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Quick question with a bit of back-story:

A follow-on to my previous post, after reading lots of posts and docs over the past month, I gave frozen diced veggies to my pair of Uros as one of their food options. For the first couple weeks I thought the lizards stank something enormous, but there was nothing apparently wrong in the environment. I mentioned it to the vet, he thought it might have been something bacterial in one of them beyond the worms that were found, but otherwise had no ideas beyond antibiotics.

After a few days of closely checking around, I found the food dish with the defrosted veggies in it was agregiously noxious (complete gag reflex and I've got a strong stomach.) Gave that up for a week thinking it might have been the duration they were defrosted in the fridge and gave them totally fresh food options for the week. No foul smell came from any fresh food so I tried the frozen veggies again (fresh out of the freezer into the dish in the morning but without the lima beans) and the same vile aroma was back. Purged that immediately.

Now... I clean the food and water dishes every night by hand and weekly in the machine to reduce population by errant microbes. Has anyone else ever experienced this with any food item?
I expect if I brought the packs back to the store they'd chuckle after telling them that "...things smell particularly bad after being left out all day in my retiles cage..." The male Uro had lost a lot of weight during this time (requiring rehydration and tube feeding) and he smelled especially bad so I'm suspecting this is what he was consuming and then getting upset/anorexic over...

i have no idea about them smelling, i used frozen for a while but stopped because freezing a vegetable can cause it to lose some of its nutrients.
however, veggies can have horrific smells when rotting. one time i forgot about some mustard greens in the fridge and the smell definitely reminded me that they were in there.
i would say go with fresh food. there are not many freezers in the desert, ha ha.
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

If your cage is at the proper humidity level it is very unlikely that your vegetables are rotting in it. Yes you do lose a little of the nutrient value in frozen food, but the reduction in the the parasite exposure is well worth it. Washing may reduce, but will not eliminate certain parasites.

And if you wish to use frozen, but are concerned about the nutrient loss, you can add a little bit of Thiamine (vit B-1) to the veggies when you feed. This will help replace what's destroyed in the freezing.

I don't know why they would smell so nasty - maybe try a different brand? I know it can make a huge diference in taste!
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and new neighbor Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
1.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Bruce and Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)
And several miscellaneous community fish

I used to feed Annabella blueberries but stopped because she would just throw them in the sand and they stunk real bad. Usualy it would be the ones under the sand a little and I figure they got heated up but kept their moisture and that's how they got bad. Are they precooked veggies? They would have more moisture and already be a little mushy. That would help them keep their moisture and quicken the smelling process?
I don't know, it's a slightly educated guess.
I think...

They're just frozen veggies... nothing exotic... corn, peas, lima beans, etc. I've got all the Uros on fresh food now and I'm not going to deal with this product. I think they're still too large for juvies to eat anyhow. It's finals week, so maybe I'll just eat them myself and see if I can stink out the rest of the class