can you re-freeze once thawed?

[Ladysnowblader]

Got a new royal - had her two weeks now and I know they are bad eaters until settled. Now, What I really want to know is, can the food be re-frozen after it's been thawed?
And what is the correct way of offering her the food?
I was told by the reptile keeper to leave it in the same place each time for around 30 mins. If not eaten, leave over night.
My corn (greedy little thing) will eat all the time and I feed her with tongues.
Many thanks to any help

[loonunit]

If you've had her two weeks, she should be plenty settled. I like to put the frozen rodent on the top of the ball python's tank while it's thawing, so the ball python smells it. I warm the rodent for five minutes under a heat lamp, with the nose closest to the heat. You can also use a hair dryer. (If you use a heat lamp, set a timer. I'm forgetful, and the result is overheated rodents. I have to let those cool back down, and then they usually explode when the snake constricts. YUCK.) For well-established adults, I just hold the mouse by the tail and just lower it down. For picky eaters, I use tongs, so my hand doesn't scare them. And then I can do the zombie mouse dance if necessary, trying to convince the snake that the f/t rodent is actually live prey.

(Most snakes you'd use tongs to avoid getting bitten. Ball pythons you use tongs to avoid scaring the snake. Go figure.)

The answer to re-freezing is MAYBE, IT DEPENDS. It depends on how quickly you thawed it, how long you left it out, and how you warmed it up. Think of thawing a chicken breast and leaving it out on the cutting board for two hours... If you thaw quickly, under running water, you didn't leave it out long, and you only warm up the nose of the rodent, then yes, you can absolutely safely freeze and re-heat ONCE. ONLY ONCE. If you thaw slowly, leave it out for a long period of time, and THENaccidentally warm more than just the surface of the rodent, I recommend throwing it away.

Is she eating food the corn can eat? Feed the corn second. It's always much nicer to have a garbage disposal snake take care of the leftover. Otherwise, my favorite way to throw it out f/t is to give it an honorable burial in the front garden, where the dogs don't go and can't dig it up. I put a rock over the top to keep cats away. Otherwise, I wrap it in a plastic bag and throw it in a dumpster, far, far away from the house. Because I hate that smell. Hate it.

[loonunit]

And yeah, if she doesn't take it, you can leave her along with it for an hour or more. I had one baby who only ate his scary, pre-killed rodent in complete privacy, when no one was looking.

[SquamishSerpents]

Burying rodents? Lol. I just flush them down the toilet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ladysnowblader]

Thanks, I tend to thaw them in a dish on the radiator behind the vivarium by the vents

my corn is on med mice and royal on weener rats, possible too big for my corn.

Thanks again for the advice

[crepers86]

I gave unwanted mice and rat pups to the cat... it loved it

[Ladysnowblader]

don't have a cat, and really scared of them lol

[Capray]

Haha or get a ferret!

[Ladysnowblader]

My one bedroom flat is already full of animals, couldn't fit in a ferret

[TheSnakeGuy]

I left 2 small mice in the terrarium when my snakes weren't interested in eating. The next day my room stunk of dead mouse. I will not be doing that again. If I don't get a strike and constriction after about 5 minutes of the zombie dance, I reheat under the lamp and try again. If I still don't get a strike I throw the mice into a field behind my house. I know something out there will eat them.