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Moppet
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3315 Posts |
 Posted - 01/09/2012 : 15:29:13
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I am considering buying about 6 months supply of mice for my snakes (I will have 4 corns after Sept donny show, possibly more...)
I have been researching how long you can keep mice in the freezer without them becoming freezer burned and most sources say 6 months if they have no hair and 6-9 months with hair dependent on how you store them.
Well, I have been looking at buying a vacuum pack machine so that I can separate the mice into packs of about a months supply and vacuum pack them myself, opening a new pack as needed as this should keep them fresher (and therefore more nutritious) for longer.
Has anybody got a vacuum pack machine already? What type and is it any good? I have been looking at a food saver but the price puts me off (£110!) and a JML food sealer (£40).
I'm leaning towards the cheap and cheerful approach but I wondered if anyone could tell me a bit more about them (or even that I don't need to bother haha). |
2.4.0 Corn snakes
1.0.0 horse
0.1.0 Golden retriever
1.4.0 Guinea pigs |
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Auld Baldy
Ikea's Pimp
United Kingdom
1619 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2012 : 16:08:45
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I wouldn't really bother. It will take a while to recover the price of the vac sealer against what you would save on buying bulk. I line 2 litre tubs with foam and have the mice in poly bags with a seal clip. This seems to prevent frost burn. I've only just moved up to small bulk for my lot, 6 on mice 1 on small rat.
Plenty for around 2-3 months. I still have to store Man Food and space is limited. 
I do like my ice cream. It'll be fine as long as I don't try crumbling a Flake into the wrong tub.  |
1.0.0: Miami Normal: Taggart
0.0.1: Carolina Normal: Wee Woody
0.0.1: Grey Rat Snake: Mirkey
0.0.1: Amel Corn: Blaze
1.0.0: Carpet Python: Vambo
0.0.1: MBK: Fester
0.0.1: Florida King Snake : Rattler (Rattle & Hum)
0.0.1. California King Snake: El Diablo Diego
0.2.0 Tarantulas : Ermintrude & Euphemia. |
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Okeetee Mick
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
2308 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2012 : 16:14:23
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| I buy every 6 months or so, never had a problem with freezer burn but wouldn't really matter to the snake anyway. |
0.1.0 Okeetee (Sookie) 0.1.0 Powder (Luna) 0.1.0 Bloodred (Arlene) 0.1.0 Caramel Stripe (Tara)
0.1.0 Ghost (Crystal) 0.1.0 Caramel (Jessica) 0.1.0 Lavender Stripe (Portia) 1.0.0 Platinum (Godric)
0.1.0 Thayers King (Lettie Mae) 0.1.0 Albino Blairs King (Lorena) 0.1.0 Russian Ratsnakes (Pam)
0.1.0 Korean Ratsnake (Katerina) 1.0.0 Russian Ratsnake (Lafayette)
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Thorne Walker
Yearling
Canada
642 Posts |
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a33272
our battery charger
United Kingdom
3063 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2012 : 19:55:16
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| Mine get shuved in brown paper bag in the plastic bags they come in. |
    
0.1.0 creamsicle corn-Marmalade
1.0.0 jungle carpet python-Bumble
1.0.0 corn Casper
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Moppet
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3315 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2012 : 20:41:12
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Thanks guys. So most people don't use them then?
I have been thinking about getting a vacuum sealer anyway as I make my own dog treats and they last a lot longer if you can get all the air out of a bag before putting in the freezer. If I have the equipment anyway do you think it'll help keep the mice fresher?
The idea was not entirely from a money saving point of view but partly for neatness too. One layer of neatly vacuum packed frozen mice is easier to stack than a bag of them all higgledypiggledy.  |
2.4.0 Corn snakes
1.0.0 horse
0.1.0 Golden retriever
1.4.0 Guinea pigs |
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a33272
our battery charger
United Kingdom
3063 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2012 : 20:55:21
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| If u buy online in bulk they tend to come neatly arranged in resealable bags anyway |
0.1.0 creamsicle corn-Marmalade
1.0.0 jungle carpet python-Bumble
1.0.0 corn Casper
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Moppet
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3315 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2012 : 21:12:55
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| That's good Saves me the trouble I guess. Feed day tomorrow then I run out of the P@H ones. Gonna order some from RSR next week I think. Snakes won't know what's hit 'em. They've been happily munching down the nasty freezer burned ones for ages. They probably don't even care and it's just me but I'll be happier if they're getting fresher ones. |
2.4.0 Corn snakes
1.0.0 horse
0.1.0 Golden retriever
1.4.0 Guinea pigs |
Edited by - Moppet on 01/09/2012 21:13:17 |
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lotabob
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
4334 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2012 : 22:49:55
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quote:
Originally posted by a33272
If u buy online in bulk they tend to come neatly arranged in resealable bags anyway
That's right all laying in the same direction cuddling each other.
I buy mine monthly for about £7 from my local shop for 4 snakes cant be bad and it keeps most of my freezer rodent free. |
Anery Corn snake SPOT. Royal Python, DUKE. Hogg Island Boa, SANKE. Albino House Snake, HAL.
Harlequin Crested Gecko HARLEY
Albino Horned Frog WAKA
Chilean Rose Tarantula TRIXIE. Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird-eating Tarantula SAM. Orange Baboon Tarantula BORIS.
Giant Asian Forest Scorpion, SALLY.
Giant African Land Snails, SHELDON & MICHELLE.
Budwing Mantis, MAIA
Dubia Roach Colony. Silkworm Colony. Mealworm Colony. Waxworm Colony. Fruit Beetle Colony.
MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL http://www.youtube.com/user/alocheeky |
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a33272
our battery charger
United Kingdom
3063 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2012 : 22:56:05
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quote:
Originally posted by lotabob
quote:
Originally posted by a33272
If u buy online in bulk they tend to come neatly arranged in resealable bags anyway
That's right all laying in the same direction cuddling each other.
I buy mine monthly for about £7 from my local shop for 4 snakes cant be bad and it keeps most of my freezer rodent free.
I make sure people I know what's in mine so it keeps then off me food haha
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0.1.0 creamsicle corn-Marmalade
1.0.0 jungle carpet python-Bumble
1.0.0 corn Casper
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Moppet
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3315 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 00:35:56
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| Haha, that's a good plan. I have a drawer in my freezer dedicated to mice only. The bottom one because I am paranoid about any contamination of food which I will eat. People's reactions to seeing dead mice always amuses me though. To me they are just a normal sight now. |
2.4.0 Corn snakes
1.0.0 horse
0.1.0 Golden retriever
1.4.0 Guinea pigs |
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viraleye
Yearling
United Kingdom
695 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 08:39:23
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| I'm on pinkies at the mo and they all stay in their own clip lock box so they in no way come into contact with other food |
1.0.0 Cyrus - Amel het Anery ph Hypo - CURRENTLY AWOL
0.1.0 Diamond - Avalanche ph Charcoal, Hypo
1.0.0 Garland - Bloodred het Hypo
1.0.0 Pinball - Carolina
0.1.0 Casey - Hypo Lavender Stripe het Amel
0.0.1 - No Name Yet - Crested Gecko |
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claire_daz
Hatchling
United Kingdom
412 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 08:47:43
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| Our mice sleep in the door i have three very small trays were they stay but i to am about to give up the bottom draw for the mice. In the frezzer |
Edited by - claire_daz on 02/09/2012 08:49:06 |
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Red123
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
2030 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 10:00:48
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| I buy mice and rats once every 6-9 months. Any fluffs/pinkies get individually wrapped in a small freezer bag before being placed in a large bag altogether. I find this stops any freezer burn. The larger mice and rats get wrapped in twos. I have some rats that have been in my freezer for nearly a year and they look like they were only killed a few hours ago. They have kept really well. I think alot also depends on where the mice/rats come from. I always find that uk bred keep better and have less freezer burn than imported ones. |
Corn Snake
, 1.0.0 Amel (Stan),
Royal Pythons
1.0.0 Normal (Nigel)
1.0.0 Albino (Tony)
Boa Constrictor Imperator
0.1.0 (Agatha)Western Hognose
0.1.0 Normal (Stevie)
0.0.1 Schneider Skink (George)
1.0.0 Extreme Blonde Harlequin Crested Gecko (Bert)
4 GALS.
Tarantulas
Red Rump (B. Vagans) Jo.
Chaco Golden Knee (G. pulchripes) Charlie, Greenbottle Blue (C. cyaneopubescens) Gus, Honduran Curly Hair ( B. albopilosum) Titch, Mexican Fire Leg (B. boehmei), Salmon Pink Bird Eater(L. parahybana), Fort Hall Baboon (P. Lugardi) Blanche, Stout Leg Baboon (E. Pachypus) Graham, Chilean Rose (G. Rosea) Glen.
Border collie x (BoB), 2 Cats (Lucky & Dip), 17 Goldfish, and The Dubia Family |
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Moppet
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3315 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 13:17:13
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quote:
Originally posted by viraleye
I'm on pinkies at the mo and they all stay in their own clip lock box so they in no way come into contact with other food
I do this at the moment. P@H mice come individually wrapped in little bags (which usually aren't air tight!) and I put all them in a clip lid type box in the bottom drawer of the freezer.
Just about to give my two snakes the last of the terrible P@H mice. A friend is bringing her 9 year old brother round so he can feed Apollo one of his mice (he is on two fluffs atm because he's due to go up to smalls or hoppers soon). He loves my snakes so I think it'll be a fun experience for him
Just opened the mice and two of them are not very nice  Not bad enough to chuck (although I may change my mind depending on how they look once thawed) but very freezer burned. The pinkie and one fluff actually have ice crystals all over the outside (and limbs falling off etc but that seems to be quite normal).
Ordered lots of mice from RSR which should arrive on Tuesday so the next mice my snakes get will hopefully be better quality (and a heck of a lot cheaper) than P@H ice (haha, that was a typo but it suits these mice so well I'm leaving it there!). |
2.4.0 Corn snakes
1.0.0 horse
0.1.0 Golden retriever
1.4.0 Guinea pigs |
Edited by - Moppet on 02/09/2012 13:18:30 |
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nickyff
Yearling
507 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2012 : 03:12:29
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| i keep mine in the plastci tubs that chinese takeaway comes in. no burn, and nicekly sealed away from the chicken nuggets. |
and you thought there was no such thing as a stupid question....
1.2.0 corns: captain haddock, sharon the tiddler and Darling Debbie. plus 0.2.0 cali kings: spot and Numpty... not forgetting the delightful Miss Lovely-Gonzalez-La-Poop apricot pueblan milk snake, and we all miss the Lodger who thought he was a cobra....
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Storing mice in freezer. Vacuum packers?
