wasted food

[Hollis_Steed]

Any suggestions on how to freeze small portions? When i thaw out what i think the gang might eat today...and then when none of them are hungry...I end up throwing out perfectly good food. I'm thinking if I knew someway to freeze individual portions I might not waste so much. Or, is it advisable to "refreeze" the food that has not been eaten? I'm open for any and all suggestions.

[Eddie]

Do not re-freeze!
Ed

[mustang]

dont refreez? when checker dosnt eat his pinky i re freez it and thaw it out later when hes hungry...i see no prob with re freezing

[Charis]

What are you feeding? If I'm feeding fish fillets, I'll cut them up into little strips & put about one portion in some little ziploc bags that I get at the craft store, beads or things are supposed to go in them. Then I wrap all of the baggies up in tin foil & stick them in the freezer. Then at feeding time I can just thaw out one or two little baggies. Depending on how big an item is & how long it has been unfrozen, sometimes it is okay to refreeze things, but since it is hard to know when something is still good, it isn't recommended to do it at all. Like sometimes I'll buy frozen tilapia (sp?) fillets & will mostly thaw them so they can be cut up into strips & individually repackaged & refrozen, but the fillets are never completely thawed before they go back in the freezer. Fish seems to spoil faster than mice too. I think garters most have a pretty good sense about when carrion is okay to eat or not. If the fish gets to room temp, my garters will refuse to eat it. It has to still be fairly cold.

[Hollis_Steed]

I'm feeding silversides, chopped fresh trout, and night crawlers. I've run out of frozen pinkies but should have a delivery of more on Friday.
Good idea about the small baggies from a craft store. that may be just the thing to use to put individual portions in the freezer. Thanks for the idea!



What are you feeding? If I'm feeding fish fillets, I'll cut them up into little strips & put about one portion in some little ziploc bags that I get at the craft store, beads or things are supposed to go in them. Then I wrap all of the baggies up in tin foil & stick them in the freezer. Then at feeding time I can just thaw out one or two little baggies. Depending on how big an item is & how long it has been unfrozen, sometimes it is okay to refreeze things, but since it is hard to know when something is still good, it isn't recommended to do it at all. Like sometimes I'll buy frozen tilapia (sp?) fillets & will mostly thaw them so they can be cut up into strips & individually repackaged & refrozen, but the fillets are never completely thawed before they go back in the freezer. Fish seems to spoil faster than mice too. I think garters most have a pretty good sense about when carrion is okay to eat or not. If the fish gets to room temp, my garters will refuse to eat it. It has to still be fairly cold.

[Charis]

Yeah, the baggies come in about 7 sizes, the smallest is about 1" by 1". That is the size I use for my babies but there are bigger ones that would work for an adult portion. The baggies are usually somewhere around $1 to $3 for about 100 of them.

[ConcinusMan]

That would work^^^. I do occasionally refreeze pinkies on the rare occasion that my snakes refuse them. As long as they aren't thawed for longer than 15 minutes or so, I just refreeze them, no biggie. With fish, I take out just a little at a time, if they eat it all, I take out a bit more. I do not refreeze fish, I just throw it out.

[oki-inu]

If the fish gets to room temp, my garters will refuse to eat it. It has to still be fairly cold.

I don't have any experience feeding frozen food to garters, but that is not what I would have expected to hear. I was thinking at least room temp, if not a bit more, but maybe that's just my boa experience.

I guess, thinking about it, fish are not usually warm like mammals, so it makes sense.

[ConcinusMan]

My garters don't seem to care either way. They'll eat them while still fairly cold, or room temp. However you serve them, make darn sure they are thawed all the way through. If you don't, it can be fatal.

[drache]

sometimes I just refrigerate defrosted food for a day or two and offer it again. I don't refreeze because I think the back and forth turns the cell fibers to mush.

[Nafun]

When you warm the prey item up to room temperature bacteria starts to grow pretty rapidly. Even if you refreeze and kill the bacteria, the toxic waste products of the bacteria remain. I know reptiles in the wild often eat carrion, but to me the cost of a dead rodent isn't worth the chance of making my snakes sick.

A lot of people have a "garbage disposal" animals to take care of refused prey, such as monitors, or any other indiscriminate eater that has to be fed every day. I'm getting a tegu this summer for this very purpose.

[mtolypetsupply]

I've found that it's actually easier for me to chop frozen salmon than thawed. I cut off slivers to the amount I need, then chop it. For babies, grating the frozen salmon works well too. Pinkies are easier to chop frozen, too, IMO.

I give my guys plenty of time to eat, so I wouldn't refreeze what I offer them, it's been out too long. And I don't find there's too much left over, so don't worry about it.

:)

[infernalis]

I too find it much easier to mince up pinks and fish while frozen. I can dice up pinks into the smallest of bits while they are still stiff.

[ConcinusMan]

Definitely. Trying to cut pieces off of a thawed pink is like trying to slice water balloon filled with blood and guts. It doesn't work out too well. BTW, it doesn't hurt a garter one bit to eat a slightly rancid pink. It doesn't hurt them anymore than it hurts a large dog to eat rotten meat. Their systems are designed to take it. Not that I would do it on purpose, and that's why I said I would refreeze within 15 minutes or so. That's not long enough to build up toxins from bacteria.

[Mommy2many]

If any of you know a pampered chef rep, they have this nifty little "food scissors". I think it is usually sold for things like cutting pizza slices but my new found use is for worms, fish pieces, silversides and yes, pinkies! Works wonderful and I can get it exactly the way I want it.:D

[Hollis_Steed]

Good idea! My wife would support that wholeheartedly...she is getting tired of me using here kitchen knives and scissors:D


If any of you know a pampered chef rep, they have this nifty little "food scissors". I think it is usually sold for things like cutting pizza slices but my new found use is for worms, fish pieces, silversides and yes, pinkies! Works wonderful and I can get it exactly the way I want it.:D

[Mommy2many]

http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/bb/7d/1a/44796192-177x150-0-0.jpg
Pampered Chef Cutting Edge Kitchen Shears 1075

Here they are! $14.00. And they have a little cover for them too!

[mustang]

i just use one of my many knives :)

[Charis]

I'm lucky, I just use my Dad's really sharp fillet knives. Already use them for the fish we catch, so nobody cares if I use it on the snake's fillets. And if I ever need to cut pinks up, my Dad has a pair of bone scissors that he uses on his deer, elk & game birds. Probably would not be to thrilled to know what I was doing with them, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right? LOL
And, yes things are much easier to cut up if they aren't thawed, though some of it I find easier if it's not totally frozen either.

[mustang]

I'm lucky, I just use my Dad's really sharp fillet knives. Already use them for the fish we catch, so nobody cares if I use it on the snake's fillets. And if I ever need to cut pinks up, my Dad has a pair of bone scissors that he uses on his deer, elk & game birds. Probably would not be to thrilled to know what I was doing with them, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right? LOL
And, yes things are much easier to cut up if they aren't thawed, though some of it I find easier if it's not totally frozen either.
do you hunt????

[ssssnakeluvr]

A lot of people have a "garbage disposal" animals to take care of refused prey, such as monitors, or any other indiscriminate eater that has to be fed every day. I'm getting a tegu this summer for this very purpose.
my red eared slider will eat leftovers :D

[drache]

I used to have plated lizards that ate everything

[infernalis]

Did someone say leftovers??

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=17&pictureid=670

[Mommy2many]

Chomper!

[mustang]

...i cant wait till i move out ...ill get a cool monitor...then as a rich retired and married vet ill buy my ranch!

[ConcinusMan]

Then suddenly reality slaps you in the face and you wake up from that daydream:rolleyes:

[infernalis]

find yourself a rich semi unattractive sugar momma.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

absolutely LOVE that picture of Chomper. "Did somebody say leftovers?" is perfect for it.How big is Chomper now Wayne?

As for me, No-feet used to get all the leftovers at my house. (russian legless lizard). Now that No-feet is in heaven... I have a new solution. I take all the leftovers and I lay them out on a cutting board. I cut them into strips. I start the fire on the oven and sautee them lightly. Then I pull out a frozen cheese pizza and put all the goodies on top of it. Sometimes I even have enough to top TWO pizzas. It's the secret to my famed Shannon's Special Meat Lover's Pizza recipe. And since I have so many snakes... we have pizza a few nights a week!

[bkhuff1s]

I use snack size zip lock bags for individual feedings, and keep them all together in a galleon zip lock bag. Preparation takes a while, but it makes the individual feedings a breeze.

[ConcinusMan]

absolutely LOVE that picture of Chomper. "Did somebody say leftovers?" is perfect for it.How big is Chomper now Wayne?

As for me, No-feet used to get all the leftovers at my house. (russian legless lizard). Now that No-feet is in heaven... I have a new solution. I take all the leftovers and I lay them out on a cutting board. I cut them into strips. I start the fire on the oven and sautee them lightly. Then I pull out a frozen cheese pizza and put all the goodies on top of it. Sometimes I even have enough to top TWO pizzas. It's the secret to my famed Shannon's Special Meat Lover's Pizza recipe. And since I have so many snakes... we have pizza a few nights a week!

Leftover pinkie pizza?:confused: That would be a special Meat Lovers alright.

[infernalis]

absolutely LOVE that picture of Chomper. "Did somebody say leftovers?" is perfect for it.How big is Chomper now Wayne?

!

about a yard long... took him outside today, he dug up some kind of insect nest and inhaled all the bugs.


http://www.reptard.info/chomp/chompdot.jpg

[ConcinusMan]

I bet he'd love to tear into a log full of termites, for sure.

[infernalis]

What many people do not know, the primary diet of the Savannah monitor is insects.

Chomper eats anything that moves when he is outside. He even ate a little brown snake once before I could stop him.

That snout makes an excellent shovel and flipping tool, so he "goes herping" too, he just eats what he finds.

We gave him some raw egg once, what a mess that was.

[mustang]

hes the garbage disposal...he eats fire ants?

[infernalis]

hes the garbage disposal...he eats fire ants?


I would imagine, The African Savannah region has some really scary insects, all are fair game to monitors.

[mustang]

I would imagine, The African Savannah region has some really scary insects, all are fair game to monitors.
quick breed a whole bunch of monitors and reqire everyone to let them parol their proporty and eat any and all fire ants!

[gartermorphs]

quick breed a whole bunch of monitors and reqire everyone to let them parol their proporty and eat any and all fire ants!


I can see how that would go............ten years later savanah monitors have bread sucessfully in north america and now we have an epidemic on our hands just like the large pythons and boas in florida.they look at this forum and arrest mustang for giving anybody the idea jk lol