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Posted by EdK on May 05, 2003 at 21:39:46:
In Reply to: not quite sure bout this vitamin b defiency thing posted by snakeguy88 on May 05, 2003 at 15:47:59:
In general, all fish contain thiaminase but it usually is not a problem unless the fish have been frozen thawed and fed to the snakes (or other animals). Warm water fish tend to contain more thiaminase than cold water or marine fish. Adding a supplement to a frozen thawed fish does not tend to benefit the animal as the thiaminase will destroy the thiamine in the supplement reducing or eliminating its effictiveness.
Freezing the fish can be desirable as the freezing process (as long as it is for two weeks or more will reduce the potential parasite impact of the food item however you need to weigh this against the risk of thiamine deficiency.
The switching of the snake to rodents will eliminate the risk of thiamine deficency but can take awhile to affect the switch (although there are many tricks that can shorten this process).
If you keep earthworms in a calcium enriched soil they will supply sufficent nutrition to keep your garter happy.
Goldfish have other problems as a live food source such as having a bad fat ratio that can lead to obesity problems if used a staple of the diet. Another item to watch are the additives that the pet stores place into the tank to help keep the fish alive and looking good so people buy them as feeders. Many of these additives contain copper which can bioaccumulate in the snake until it can cause problems (use a good copper test kit on the water from the feeder fish bag to see if there is copper used in the system).
Ed
:IT has to do with the certain fish you feed. Some fish such as goldfish, roseys (the smaller, slimmer goldfish), comets, minnows, as well as any fish in the carp family contain thiaminase, an amino acid chain that breaks down thiamine which the snakes need. I have heard boiling the fish will break the protein down, but I normally just give mine mice with a lesser influence on fish in their diet. This is supplemented with nightcrawlers as well. Some fish contain less amounts of thiamine, such as trout. I would search the forum...there is a ton of info posted on here as well as some websites that have information on which have the smallest amounts. Andy
