F/T after a nonfeeding

Well I have been thinking about this for a while now. I hope my snakes never refuse a feeding but after reading these forums for a month I am thinking it very well could happen one day. So what do you do with your F/T mouse or rats? Do you refreeze it, throw it away or what?

I ask because I would hate to throw away and waste the money and ...well...the life of the mouse too.

It would depend on if the F/T was gamey looking and smelling, if so I would throw it away but otherwise I would refreeze it.

Just throw it away it only cost $.35 lol

I toss them. It sucks but I would rather not refreeze a rat that has been sitting at 90* for 5 hours only to take it out of the freezer again and let it sit at 90* for another 5 hours.

Pitch it.

I always throw them away. I don't want to risk any bacterial nastiness. It sucks but I still toss them.

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

Just throw it away it only cost $.35 lol

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Boy I was told I got ripped off at pet smart. But I did not know it was that bad. I paid $10 for 6 frozen pinkies and also another $10 for 4 full grown mice.

The full grown are for my BP and the pinkies are for my corn. Do you buy locally or online. Because I do not have the storage room to buy like 100 mice at a time right now.

Toss um, you risk loss of nutritional value and alot of other nastys tuff if you refreeze.

just a guess but i thought that the mere act of freezing would kill all pathogens ie bacteria. please feel free to tell me if i'm wrong.:D

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Originally Posted by exiled reptile

just a guess but i thought that the mere act of freezing would kill all pathogens ie bacteria. please feel free to tell me if i'm wrong.:D

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Freezing doesn't kill all pathogens. there are some that can survive even sub zero temperatures.

It's not so much the organisms themselves as it also is the toxins etc. that they produce. You wouldn't let raw chicken sit out all day then freeze it to use it again, would you? Wouldn't make it sanitary.

If I've only thawed the mouse, and haven't warmed the it up under a heat lamp yet or left it out for too long, I'll refreeze, and offer it to one of my less picky eaters next week.

But about half of my collection has been refusing the last several months, and sometimes I'm left with a mouse that I've repeatedly warmed and offered to several snakes, but had no takers.... and sometimes I leave a mouse under the lamp a little too long, and then it's no longer safe for the pythons because it's cooked.

I've tried simply throwing them out, as well as flushing them down the toilet. But I hate the smell of rotting rodent in the trash, and I REALLY hate it coming out of the shower drain. Wrapping them in a plastic bag before throwing them out would probably work, I guess, but it also seems so wasteful.

So usually I'll dig a little hole in my front garden, preferably somewhere the dogs don't go, and I'll bury the mouse as compost. I have pepper plants and tomatoes, and supposedly roses like a little extra calcium, so at least the damn mouse isn't going completely to waste. As long as I bury it at least 6 inches down, I don't smell it.