Forgot frozen rats in car all day

[MowgliPups]

Hahaaa….
I got the rats at 11pm, and I remembered them at 4am and put them in the freezer. It’s been quite cold here (4 Celsius to 16 Celsius) and the rats were thawed but still cold when I remembered them.
are they still good? The bag of rats was $45 and I really don’t want to throw away my money like that :/

I have a couple weeks till I have to use them, idk if that helps at all

[AutumnVanilla]

Being thawed, I personally wouldn't chance it. Vet bill would be higher than the cost to replace the rats

[slseals1969]

We've had our snakes a few years now.

I've always gone by something I read on here back when we started. My rule is you can thaw and refreeze once and only once after that toss it. If they were fairly cold I would say you're good. We've stuck by that rule and often put a rat back in the freezer if refused on the first offering. If refused a second time, out it goes. We have not had to take either beep to the vet for any reason.

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[MowgliPups]

Being thawed, I personally wouldn't chance it. Vet bill would be higher than the cost to replace the rats

What’s so bad about them? Unless they are dangerously decomposed?
I kinda feel like people are treating snakes like humans, but a human cannot eat a raw rat whole- wouldnt they have digestive systems that can deal with a little bit of bad bacteria?
Don’t snakes in the wild eat dead rodents that they come across?

I don’t want to risk it either way, but this just got me thinking a bit haha

[MowgliPups]

We've had our snakes a few years now.

I've always gone by something I read on here back when we started. My rule is you can thaw and refreeze once and only once after that toss it. If they were fairly cold I would say you're good. We've stuck by that rule and often put a rat back in the freezer if refused on the first offering. If refused a second time, out it goes. We have not had to take either beep to the vet for any reason.

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How long is the rodent thawed for though? Do you leave the rodent in the snakes cage all day or just a couple hours and then refreeze?

[AutumnVanilla]

What’s so bad about them? Unless they are dangerously decomposed?

from Boger's post in this thread: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ht=rats+thawed

I just personally wouldn't risk it, but if you feel they are fine, that is up to you.

[Bogertophis]

What’s so bad about them? Unless they are dangerously decomposed?
I kinda feel like people are treating snakes like humans, but a human cannot eat a raw rat whole- wouldnt they have digestive systems that can deal with a little bit of bad bacteria?
Don’t snakes in the wild eat dead rodents that they come across?

I don’t want to risk it either way, but this just got me thinking a bit haha

SOME snakes will eat carrion in the wild- BPs are not known to do so. King snakes & indigo snakes are some that probably would.

For anyone else that "thinks in Fahrenheit", the temperatures referenced are roughly 40*-60* F -quite warm. If kept at 40*, that's like being in the refrigerator- not too bad, especially since they started as frozen. But 60*? The box obviously wasn't very insulated, so I'd say they're garbage, sorry. Here's the thing: (to quote myself https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=1#post2762743 )

Prey such as frozen rats need to stay frozen- otherwise there's a loss in quality- even if technically safe enough to feed, your snake can only eat one right now. When you re-freeze them, then try to thaw & feed them later, they turn to mush, may split apart when the snake grabs (bites or constricts) them, & may also be spoiled. Freezing doesn't kill the bacteria in the rodent's GI tract- it just keeps it from growing. All bets are off once they are thawed- that's why we don't re-freeze & re-offer rodents that a snake happens to reject.

In the future, you should make a habit of transporting frozen food in an ice chest- then a little forgetfulness won't cost you so much, at least not so quickly.

[EL-Ziggy]

I think they’re probably good to use and I’d freeze them. I’d also thaw one and feed ASAP. If any of them smell foul when you thaw them then toss them. If a snake regurges after eating one, I’d toss the whole lot of them.