How long do mice/rats last in the freezer?

[chapskis1]

Hi --

I'm fairly new to the forum (so sorry if this has already been discussed).

I was thinking about ordering mice or rats from one of the big rodent suppliers, and I see that with many of them, shipping is basically the same whether you order 25 or 200 rats. So obviously, the more you order, the better the deal is.

So, how long will these things last in the freezer? I don't want to think I saved money on shipping if the last half just end up going bad in the freezer...

Thanks,

Chapskis1

[MarkS]

I regularly use frozen mice that have been in the freezer for 6 months or more. A lot depends on the freezer. A deep freeze is a lot better then the freezer that may be attached to the top of your refrigerator, It'll keep things colder so they last longer. How the mice are packed is another consideration, as little air as possible should be in the bags. Some places will vacuum pack the bags for longer storage and of course they should be using thick plastic freezer bags instead of thin plastic storage bags.

[frankykeno]

Good advice Mark. The rule of thumb I was told long ago was up to 6 months for hairless prey items, 6 to 9 months for haired prey. That's dependent on how careful you are to keep them properly sealed and frozen. You may want to pick up one of these to store them properly once the bags are open (the vac retails for $10 or less, the bags are very reasonablely priced and can be reused over and over again).....

http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldsk...ac/en/home.asp

It should also be mentioned of course that your end result will also depend heavily on the supplier. If they send you crap, no amount of work on your part are going to turn that into decent f/t prey items so choose carefully.

[JohnNJ]

How can you tell when they go bad?

[Creeptastic]

Where is the best place to order frozen mice online? Thanks

[MarkS]

How can you tell when they go bad?

They don't really rot or anything like that, they get dried out and freezer burned, they look kind of like little rodent mummies (without the bandages). The snakes would probably still take them but they've likely lost a lot of nutrition by the time they get to looking like this. I used to feed rodents like this to my snapping turtles back when I still kept them.