Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a mouse that has been thawed and refrozen twice. Can I still use this for a third time and hopefully my king will take it? I don't know if this will make a difference, but to thaw the mouse I just let it sit out in room temp, and it was not heated up. Thanks.

well, I wouldn't reuse that mouse for a third time. I would heat all future mice to live animal temps, not room tempature.
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Dennis

I have to agree with the previous post. I'd throw away that mouse, and I'd heat all future mice to a temperature that will feel warm to the touch. Snakes are designed to eat living mice, and living mice are warmer than room temperature.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

Each time you thaw the mouse, bacteria reproduce like crazy. Refreezing the mouse stops the bacterial growth, but it doesn't sterilize the meat. So as soon as you repeat the thawing process, the bacterial growth resumes, except now it's more than tripled. Remember, you're working with decaying flesh here. The USDA itself doesn't recommend refreezing thawed meat unless you cook it first.

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www.BugChick.com

chickabowwow

In the old days, lots of friends and I would keep a junk snake, not that the snake was junk, its that we fed it junk. Junk, like your rethawed over and over mouse, or old rotten uneaten mice, heck even regurged mice. Funny thing, those darn junk snakes, were the healthist darn things.

I am not saying you should feed it that mouse, only you can decide that, its your snake and your risk.

So are you? FR

Hey Frank, I still have a wc yellow rat that gets all sorts of "leftovers" lol! Probably outlive me....
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

Years ago in the QUARANTINE room at the Bronx Zoo herp building we fed ALL rejected food items, I mean everything, from any sick or new beast that didn't eat, to a young alligator snapper named gomper, or something like that. He was the healthiest fastest growing snapping turtle I ever worked with. He probably had the strongest immune system of any herp ever, and hell, he may still have!!

I used to keep a large Florida king as my "Garbage can" when I was a kid. Mice were expensive and it seemed a waste for them not to be used (the old days before frozen was common).

Now I'm "proper", Quarantine everything and run a real clean ship. It's up to you as others said but I just throw out the F/T mice now. I may be being too cautious now, but why take chances with animals you've worked real hard to get or had for years over an inexpensive little mouse. Kicking yourself later if something does spread/become a problem, is painful, wastes time and I bruise easier now. Good luck

I frequently feed decomposed mice to my snakes and they relish it. I doubt that a refrozen mice is worse than that. Matter of fact, its possibly a good idea to feed a refrozen mosue since the mouse is easier to digest. I would think in the wild snakes come upon old dead rodents and other animals and still eat them.

well it's well known that some snakes in the wild have been seen eating carion.helli found a dor cottonmouth(one species that's better known for eating carion a lot)whose head was squashed by a car,but his head was next to a chicken(?) bone which appeared to be thrown from a vehicle(insert joke here) or dropped by a hitchhiker,whatever...thought that was really interesting to see...anyway,back to my point,i bet they'd be ok(your snakes after being fed triple-thawed rodents...but why take the risk?t osave on the $$ cost of the single rodent?hey i am known as a cheap-ass myself,but come on...lol...btw carl kauffeld swore by heating his rodents to approx. 80 degrees ferenheit-i thaw mine in water no hotter than it will get straight from the faucet...by the time i pat 'em dry,and present them for eating,they are warm,but not hot,to the touch.works for me ad my snakes.and i occasionally throw them a fresh killed one,if i just got back from a herp show,etc....but am sure to dispatch the rodent first immediately prior to offering up as a meal-no more than a few fun twitches,death rattles,etc. so as to not risk a bite on the snakes.

Well, I see that I COULD feed it to him, but I won't. I hate to waste a mouse, but I won't risk anything. I'll might just wait awhile until I try it again, being winter and all, so this doens't come up again, but I'm thinking of using a red heat lamp to warm up the tank a few days before feeding day to hopefully make them want to feed. Would I be wasting my time, or do y'all think this is worth a shot? One hasn't eaten in a month, the other in three weeks. The funny thing about the one who hasn't eaten in three weeks is that he's NEVER refused a meal and has always had a strong feeding response. Thanks.

I can tell you that I have a large collection and have been doing this for years with no ill effects. I know plenty of other people with large collections who do the same thing.

I used to have a Blue Tegu as a garbage can . being a opportunistic carian feeder it would eat all left overs .but i believe i killed it by this process . with an adult left over mouse that was questionable already had a dark belly. the Tegus front limbs went slack the following morning he was dead. i still blame myself.So be careful i wouldnt feed next day finds.Chris

I have been feeding next day and even third day finds with no ill effects.

However, I do this mainly with the floridana and then a few hybrids and some ratsnakes. These may have tougher systems. I am not really sure because I am afraid to try it with the others. I won't do this with some of the more delicate milksnakes species, rosy boas ect.

The florida (brooksi) are just tough captives I guess. They eat rancid mice and keep getting stronger and bigger.

I know there will be mixed emotions about what I chose to do. After getting so many responses from people saying they've successfully done this, I went ahead and tried it. I feed my snake the mouse after thawing it for the third time (heated it this time), he ate it, and now, nearly a week later, he's pooped already and all's well.