I want your opinion on freezing p/k versus buying f/t

[Lyion]

So, while I was at a local pet store, I heard a man complaining about how mouse feeder companies could easily be feeding their mice terrible food or selling ones that had been frozen for years.

While I don't it's very likely that people would have frozen mice around for all that long in a business setting, I'm sure that there are plenty of people that could just be feeding their mice corn. My snakes eat mice, and all that the mice eat, so don't I want the mice I buy to have the best diet? Anyways, I was buying some p/k mice for Rosco, who at the time liked the scent of unwashed p/k and it got me thinking.

I know the store where I buy the p/k mice feeds them very well. You can look inside the breeder mice containers and see a white variety of seeds, nuts and grains, as well as a few mealworms. Anyways, I was thinking it would probably actually be better for my snakes to eat those mice rather than the frozen ones from petco.

The mice at Petco are twice as expensive, are usually a size below what they claim to be (I got a hopper sized "medium adult" once!) and are probably fresher and better fed.

The main issue is that I would want to freeze the p/k mice overnight to kill any potential parasites.

Would it be better to freeze it myself or continue buying f/t? I'm not sure how to freeze the mice beyond throwing them in the freezer.

How can I

 

[xStaticSnow]

You can always "flash freeze" you mice by throwing them into some liquid nitrogen. It's a little hard to come by but you can get it from large animal veterinary clinics (they use it for storing sperm used in artificial insemination), heating/air conditioner suppliers, call around.

An easier alternative would be to get some dry ice and just enclose the dead mice in an icebox with it or something, and they will freeze more quickly than in a regular freezer.

You can also just throw them in the freezer, but it will take a while longer and I would leave them in there for a week or so. Some parasites can survive the freezer for a few days, but most will die off after a week.

I know a lot of people raise their own rodents to P/K so that they can monitor the diets of their feeders, but that's a pain and it looks like you have found a good supplier. Personally I'm not sure I would even be worried about how much the died of the mouse will impact the health of you snakes. Most breeders feed bulk supplied of mice and rats to their snakes and those animals suffer no ill effects.

 

[MysticExotics]

I don't know how any of the major rodent supply companies even could keep the rodents sitting around for that long, with the high demand for them, many are trying to just keep up with production of them.

If you buy from a reputable company, like Layne Labs, you don't have to worry about getting poorly fed animals. I can see how some lesser known rodent suppliers might skimp on quality, but if you can find quality local feeders for a good price, that would obviously be better than having them shipped.

 

[Nanci]

If you _do_ end up packaging your own, make sure you freeze them before you vacuum seal them, otherwise they are VERY VERY gross- virtually unusable- when thawed back out.