Finally switching to frozen/thawed!!!!

Okay people, today was a good day, I finally convinced my parents of letting me buy frozen rats for my ball pythons! I'm so happy, I dont find killing rats with my hands fun, and this way I dont have to go to the store every week. I just have a couple of questions because I know nothing about frozen feeders. Okay, questions........
How long do they last in the freezer?
How do they look? As in, are they sealed individually, or they come in a bulk and all of them are stuck to each other?
In case of a power outage, what can i do?
Do they come to my house in the regular mail? Has anyone here ever gotten rats that werent frozen anymore and had to throw them away?
Do they stink the fridge? Or do they stink once they're being thawed?
What websites would you reccomend?
Thank you very much in advance! :)



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Originally Posted by Gc99

Okay people, today was a good day, I finally convinced my parents of letting me buy frozen rats for my ball pythons! I'm so happy, I dont find killing rats with my hands fun, and this way I dont have to go to the store every week. I just have a couple of questions because I know nothing about frozen feeders. Okay, questions........
How long do they last in the freezer?
How do they look? As in, are they sealed individually, or they come in a bulk and all of them are stuck to each other?
In case of a power outage, what can i do?
Do they come to my house in the regular mail? Has anyone here ever gotten rats that werent frozen anymore and had to throw them away?
Do they stink the fridge? Or do they stink once they're being thawed?
What websites would you reccomend?
Thank you very much in advance!

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they can last ~9 months, so i've been told.
they look fine, packaged in bulk together and sealed in freezer-safe plastic bags. some might be stuck but a little wiggle should be enough.
frozen rats are delivered priority mail within 2 days of the order, and are shipped with dry ice to keep them frozen. i have never had an issue with them arriving thawed; always buy from a reputable supplier: Perfect Prey, Big Cheese, etc.
they do not stink when they're frozen and have no smell in the freezer; i used to keep them with our frozen food until a spare freezer opened up. there is a smell once thawed but to me it's not terrible or room-filling.
as for a power outage i'm not sure i can help there: you need to keep that stuff frozen; a cooler with ice could help for a while.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

they can last ~9 months, so i've been told.
they look fine, packaged in bulk together and sealed in freezer-safe plastic bags. some might be stuck but a little wiggle should be enough.
frozen rats are delivered priority mail within 2 days of the order, and are shipped with dry ice to keep them frozen. i have never had an issue with them arriving thawed; always buy from a reputable supplier: Perfect Prey, Big Cheese, etc.
they do not stink when they're frozen and have no smell in the freezer; i used to keep them with our frozen food until a spare freezer opened up. there is a smell once thawed but to me it's not terrible or room-filling.
as for a power outage i'm not sure i can help there: you need to keep that stuff frozen; a cooler with ice could help for a while.

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Thank you! And i was just looking at the perfect prey website, seems like im gonna go for them. My last concern is the size, i buy "rat pups" at my local reptile store but i dont know if the option on the site is gonna be the size i need, https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e35a887df7.jpg
Thats what i get for a rat pup, and its around the same size as an adult mouse. The rat pup picture on the website (i just checked) is in a bulk, so i cant compare the size, do you think they are the same?

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Caution! I do not know how many animals you are feeding. It is sometimes difficult to convert animals. I had one that took over a year. There may still be trips to get live. I advise converting to FT first and then placing an order. In my case unless I don't fill a box it is way cheaper to get feeders local. You also need to consider that each animal grows at different rates and guessing what size prey you need can be challenging. It did not make sense for me to buy in bulk until I hit about thirty animals that were steadily taking the same size food item every week.

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Originally Posted by Gc99

Thats what i get for a rat pup, and its around the same size as an adult mouse. The rat pup picture on the website (i just checked) is in a bulk, so i cant compare the size, do you think they are the same?

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yes i'd say they're about the same but there will be a SLIGHT size variety within the bunch, nothing drastic though.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

Caution! I do not know how many animals you are feeding. It is sometimes difficult to convert animals. I had one that took over a year. There may still be trips to get live. I advise converting to FT first and then placing an order. In my case unless I don't fill a box it is way cheaper to get feeders local. You also need to consider that each animal grows at different rates and guessing what size prey you need can be challenging. It did not make sense for me to buy in bulk until I hit about thirty animals that were steadily taking the same size food item every week.

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important points i have not addressed that should be considered!

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

yes i'd say they're about the same but there will be a SLIGHT size variety within the bunch, nothing drastic though.

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Sounds perfect! I try to get a slightly smaller rat for my female anyways lol Thank you very much for the help, im gonna place my order and go out for some freezer bags as well

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

Caution! I do not know how many animals you are feeding. It is sometimes difficult to convert animals. I had one that took over a year. There may still be trips to get live. I advise converting to FT first and then placing an order. In my case unless I don't fill a box it is way cheaper to get feeders local. You also need to consider that each animal grows at different rates and guessing what size prey you need can be challenging. It did not make sense for me to buy in bulk until I hit about thirty animals that were steadily taking the same size food item every week.

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Im feeding two similar sized ball pythons, and they apparently will take anything, even my thumb lol hopefully thats also the case once i bring f/t. I dangle the already killed rat and they take it, does that mean they are likely to eat the f/t prey?

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There are many different suppliers of frozen thawed rodents. Some will vacuum seal the bags, others will have them all loose in a bag. I raise my own rats and I'm finding that it's best to put them on a Styrofoam plate in a ziplock bag, then freeze them, then after they are fully frozen vacuum seal them. I'd say vacuum sealed they can last up to a year, but just loose in a bag probably 3-6 months max. make sure you put the date on them when you put them in the freezer, I just threw out a ton of rodents because some were way over a year, others I had no idea because I wasn't marking them as they came in. I basically had to start over... Ideally it's probably best to use them within a month or so, within a week or two they are almost just like fresh killed.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

There are many different suppliers of frozen thawed rodents. Some will vacuum seal the bags, others will have them all loose in a bag. I raise my own rats and I'm finding that it's best to put them on a Styrofoam plate in a ziplock bag, then freeze them, then after they are fully frozen vacuum seal them. I'd say vacuum sealed they can last up to a year, but just loose in a bag probably 3-6 months max. make sure you put the date on them when you put them in the freezer, I just threw out a ton of rodents because some were way over a year, others I had no idea because I wasn't marking them as they came in. I basically had to start over... Ideally it's probably best to use them within a month or so, within a week or two they are almost just like fresh killed.

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I was planning on buying a 25 pack, and it would last me for 12 weeks because i have two snakes. And when they come just put them in a freezer bag

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Okay people, give me opinions, i'll go to petco and get two frozen adult mice next friday (i will be buying 25 frozen rat pups from perfect prey but because petco doesnt have rat pups i guess mice would be okay for this test) if my snakes take it then i'll place my order on the same day

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Originally Posted by Gc99

Okay people, give me opinions, i'll go to petco and get two frozen adult mice next friday (i will be buying 25 frozen rat pups from perfect prey but because petco doesnt have rat pups i guess mice would be okay for this test) if my snakes take it then i'll place my order on the same day

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I may be missing something and I hate to be the one always saying what can go wrong but here's the deal. If the animal is not already eating mice I would avoid the mice. If it is already on mice you may order rats and it won't take them. If you are already getting live pups from somewhere, best thing you can do would be to go get a few live and tell them that you would prefer to have them sleeping. They will know what you mean. Take them home and freeze them. This way you know whether the animal is going to take them or not.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

I may be missing something and I hate to be the one always saying what can go wrong but here's the deal. If the animal is not already eating mice I would avoid the mice. If it is already on mice you may order rats and it won't take them. If you are already getting live pups from somewhere, best thing you can do would be to go get a few live and tell them that you would prefer to have them sleeping. They will know what you mean. Take them home and freeze them. This way you know whether the animal is going to take them or not.

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Oh my ball pythons have taken mice before. Same as with the rat pups, pre-killed, actually i switched the female to rat pups just on friday because the mice hoppers were not cutting it anymore and she took the rat pup like it was chocolate cake. I was thinking that the next feeding (friday) instead of going and buying live rat pups to the reptile store (they dont do what you suggested, i asked) i go to petco and just for that day get the mice and see what happens. If it doesnt work, the next day i'll get them their live rat pups like usual. Do you still think something can go wrong? Im really asking for opinions, its okay if you say something can go wrong, who knows, you might be right

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

I may be missing something and I hate to be the one always saying what can go wrong but here's the deal. If the animal is not already eating mice I would avoid the mice. If it is already on mice you may order rats and it won't take them. If you are already getting live pups from somewhere, best thing you can do would be to go get a few live and tell them that you would prefer to have them sleeping. They will know what you mean. Take them home and freeze them. This way you know whether the animal is going to take them or not.

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Can i freeze them just like that? Putting them in the freezer? If thats the case i'll kill them myself like usual and try that, see if it helps

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Originally Posted by Gc99

Oh my ball pythons have taken mice before. Same as with the rat pups, pre-killed, actually i switched the female to rat pups just on friday because the mice hoppers were not cutting it anymore and she took the rat pup like it was chocolate cake. I was thinking that the next feeding (friday) instead of going and buying live rat pups to the reptile store (they dont do what you suggested, i asked) i go to petco and just for that day get the mice and see what happens. If it doesnt work, the next day i'll get them their live rat pups like usual. Do you still think something can go wrong? Im really asking for opinions, its okay if you say something can go wrong, who knows, you might be right

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One thing about me is if it hasn't happened to me I will keep my mouth shut. So, the stuff I said has happened to me at least once. I am giving warnings as to what can happen. Sometimes everything works out fine. Getting balls off a mouse addiction can be a pain. I do have some that will take both no problem, but as a general rule once they are on rats they stay there. With the number of animals I have, feeding adults mice just wont work. At the end of the day you have to do what you have to do. Sometimes I have issues getting the right size rats for hatchlings. WHen that occurs I have to get mice, my rule though is they are not sold until they are on rats. Without knowing your animals I would give you a 75% chance of succeeding. You just have to accept that there is a 25% chance of a problem and it is not your fault. SOme of these animals can be really stubborn.

Kill the prey before it is frozen.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

One thing about me is if it hasn't happened to me I will keep my mouth shut. So, the stuff I said has happened to me at least once. I am giving warnings as to what can happen. Sometimes everything works out fine. Getting balls off a mouse addiction can be a pain. I do have some that will take both no problem, but as a general rule once they are on rats they stay there. With the number of animals I have, feeding adults mice just wont work. At the end of the day you have to do what you have to do. Sometimes I have issues getting the right size rats for hatchlings. WHen that occurs I have to get mice, my rule though is they are not sold until they are on rats. Without knowing your animals I would give you a 75% chance of succeeding. You just have to accept that there is a 25% chance of a problem and it is not your fault. SOme of these animals can be really stubborn.

Kill the prey before it is frozen.

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Well, freezing the rats here is out of the table, i already asked my mom. And you're right, there is a chance that it doesnt work, but because the only frozen rats i could get my hands on are too big, im gonna have to try mice. The fact that my snakes take both without any issue gives me some hope tho :) thanks for helping, i'll make sure to update once it happens
Side question: best way to thaw rats/mice to increase the chances of them taking it?

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Originally Posted by Gc99

Side question: best way to thaw rats/mice to increase the chances of them taking it?

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my method: in the morning before work/school, take the rats out of the freezer and place them in the fridge to thaw until you get home for dinner time. take the rats out of the fridge and place them in the same room as the snakes to warm up to room temp (to check if they're completely thawed: firmly press the sides of their heads and their hips; if they're still a tiny bit cold to the touch they're not thawed) and let them smell the prey to get them into feed mode. once at room temp totally thawed, hit them with a hair dryer focusing on the head and offer immediately. that should do the trick!

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

my method: in the morning before work/school, take the rats out of the freezer and place them in the fridge to thaw until you get home for dinner time. take the rats out of the fridge and place them in the same room as the snakes to warm up to room temp (to check if they're completely thawed: firmly press the sides of their heads and their hips; if they're still a tiny bit cold to the touch they're not thawed) and let them smell the prey to get them into feed mode. once at room temp totally thawed, hit them with a hair dryer focusing on the head and offer immediately. that should do the trick!

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They dont stink up the fridge?

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Originally Posted by Gc99

They dont stink up the fridge?

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nope!

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

nope!

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Awesome, I'm going for this method then, thank you. So, if theyre fully thawed they dont have to be cold anymore? They have to feel like theyre at room temp? Im getting a temperature gun this month anyways so i guess that'll help

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Originally Posted by Gc99

Awesome, I'm going for this method then, thank you. So, if theyre fully thawed they dont have to be cold anymore? They have to feel like theyre at room temp? Im getting a temperature gun this month anyways so i guess that'll help

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yes, they should feel like they're at room temp and not cold at all. the temp gun is always a useful tool to have!

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

yes, they should feel like they're at room temp and not cold at all. the temp gun is always a useful tool to have!

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Perfect, i'll do that, thanks for the help

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Idk if anyone has mentioned this, but check out any reptile expos in your area. My local expo has a vendor that sells frozen feeders (mice, rats, etc.) Then you don't have to pay the crazy shipping if you are buying smaller quantities, and you can see the size of the feeders in person if you aren't sure what to order. The expo goes on 4x a year here, so you can always stock up on what you need for a couple months before the expo comes to town again, and a lot of those vendors will have cards etc. so you can pre-order exactly what you need and just pick them up at the expo when it comes to town. If your snake outgrows the size you have on hand, just feed multiples or more often until you can get the next size up when the expo is back in town.