How long after freezing can you defrost and feed?????

[KaaTom]

Once you have CO2'd the rodent and frozen them how long before you can defrost them to feed? I have heard 6 weeks is a good time frame but I cant find anything supporting it here. Im doing a mass cull this arvo and want to know whether or not I should put dates on the snap bags prior to putting in the freezer?

 

[mungus]

If your rodents are clean, kept clean etc , its up to you.
Still I like them frozen for at least 4 weeks to kill any bad organism's that might be in them.

 

[KaaTom]

Thanks I have over 100 to cull today so most of them will be frozen for longer than 4weeks as I dont have enough snakes to keep up with the rats lol

 

[beeman]

A lot of ours are fed as fresh kills, As long as your rodents are kept clean and wormed at regular intervals you wont have any probs.

 

[evil_red_head]

As per previous posts if your animals are healthy no probs. I do date mine so that they don't sit in the freezer too long. If you don't vac seal them they can start to deteriorate or get freezer burn. Esp over winter when most aren't eating.

 

[Stompsy]

Pretty much the only thing I can add is that the rats we buy have a freezer expiry date of 8 weeks after purchase.

 

[KaaTom]

I guess instead of putting the kill date on I can write the expiry date on the packaging instead....

 

[wokka]

Frozen domestic meat for humans has no maximum time in the freezer. Export meat for Europe must be less than 2 years. On that basis the suggested 8 weeks for rats seems wrong. The quality of the product is determined by what you start with; the rate of freezing ; and the temperature of the freezer.