Bulk mice

[scad2k]

Going to start buying bulk mice over the net.Whats the life span/use by date on frozen mice.

[JasonGranger]

Uhm, so long as any meat is properly shrink wrapped it can last a year or more in the freezer.

Personally when I make large orders of mice I re-package them into 4-6 per pack and vaccum seal them into smaller packs so that they stay "fresh" longer.

Course lots of people have lots of success with just using a few layers of freezer bags.

Hope this Helps...

This was originally posted in another thread.

[attackturtle]

Before you do that , , you may want to work out the math. I did useing Rodentpro as a reference and it comes out to be more expensive if you have only one snake. They say you can keep them frozen for 3-4 months. Most people I think could stretch that to 6 but Im not sure if you can keep them for a year. Here is my math below. Buying live (or frozen thawed local. frozen equals same right now) costs me .93 a prey unit. Frozen is .12 a prey unit assuming you only get one bag of 100. Factor in shipping and that equals .4622 a prey unit. still very good. over 6 mnths, the live costs 22.32. The online frozen costs 46.22 because you buy them all at once. Lets assume I can keep them an entire year and after an entire year, I have to toss them due to freezer burn or spoilage. Live for a year costs me 44.64. Still cheaper. If you can use all the frozen, its Definatly worth it. You have have to have enough snakes to use them within the time period or you could find somebody to partner up with and split the shipment when it arrives. I didnt include gas with the local method. Also, one bag of 100 prey units only fill s up 3% of the bag. If you have enough hobbiests to get several bags, (or enough snakes :crazy02: ) it would be unbelievably cheap! http://www.rodentpro.com/quotedisp.asp


month week LIVE Frozen
1 1 0.93 0.46
2 0.93 0.46
3 0.93 0.46
4 0.93 0.46
2 5 0.93 0.46
6 0.93 0.46
7 0.93 0.46
8 0.93 0.46
3 9 0.93 0.46
10 0.93 0.46
11 0.93 0.46
12 0.93 0.46
4 13 0.93 0.46
14 0.93 0.46
15 0.93 0.46
16 0.93 0.46
5 17 0.93 0.46
18 0.93 0.46
19 0.93 0.46
20 0.93 0.46
6 21 0.93 0.46
22 0.93 0.46
23 0.93 0.46
24 0.93 0.46
Total
6 months 22.32 11.04

12 months 44.64 46.22
:crazy02:
the excel spreadsheet I used didn't copy past right

[squashy]

3 months is how long mice will last in the freezer for, according to the reptile shop i get my pinkies from

[Lore]

Hmmm... well I'm the one that posted about repacking them in smaller vacuum sealed bags and I have had the ones in my freezer for several months feeding my brood, and they thaw just as fresh as they did the first day I got them.

[crossmen]

I posted this somewhere else I think. I keep mine well packaged in the freezer for over a year. I just put in an order at American Rodent from their specials page of 300 mice of varying sizes. Free shipping and box fee of 7.50 brought my per mouse price to 0.28. A friend is taking 100 and my son and I are splitting the other 200. Vacuum packed in heavy plastic and then placed in a sealed (Tupperware) container easily keeps them for a year. You will lose some nutritional value over time in a freezer but it is a very limited difference over a mouse that is frozen for three months.

Beware of pet stores, they want you to buy from them.

As a person who buys meat bulk or hunts I know from experience if you properly store it all frozen meat has a 1 year shelf life. The key is keeping air out and freshness in. A vacuum sealer is awesome for this but you can also do it with plain freezer bags and a vacuum or shop vac.

Take this as you will, just my 0.02.

Peace Paul

[attackturtle]

Yea, I have seen a few sites that mention hairless anything does worse in a freezer than prey with fur. Pinkies may not do real well frozen but sub-adult mice may be ok.