Mild dilemma...

Yesterday..to be prepared, I bought 10 frozen pinkies so I would have them on hand for my new snakes. I have a little problem though. By the time I got home with them, they were thawed. They were of course still quite cold, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to re-freeze them (sort-of like not re-freezing meat from the grocery store...you have to cook it before you can re-freze it). Anyway, I put them in the refrigerator to keep them longer. I just wonder how long they will last there safely. I don't want to take any chances with my new snakes.

Please let me know so if I need to get rid of them and not use them at all, I can have replacements ready for the next feeding time.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Steven

I would lean toward getting rid of them. Especially if you can get 10 more fairly easily. I think the intent of not refreezing them has to do with what happens once they thaw. When they thaw out, bacteria start growing and the pinkies can get nasty. But if they were still cold, I would imagine that bacteria hasn't had much time to grow. I would probably have put them back in the freezer. But since you didn't you might want to chuck them.

Freezing also deteriorates the cells in meat, as I understand it. So every time you re-freeze something it gets more and more mushy once you thaw it back out again.

Put them back in the freezer. They will be fine. (They might not taste as yummy, but they will be fine.)