How to freeze and debug hamster food and items

Maz

Maz

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Following on from the Albert the Dwarf's question about freezing food and other hamster items.

The idea is to kill moth eggs in pet foods, so they don't hatch out. Freezing hamster food for a week is supposed to achieve this and works for me.

I freeze:

Hamster mix, hamster treats, sprays, hay etc plus any rough bark wood items and cork logs

Although the issue isn't moth eggs with wood, cork and hay, there can be mite eggs or mites you can't see. Particularly with hay and other grassy things.

I don't freeze smooth wood items like houses - they are easy to wipe with a cloth or plastikote.

Some people bake some wood items. My attempts at that have been disastrous and my cork log smelled horrible so I just freeze them :)
 
Thank you for starting this thread Maz.

Do you freeze the above mentioned items in their original packaging? If yes do you still keep in the original packaging after it's defrosted?
 
Yes I just stick things in in their packaging. If something comes without packaging - like a cork log - I'll put it in a plastic bag before going in the freezer.

The food doesn't spoil for being frozen and it defrosts very quickly.

I'm sure others will come along and add their bits again soon (as started on the other thread) :)

The theory is, moths can lay eggs through plastic bags apparently and some pet storage warehouses clearly don't have such stringent rules as those for human foodstuffs.
 
I always put things I’m freezing in plastic bags with an air tight seal, sometimes the original packaging may not be completley air tight & when you defrost things they can then get damp, if in a bag all the condensation stays on the outside & keep the contents completely dry.
 
So freezer bags would be a good idea?
 
Sorry for all the questions?
 
I might be a bit lax there :) Eg bags of Harry Hamster etc - the bags are quite tough - I just put them straight in. The cork log I just wrap in swing bin liner. Freezer bags are a good idea. I haven't had issues with condensation yet though. It surprised me as you'd think the food in the bag would go soggy but it doesn't it comes out hard and cold and it stays dry as it warms up to room temperature.
 
I have bought freezer bags with zip locks so I can freeze things inside those. The reason I do not freeze wooden items is because my freezer is too small. I also find it quickly to bake wooden items as it just takes an hour but when it comes to freezing I freeze those items for a whole week.

When I buy things like wooden bridges, stairs I actually pop those in the oven too as I am paranoid. I am not sure others do that though.
 
How long do you bake them rainbow and what temperature?
 
I baked all of our wooden items, bridges / shelves prior to placing in the cage for 30 mins but can’t remember the temperature? I left to cool in the oven also and removed any metal parts, screws and cage attachments before doing so.

Everything else I freeze, normally for a week. All food, treats, play items, coconut hide, little straw balls etc.. I even freeze my Kaytee bedding, I split it out into carrier bags first and it’s always been fine after.

After taking out of the freezer, all my food, sprays, treats are kept in their original packaging placed inside sealed Tupperware (plastic) storage containers.
 
Hi all,
I recently ordered rosewood naturals pick n fly, so I'm assuming I need to freeze them for a week? How long do you then defrost them for?
 
Yes freeze them for a week. I find they defrost in a few hours but you could leave it for 24 hours just to make sure.
 
Yes I freeze them for a week but I find things like that defrost very quickly - maybe in an hour. If they're soft and not cold they're defrosted!
 
After my recent moth outbreak after having the heating on a lot, I just wanted to add some great information from Rainbow. Mixerama hamster food says their food is bug/egg free due to the fact they high pressure treat it at the time of packaging to kill off any moth eggs or bugs. It's still a good idea to freeze the food for a week as well though - just in case. I've decided to try the mixerama food (Syrian gourmet).
 
Mixerama don’t use heat as that would destroy nutrients in the food, it’s pressure & I think it’s C02, the vidio is in German & hard to make sense of but this is the text with the video.

Mixerama has the first species-appropriate animal feed in Europe that is free of pests such as moths (and their eggs), mites and beetles without the use of chemicals. Our method leaves absolutely no residue and does not affect our species-appropriate food for rodents in any way. Thanks to the certified carbon dioxide and high pressure, our species-appropriate food is pest-free and can be fed to your loved ones without beetles, mites or moths. We are the first in Europe to offer species-appropriate
 
Yes it does say pressure treat :) That video and translation are useful to have on here, thank you. Rainbow linked it to me yesterday.

I also came across an academic paper about using pressure treatment for killing moths and eggs. I’ll see if I can find it. It did suggest it may not be 100% for eggs and results depended on the length of time done for and it also mentioned temperature - so maybe that was a different type of high pressure treatment (like a pressure cooker or similar?).
 
There is quite a lot of info out there if you look, probably more than we need to know really!
The main thing is that it’s safe & effective, they’ve been doing this for years now & it seems to have worked well.
 
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