So I borked my address. (Rats)

[Piggybuns]

When I got an order off Perfect Prey, my autofill held in a typo in my street address I didn't see until 3 days later when my package "could not find sender" in the tracking. It was sent back, and didn't come for THREE more days on top of the 2 it was in transit. Meaning a straight week.

Husband insisted that "it's okay, FedEx has freezers!" Buuuut it just arrived 15 mins ago, and it was just cold, as if in a fridge, and the ice pack is completely 100% gone. It's barely even wet.

The rats look fine, but all of them were soft, albeit cold. Has this happened to any of you? Did you just refreeze and move on? Did you say eff it and reorder? Opinions? The order was almost $100, which we won't have till next payday, which is 2 weeks away, would that matter much? I borked up my address, so it's entirely on my fault, so no discount or save here. :\

I still have a few rat pups from the time before (nowhere near what a BP needs) to tide them over at the very least, so it's not like a super-rush right now or anything, I'm just looking for opinions.

[Aaron_S]

If they aren't gross and super smelly just re-freeze.

[Piggybuns]

Nah, they're fine. I checked the package over for any black spots or weird looking mold, but since it's only been a few days in refrigeration, I didn't think there'd be anything anyway. They were just a lil squishy from thawing, and also there was blood all over from the vacuum seal, but I can deal with that no problem.

They're in my freezer now, but figured I'd post here for opinions in the meantime. Thanks for the input Aaron. c:

[SSSSnakes]

If they aren't gross and super smelly just re-freeze.

I agree. I refreezed after a rat has thawed and have had no problems.

[Scubadiver59]

As long as they felt cold, like just out of the fridge, and the rats were supple when squeezed, the you can assume that rigor hasn't started to set in and you can refreeze.

Nah, they're fine. I checked the package over for any black spots or weird looking mold, but since it's only been a few days in refrigeration, I didn't think there'd be anything anyway. They were just a lil squishy from thawing, and also there was blood all over from the vacuum seal, but I can deal with that no problem.

They're in my freezer now, but figured I'd post here for opinions in the meantime. Thanks for the input Aaron. c:

[Doug 351]

I feel so sorry for people that have to have rats shipped. I live 15 minutes away from The Big Cheese Factory. I once checked and the shipping cost was pretty expensive!!!

I'm SO lucky to live so close to a quality supplier!

[pet_snake_78]

Shipping is usually 29$. If you order enough using specials, you can usually save a bundle even with the shipping. If you're only ordering like 100$ worth or so, probably better off trying to find a local supplier. Also depending on how much space per item you are ordering, you need to get as much in a box as possible to maximize the savings. Wear and tear plus gas costs 55ish cents per mile to drive, so always have to consider the real cost of shipping versus pickup, too.

[Piggybuns]

Lucky Doug! I'd totally do that if I could, that's super cool!

Where I live, reptile stuff is farther travel distance than I can. There's an exotic vet which is great and I can reach it by bus. But I have no car, so I'm limited to where my bus goes.

Shipping is 30, but I only have 2 snakes, and they are still growing. I can't order in bulk (yet!) because they outgrow their rat-size. I feed my corn baby rats as she gets bigger rather than mice (and I saw a huge difference in her! She loves them,) and then I get bigger rats for my BP. Once they reach a bigger size, I'll completely do the bulk thing Pet!

Thanks for all the input! Nope, rigor mortis didn't set in, they were soft and yep, cold like in the fridge. I refroze them like folks suggested. c: I'm glad that this at least worked out in my favor. I can always count on this board, haha.

[Doug 351]

Well, there is a cheap way to get fuzzies and rats.....

You buy one girl, and one boy....

Gracie just had her first litter...( about 12 pinkies)....

You DO have to be programmed to NOT make pets out of the babies, and NOT be bothered too much when they fufill their destiny as food.

(I'll have to be honest, it's not easy when you raise them...if it is, you probably aren't completely right!)

[SSSSnakes]

Lucky Doug! I'd totally do that if I could, that's super cool!

Where I live, reptile stuff is farther travel distance than I can. There's an exotic vet which is great and I can reach it by bus. But I have no car, so I'm limited to where my bus goes.

Shipping is 30, but I only have 2 snakes, and they are still growing. I can't order in bulk (yet!) because they outgrow their rat-size. I feed my corn baby rats as she gets bigger rather than mice (and I saw a huge difference in her! She loves them,) and then I get bigger rats for my BP. Once they reach a bigger size, I'll completely do the bulk thing Pet!

Thanks for all the input! Nope, rigor mortis didn't set in, they were soft and yep, cold like in the fridge. I refroze them like folks suggested. c: I'm glad that this at least worked out in my favor. I can always count on this board, haha.

You can still by in bulk, as your snake out grows the prey size you have, all you have to do is feed them multiple prey items.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Lucky Doug! I'd totally do that if I could, that's super cool!

Where I live, reptile stuff is farther travel distance than I can. There's an exotic vet which is great and I can reach it by bus. But I have no car, so I'm limited to where my bus goes.

Shipping is 30, but I only have 2 snakes, and they are still growing. I can't order in bulk (yet!) because they outgrow their rat-size. I feed my corn baby rats as she gets bigger rather than mice (and I saw a huge difference in her! She loves them,) and then I get bigger rats for my BP. Once they reach a bigger size, I'll completely do the bulk thing Pet!

Thanks for all the input! Nope, rigor mortis didn't set in, they were soft and yep, cold like in the fridge. I refroze them like folks suggested. c: I'm glad that this at least worked out in my favor. I can always count on this board, haha.

Perfect Prey and Layne Labs offers smaller pack quantities, your location in the US will affect shipping prices (ex: I live in NC and LL is prohibitively expensive while PP's shipping is barely more than Big Cheese's for me). If you've been keeping track of your snakes' growth, you should be able to reasonably calculate growth rates and get close to the amount you'll need before they need to move up in size.

Feeding a smaller meal until you finish off the pack is also an acceptable option, they will still grow on the smaller meals, even if it isn't as rapidly as on a bigger meal. Feeding multiple prey items has multiplied growth rates in my experience, so I choose to avoid feeding more than one prey item at a time, even if it's just long enough to finish off a few rodents. As long as you're not, say, spending months feeding them multiples it should be fine to do so, though.

[Doug 351]

Good advice ^ I wanted to update, but this isn't exactly the exact thread I was looking for, but I guess it will do.

The rat babies are now mouse size...sooo...time to feed them to my snake. It's tough, they are cute little boogers, but that's why I raised them.

[Albert Clark]

Wow Pb! How is Vespa doing? And, of course Ghost?