Should I throw out my entire frozen mouse stock and buy new due to situation?

[Rodop]

Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying pleasant mornings/afternoons/evenings, etc.

The situation is this: I went to retrieve some mice to thaw out for my snakes when I discovered the freezer door was slightly ajar. I have no idea how long it was ajar for, but there was a small puddle on the bottom of the freezer and the box that I keep all my mice bags in was wet.

I checked each bag and there's a mixture of some bags seeming frozen, but others feeling more thawed out than they should be.

While it would MAJORLY suck to lose about $200+ of frozen mouse stock due to this misfortune, I feel the right thing to do is to throw away and restock as I would rather be safer than sorry.

What should I do?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Rodop

[Craiga 01453]

You can always give them the old smell check if they're still cold to the touch.

But, I always say "when in doubt throw it out"

Sorry if that's the case, that's a tough break.

[Bogertophis]

If some bags of mice were still frozen, then the ones with them were likely cold enough for "safe" feeding. What may suffer is the quality (ie. texture) of any mice
that were thawed (partially or otherwise) being re-frozen, but I doubt anything actually spoiled.

If any snakes are due to feed now, I'd use up those that are thawed "more than they should be"; I would also give them a sniff test before offering them, and take
the "word" of my snakes if they refused them, but honestly it sounds as if they stayed just cold enough for safety.

You aren't the first person on here this has happened to, btw. It's your decision, but that's my 2 cents.

[Rodop]

You can always give them the old smell check if they're still cold to the touch.

Thank you for the advice! I ended up giving all the bags a smell test: I had a bag that was okay, another smelled really bad, and the other ones smelled suspicious- so I ended up tossing all but one bag.

[Craiga 01453]

Thank you for the advice! I ended up giving all the bags a smell test: I had a bag that was okay, another smelled really bad, and the other ones smelled suspicious- so I ended up tossing all but one bag.

At least you didn't lose them all.

I keep a Gatorade bottle in my "prey freezer". I filled it about 3/4 with water, then froze it. Once the water was frozen I laid a penny on top. This way, if there's ever a power outage or anything I can tell if the freezer defrosted. If the penny isn't still at the top of the Ice I know the prey defrosted and isn't safe. If the penny is still on top I know the prey never defrosted and is safe.

[Rodop]

Thank you for your advice!
I figured I wasn't the first person for this situation to happen to (nor will I probably be the last), I just wasn't really sure where to look in the forums for an answer. ^^;
I took another look at the bags and sniff checked all of them (from Craiga 01453 's suggestion): one of the bags seemed salvageable, but everything else had to be tossed (plus two of the bags looked like they had major freezer burn on them).

[Rodop]

That's a good idea! I'll use that for when my next stock comes in.

[Bogertophis]

Glad you didn't lose them all. And btw, partial defrosting in the freezer with containers unopened is WAY better than when people thaw & warm up prey to
feed, then try to re-freeze it. The longer prey is at room temperature (or anywhere close to it), plus being handled (ie. more exposure) the more that "germs"
have a party & spoil the food, whether it's ours or for our snakes.

[Craiga 01453]

As long as the prey stayed below 40° it's safe. The "danger zone" for food is 40°-140°.
So if the prey stayed below 40° there's no risk of bacterial growth.

However, there's no real way of telling unless you temp gunned the prey right away.

I just figured I'd add this in case anybody stumbles on it in the future

[Bogertophis]

As long as the prey stayed below 40° it's safe. The "danger zone" for food is 40°-140°.
So if the prey stayed below 40° there's no risk of bacterial growth....

Not to split hairs, but there is still risk of bacterial growth at 40*. That's the temperature our refrigerators are normally kept at, & food surely does still spoil...it just
takes more time.

It was hard to advise Rodop about his thawed mice since we weren't there, much less getting temp. readings as to how cold they really were.

And btw, I like the idea of the test bottle of water with a coin being kept in the freezer, even for our own food.