a little styrofoam tray (like beef cuts at the grocery store) and shipped to you with plenty of dry ice. They use a carbon dioxide chamber to dispatch them.

All of mine arrived clean and very fresh, some occasionally bleed from the nose a little after thawing, but not much. I work at a wildlife veterinary facility that feeds tons of frozen prey, everything from mice to rabbits and quail, and both the "gourmet rodent" and "arctic mice" brands remind me of mice that have fully or partially thawed and then been refrozen...ewww

Do you have a locally run pet store in your town? I buy live every week from the one we have, but they sell frozen too. Very good quality and really cheap.

I might not be the norm here but I prefer to buy live and pre kill them myself. I see frozen as like a tv dinner. Good once in awhile but cant beat good old fashioned home cooking aka freshly killed live ;)

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

My local pet store sells small rats as feeders for almost 5$. Even with shipping costs figured in they cost less than 2$ when ordered online.

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WoW!!!
Smalls run $2 or less around here. Then again we don't buy from pet stores either.
Nice to know local breeders and breed your own. :gj: