Thawed mice, safe to re-freeze?

So we've had a deluge of terrible, high wind storms recently here in WV, and over the last 3 days we've had about 3 hours of electricity total. It's back now (thank god), BUT there was about 12-15 hours there were everything in our freezer was left on its own, then we got all the important stuff (including Sir Blinky's mice) into a cooler with ice, where they stayed for about 6 hours. Now... I'm pretty sure the worst they got was soft, but still cold, and not completely de thawed. Then we got them into the cooler, and they stayed about the same, maybe a tad bit more frozen in the cooler, a bit more solid. Does anyone have any experience with slightly unfrozen then re-frozen mice? Is it dangerous to use them for feeding? Any advice at all is much appreciated.

On a possibly irrelevant point: there was hamburger meat in the same condition as the mice (stayed in the same conditions throughout this experience) and we deemed it safe for us, ate it, and we're fine. Like I said, hamburger and mice are different, obviously, as are snakes and humans, just thought I'd add this as an after thought.


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I have had something similar happen a few times. As long as the mice stayed cold, I think they are safe to refreeze. If you have multiple snakes, you can always 'test' them by just feeding one snake and seeing if he keeps it down.

I wouldn't. It's not safe by human food safety standards and snakes can't tell us if their food is bad. I'm pretty blasé about "germs" and expiry dates but personally I would just get new mice.

If it's still slushy, you can safely refreeze it. In fact as long as it is refrigerated it is safe. That's the human standard, too.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal...od-handling/freezing-and-food-safety/CT_Index

Try refreezing them and if they don't look or smell right when thawed, you can always throw them away then. If you feel uncomfortable with it at any point, don't do it.

Canada's gov't site just says don't refreeze thawed food. I have been told that only breads are safe to freeze and thaw repeatedly. http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/eatin...conseils/safety_home-maison_salubrite-eng.php

Do whatever you feel best, I guess...

Thanks for all the input everyone, you've given me a lot to think about... If I lived somewhere closer to a pet store I would be more more open to not 'risk' it at all and just feed from pet store mice until I could order more in bulk... But I don't, closest pet shop of any kind is the better part of an hours drive away. Also, if I thought there was anything wrong with the mice, I wouldn't have asked, and just not fed and waited the 3-4 weeks until I can order more mice (I just wanted y'all's opinions/thoughts on refreezing)... but I'm pretty sure they're alright, they stayed really cold the whole time, and never had any smell. That being said, tomorrow when I go to feed, I'm going to be inspecting the mouse very very closely for any weird coloration/consistency/smell, and if I feel unsure at all about anything, I will be waiting. From my reading, corns can go 2-4 weeks without eating, right (with no serious health concerns)? Because if I decide to re-order mice, that's how long poor Sir Blinky will have to wait to eat probably. [emoji17]


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Rigby & Marcy said:

Canada's gov't site just says don't refreeze thawed food. I have been told that only breads are safe to freeze and thaw repeatedly. http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/eatin...conseils/safety_home-maison_salubrite-eng.php

Do whatever you feel best, I guess...

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I never thought about our respective nations having different recommendations/standards! I learn something every day. I don't think anything is safe to freeze and thaw repeatedly and I think common sense needs to prevail as well. If in doubt keep it safe.

I've totally done this a bunch. I'll completely thaw it, and the snake will refuse it, so back in the freezer it goes. Then I'll thaw it again the next day and try again. I've done this regularly and sometimes multiple times with the same mouse. I never had a problem or thought anything of it. I guess I should have... oops

I actually find it fascinating and surprising that our gov'ts don't recommend the same! Given that Americans are not dropping like flies from food poisoning, I assume Canada is erring on the side of caution.

When I left my freezer open for 3 days during a heat wave last summer (I was away), the advise I was given from a person who has knowledge of food health regulations was that as long as it was still frozen in the middle, it was safe to refreeze. It's only unsafe if it has defrosted all the way through. That being said, the mice closest to the outside of the pack (depending on how many mice you have) may have defrosted fully while the ones in the middle were fine? On the other hand, because the mouse is whole, it probably has a whole bunch of extra bacteria in it's digestive system and on it's fur that isn't on our food... so my personal thoughts on it would be to toss them. But I am not an expert by any means!