Mom thinks frozen rats/mice in a fridge is unsanitary, how to convince her it isn't?

[Albert Clark]

How is it unsanitary?? It's not like people keep piles of loose, unwrapped meat and rats stacked up in their freezer. Honestly, a tiny bit of common sense and it's no big deal. It's one thing if OP's mom is stuck on the issue, but it's weird to back her up and say it's irresponsible reptile keeping.

Its not only unsanitary its irresponsible! You can try and justify it all you want. That is all I am going to say about it. MY VIEWS ARE JUST THAT, MINE.

[DVirginiana]

Lora, I am not going to try to persuade you to change your view on what I see as my view. I am simply expressing how I feel and this is me. You have your view on this topic and that's fine. It is disrespectful to a owner of a refrigerator and freezer to expect them to house your reptile foods alongside their foods for human consumption, period . That is how I feel about it. I am responsible to keep all my reptile supplies including reptile foods in a area designated for reptiles and that doesn't include my moms freezer. For me, that is the end of the debate.

I'm not trying to make you keep your rats next to your food, nor am I trying to get the OP to do so (if you'll read my original post you'll notice I told her getting a mini-fridge was the way to go). I would never try to force someone who didn't want to do so to do it, nor would I recommend it when someone like yourself is still using their parents' freezers.

However, you have just called my entirely safe practices unsanitary and irresponsible, and for that reason you need to either retract the statement that it is unsanitary and admit that this is just your opinion (which I am okay with) or provide evidence that it is unsanitary even when done properly (which you haven't done).

[DVirginiana]

Its not only unsanitary its irresponsible! You can try and justify it all you want. That is all I am going to say about it. MY VIEWS ARE JUST THAT, MINE.

Your views, Albert, are as of yet completely lacking evidence.

[Snake Judy]

Its not only unsanitary its irresponsible! You can try and justify it all you want. That is all I am going to say about it. MY VIEWS ARE JUST THAT, MINE.

Sure, you can think it's an unsavory idea. But "unsanitary" implies that there is a risk of other food in the freezer becoming somehow contaminated. You're saying it's a risk to health. That's not really something a person can have an opinion about. Either it's unsanitary or it isn't, and there is no evidence to say that it is.

[Snake Judy]

In fact, I suspect that rats from a responsible, clean breeder run much less risk of carrying anything capable of causing a food-borne illness than chicken or beef from a large commercial operation.

[DVirginiana]

In fact, I suspect that rats from a responsible, clean breeder run much less risk of carrying anything capable of causing a food-borne illness than chicken or beef from a large commercial operation.

At the very least you should be less likely to contract parasites lol. They should be freezing them solid for a minimum of 90 days to kill potential parasites (which will incidentally kill a lot of bacteria too; not all, but a lot) this is in line with people I know who hunt/freeze their own meat.
If you're dealing with pinkie mice for colubrids, which make up the entirety of my freezer-mouse collection due to the fact that my BP will only take live, you actually have no poo as their first meal hasn't even had the opportunity to be digested yet.

[bcr229]

Sanitary or not, Mom's fridge, mom's rules. Be glad she even lets you have snakes in her house, many do not. Keep her happy and buy a used chest freezer off of CL.

[Reinz]

Sanitary or not, Mom's fridge, mom's rules. Be glad she even lets you have snakes in her house, many do not. Keep her happy and buy a used chest freezer off of CL.

+1

You can show your Mom a scientific journal loaded with studies showing that it is safe and sanitary to store frozen rats next to human food. It would make NO difference! Her mind is made up already on her "cleanliness list". You are fighting a losing battle. Just drop it, and respect her views and rules!

[Sonny1318]

+1

You can show your Mom a scientific journal loaded with studies showing that it is safe and sanitary to store frozen rats next to human food. It would make NO difference! Her mind is made up already on her "cleanliness list". You are fighting a losing battle. Just drop it, and respect her views and rules!

Now I want pizza!!!

[kgrah1]

I keep my mice in the freezer near the ice cream and the peas. My mother was a little bothered at first, but as long as she knew which bag to avoid, she didn't have as many problems(it's a bit jarring to reach for the fish and pull out a pack of dead mice.) I keep them sealed in the ziplock bags, and I put a blue plastic bag over top, so it's clearly separated from the people food and you can't see through it. Out of sight, out of mind.

If your mother's concern is "eww dead rat near my double fudge," you can try this method. As long as she doesn't have to look at it, she may grow to accept that it's there. If it's "parasites and poo," you might try to remind her that your rodent is quite frozen and its parasites are dead. Point out that frozen meat is often thought to be cleaner than freshly-killed, raw meat. If she's adamant that your mice and rats are allowed absolutely nowhere near that freezer, I don't think persuading her to see the sense is going to work. It's possible she is reacting out of fear, in which case you may want to sit down and have a talk about why mice are scary and what it means for her that you have a snake. One compromise is hiding your feeders in a cardboard box, and that box has its own designated shelf. You could even label it something silly, like "Calcified Pickled Squid Beaks"

If all else fails, you may have to swallow your pride and get the craigslist freezer.