Yeah, after hearing about the salmonella outbreak originating from that frozen rodent supplier in Georgia, I gave up believing frozen rodents were perfectly "safe". They might actually not be anymore dangerous than chicken when they're in the freezer. But my dad is immuno-compromised, so I didn't want to take chances I didn't have to.

There were a lot of chest freezers for sale on craigslist for $50-100. I wound up buying a new one from Best Buy for $150.