Pinkie spots?

[asymons]

Hey guys! I have an issue... I keep a ziploc of frozen pinkies in my freezer for feeding, but when I went to feed today I found that they all have these scattered, small white spots (mostly found in symmetrical pairs).

Is this some kind of mold or parasite? Has anyone had this in the past? The pinkies have been kept frozen and in the zip loc, and were fine when I bought them, and for the first feeding. Luckily I had extras from a previous batch to feed Cornelius today, but are these pinkies done for? The whole batch of them?

Thanks!

Ashley

 

[diamondlil]

It's freezer burn

 

[Jadie.Glitch]

I've had similar situations. Yes it's just freezer burn. I've gone ahead and fed it anyway, even though I realize that it doesn't have the best nutritional value anymore.

I would like to know myself if this is a bad idea. Anyone??

 

[caz223]

It's freezer burn.
Your snakes will prolly still eat it (unless they're picky.), and I've noticed that any mouse that smells freezer burnt doesn't get constricted, just swallowed right away.
If you know that your mice are gonna stay in the freezer for a month, it's best to take preventative action to avoid the problem.
I keep any mice that are going to be stored long term vacuum packed, and that seems to work. I don't know how long they can be stored this way, my snakes seem to make short work of any freezer surplus.
I suspect you can freeze them in water to prevent freezer burn, but I haven't tried it. Haven't needed to.

 

[Nanci]

I still feed if they aren't too bad. It is just small areas that are dehydrated. I know a couple ways to prevent it. If the mice came in a paper bag, roll that up tight and put in a ziplock and squeeze out all the air. Double ziplock, squeezing out all the air. Single ziplock, air squeezed out, then store multiple bags in a Tupperware. Vacuum pack, although my experience with this sucked. I bought a sealer from Sharper Image, who went out of business right after I got it, and it didn't work...

 

[caz223]

I should also note, freeze them in a ziplock bag before vacuum packing, if you vacuum pack freshly killed mice, you will see what they had for dinner.

 

[Jadie.Glitch]

I still feed if they aren't too bad. It is just small areas that are dehydrated. I know a couple ways to prevent it. If the mice came in a paper bag, roll that up tight and put in a ziplock and squeeze out all the air. Double ziplock, squeezing out all the air. Single ziplock, air squeezed out, then store multiple bags in a Tupperware. Vacuum pack, although my experience with this sucked. I bought a sealer from Sharper Image, who went out of business right after I got it, and it didn't work...

I had a mouse that I needed to store in my parents freezer. Well, they had an issue with it and said "make sure you wrap it up really well". Well I did that and then two weeks later when I went to use it again, I unwrapped it and found that I had wrapped it SO well that it never actually got frozen. It just stayed kind of cool and started to rott. It was pretty gross. So I would definitely avoid wrapping TOO much.

I should also note, freeze them in a ziplock bag before vacuum packing, if you vacuum pack freshly killed mice, you will see what they had for dinner.

Eww, really?! Sick. Good to know though...