Freezer mishap

[MDT]

So, I keep my rats in our upright freezer and one of my kids was getting something out of freezer and didn't shut door completely. When we found this out, most of food had thawed partially. My rats were semi frozen. We cooked what food we could, ended up throwing some out. I kept rats because they hadn't thawed completely. What is the consensus on feeding partially thawed refrozen rats?

[brylecc1989]

Some people will say one complete rethaw and refreeze is ok. Others will most likely say to throw them away. In my experience (when snakes were being picky eaters) I would do a single refreeze if the food was refused. This was medium rats, a couple of times, so I don't pretend to be an expert but those rodents went back in the freezer once and were used as feeders, with no consequence at all. Hope this helps!

[Concept9]

I have no experience in this myself.

I do however know a couple people who have re-frozen thawed mice/rats after their snake not eating and have had no ill effect.

Personally, I wouldn't do it. EDIT: If this would be a BIG loss I probably would do it.

[smy_749]

I've done one thaw refreeze and fed them many times in the past with no issues as I was told once was safe.

[sweatshirt]

On the ride home on the weekend some of the rat pups I got thawed a little. They didn't smell out of the ordinary or anything and seemed healthy. I put them in the freezer and they're fine now.

[MDT]

Cool..thx all. This is kinda what I was thinking (hoping!)

[bcr229]

Should be fine, though I'd give them all a "sniff test" before feeding.

My adult male normal BP is very slow about deciding whether he wants to eat, so I left a f/t medium rat with him overnight. He was offered it at 7 p.m., I checked at bedtime and it was still there, and then at 6 a.m. when I checked the rat's hind legs were on the way down his throat. I was like... gross.... but whatever works for you dude!

[KORBIN5895]

I had a $300ish order get lost for 10 days in 8°C-14°C weather. I just froze them when I got home and feed them to my whole collection without a problem.

[CK SandBoas]

I keep bags of ice in my freezer, in case of power failure or any other issue that might result in my feeders thawing out. Having these bags have helped keep all my feeders nice and frozen, even during a 36 hour power failure. But i have also fed my animals feeders that i've put in the freezer after being semi thawed after a shipping delay.

[Amadeus]

When my bp went off feed for a month last year I refroze one rat three times and had no problems when it ate finally.

[MDT]

I have since fed a few of them...no stinky stink....they ate and have not gone toes up, so I think they're good :)

[jarich]

I dont think it would ever really be a problem for just one or a couple of them. If you had 50-100 or so I would maybe rethink it. The refreezing would denature the fats and vitamins a fair bit among other things, thus making it quite a bit less nutritious as a food item. Again, with just a couple it shouldnt be a problem, over the long term feeding these items for months say, that could get to be more of an issue.