How to know when F/T rats go bad?

Hello,

I purchased about 50 rat pups 4 months ago, I removed them from the vacuum sealed bags and individually wrapped them in ceran wrap then placed them into my household freezer.


Recently I've read that the rats expire after about 6 months of just okay storage, or 12 months when vacuum sealed and frozen at a much colder setting than standard household freezers.
To me is sounds like I have about 2 more months left, does this sound right?


How will I know exactly when the rats have gone bad, and what are the possible consequences of serving my retic expired rats?

They don't go bad just sitting in the freezer. They might lose some nutritional value over time but they should be fine to feed for a good while yet.

How old is your retic and how many rats are left?

Really the only way they go bad is to thaw an re-freeze. Now, freezer burn might make your snake turn it down.

I vacuum seal all types of prey. Including cows, pigs, fowl, goats an deer. I’ve eaten tenderloin from 1999 this year. It was still melt in your mouth tender.

Vacuum seal it if your not using it in six months.

Good luck!

My general rule of thumb: when in doubt, throw it out.

That being said, I've never lost prey in the freezer. If wrapped up well they should last a good while.

I personally had rats in the freezer longer than 6+ months and have been perfectly fine. With that said, I don't refreeze prey either. If one of my BPs doesn't eat, I feed it to another one or throw it out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 303_enfield

I’ve eaten tenderloin from 1999 this year. It was still melt in your mouth tender.

Vacuum seal it if your not using it in six months.

Good luck!

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I gotta now how you didn't eat it sooner! Quality meat doesn't last long around me, hahahhaha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Craiga 01453

I gotta now how you didn't eat it sooner! Quality meat doesn't last long around me, hahahhaha.

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It's why I HATE chest freezers. Things get lost in the bottom. To make it worse, I had given it to my father who wanted deer but doesn't hunt. I replaced his chest freezer with an upright this year an found all kinds of stuff in the bottom. His wife was not happy. I bet they didn't open it in three years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 303_enfield

It's why I HATE chest freezers. Things get lost in the bottom. To make it worse, I had given it to my father who wanted deer but doesn't hunt. I replaced his chest freezer with an upright this year an found all kinds of stuff in the bottom. His wife was not happy. I bet they didn't open it in three years.

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I actually almost guessed it was lost in the bottom or back of a freezer 😂

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bcr229

They don't go bad just sitting in the freezer. They might lose some nutritional value over time but they should be fine to feed for a good while yet.

How old is your retic and how many rats are left?

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My retic is 14 months, 400grams and around 4feet in length. 50% SD

I have about 20 Rats left, I feed every 10 days.