The dreaded broken rodent freezer!

So, I just found what everyone hates to find.

My 5 CUFT freezer apparently quit in the last 2 or 3 days.
Got some large rats out Tuesday, and opened it up today to find all the rodents were completely defrosted.

They were still cool, but none were frozen still.

I’ve had this happen once before, about 4 or 5 years ago.

I don’t think they build things to last anymore. lol

I’m never sure when something is safe to keep and refreeze, or what might be fed off while it’s still cool.

I filled an entire trash bag full of rodents, and tossed them. :frowning:
I usually keep several months worth of rodents, but now I’m rethinking that wisdom. lol

What do others do? It would be nice to have an alarm for when things reach say 40 degrees…

What is your rule on what you do when this happens?

It makes me sick to waste so many rodents. :frowning:

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Well I have fortunately never had this happen but I keep all my rats in two mini freezers/ ice chest and never had a issue. It could perhaps be because some models of freezers and fridges just tend to last longer but as far as I know there is really no way to tell when one of them are on their last legs and will just stop working any second. It would be nice to know from others that have had this to let us know how they go about handling these types of things.

Oh forgot to add that I keep chunks of ice in the freezer with the feeders so in the event the power cuts out they will still stay frozen for a few more hours. A fridge on average will stay relatively cold enough to keep things cold for up to 48 hours so it makes sense that your rats were still cold.

Knock on wood I haven’t had this problem. I keep one set of sizes in another freezer just incase but not everyone has that option. You can get a visual and audio alarm for your fridge off Amazon but you have to be near it to know it’s not working. A bluetooth thermometer would let you know when your home/around. I’m sure wifi freezer thermometers are available. I think I might order an audible alarm. Sometimes I don’t go down to the main freezer or backup one and just keep a few things in the food freezer upstairs.

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Only thing that’s happened to me slightly similar is during the big shipping issues at the start of Covid in the US I got a shipment of rats that arrived a day late (4 days in shipping I think it was). The rats in the corners of the box were thawed out all the way through, but were still about as cold as a refrigerator. The company said that being thawed but cold for that additional 24 hour delay would be ok. I used up those bags first and had no issues. But it may have been warmer or longer for your case.

I have a dedicated rodent freezer like you, and having it fail and go unnoticed for a few days would be a huge hit. Maybe some kind of temperature alarm would be a good idea. Maybe something wifi connected or something since it’s kept out of the way? Interested to hear things that some people have actually put into practice.

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I’ll brows amazon and see if I can find something simple to use as an alarm.

An alarm is only good if you make sure it works, and seeing how it might go 5 or 10 years before it’s needed, I can see it becoming forgotten…

Although tossing a few hundred dollars of rodents does sting. lol

Just something with a simple audible alert would work I think. I’m in the snake room pretty much every day. So as long as it gives you a heads up something is wrong, I would catch it in time I think.

It might be worth looking at your home contents insurance if you have it to see if it covers spoiled food due to appliance failure.

Ok, bought a new freezer, and was browsing rodent suppliers to restock…

Everyone is out of the sizes of rodents I need, of course!
What is going on!

Also, am I the only one who remembers the days when a large rat was well under $2.00?
Yikes!

What is going on with rodent availability, and pricing now days?

I looked at Big Cheese, American Rodent, and even Rodent Pro… all were out of Larges, and Mediums…
I think Layne Labs might have them, but price is steep, and didn’t see what their weights were on their rodents.

Perfect Prey also might have the sizes I need, but they are on the top end of the pricing. :frowning:

So now I’m trying to decide if waiting a week to see if the stock will come back is a good idea, or if it’s smart to just poney up the extra $$$ and buy them now.

It’s never easy is it guys. lol

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No it definitely is not. Looks like ARS has some of their “small plus” sized rats in now which is kind of rare. 75-95 grams I loaded up on those last time they had some in. I like that size quite a bit for my girls 800-1200 grams.

Sorry for your luck! Maybe you buy a few to tide you over and plan on making a bigger order once the suppliers restock in the next 1-2 weeks

Layne definitely is more expensive. But my experience was that for the similar category like “small” etc. the ones from Layne were bigger. They list the weight ranges on the product pages on their website.

I also like that they come packaged in pretty rugged vacuum sealed ziplocks and all the rodents are frozen separately and never turn into an interlocking rodent brick. The rats looked healthier overall too, although that’s totally subjective; especially cause they’re, you know, dead. Anyways, long story short I am one of the suckers who pays the premium to order from them :laughing: :rofl: :sob: