Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My freezer got unplugged yesterday and all of my frozen rats are thawed. The freezer temp only reached to 53 degrees, most of the medium to smaller rats thawed out completely but are still cool to the touch.

The large rats thawed out also, but are much cooler to the touch . The jumbos and super jumbos may be a little bit frozen at the core.

There was a lot of $$$ in rats and i want to know if i can still use any of them, and if not, why?

Thanks.

Sure. Eat 'em up. The tough thing will be freezing them all again quickly.
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Jeff Ronne Sr
The Boaphile
Director USARK

Originator of Boaphile Plastics
The Boaphile Boa Site

I think you would be ok to re-freeze them, and use them.

In my opinion, it would take a lot longer at that cool temperature for any kind of bacterial growth or decomposition to start.
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Heather Martin
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You should be good to re freez.

They shouldn't have thawed that fast in one day if the freezer was kept closed...I would want to be 100% sure it was only for a day.

If so I would feel pretty safe using them, You shouldn't have any problems, this same thing happened to me years ago and I had no problems...I hope you will get more replies from people with solid information.

Maybe try calling you rodent supplier and ask them...I now have an alarm on my freezer and highly recommend that.

Joel
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Don't tread on me!

Ya know what the really sad thing is, the rats are worth more than my freezer, and its new.

Most snake species are confirmed carrion feeders in the wild and so a small amount of decomposition is not an issue. Additionally, major bacterial decomposition occurs in the snakes stomach before digestion is even close to completion.

Kelly