Frozen food question

[Tiffanybea]

I also posted this in the Feeder Forum, but I thought maybe more people check this one. I just have a question regarding frozen food for my snakes.

My local pet store only carries frozen mice. If I were to order frozen rat pups or gerbils or whatever and then have them shipped to me, how many can I safely get in advance before running into risk of freezer burn? I assume that, like anything else I keep in my freezer they would eventually go bad. I certainly wouldn't eat anything that has been in the freezer for too long, and I wouldn't expect my babies to either.

I have two snakes. The baby kingsnakes eats 2 pinkies every 7 days, and the baby blood python eats one or two small mice every 7 days, depending on the definition of "small" that day per mouse.


Thanks in advance for any and all help. :)

[vstroh]

I've heard of a general rule of about six months for rodents. It may be different depending on size and how they are packaged. Hopefully someone else can help you a little more with this.

[Boa_Addiction]

It also depends on how well they are sealed in the freezer. Vacuum packed is better.

[Lance]

It also depends on how well they are sealed in the freezer. Vacuum packed is better.

:icon_nod:

I generally follow the 6 month rule although it's not much of a problem as my snakes have gotten much larger, they go through a much larger volume of food than my ability to store 6months worth. If you have a big bag of loose frozen mice, they will last a much shorter amount of time, if you open the bag a few times per week to get out mice. About 2 years ago, I had some shrink wrapped rabbits for almost a year and they showed no freezer burn what so ever.