Thanks guys! Guess its the locality. Los Angeles stinks for

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Posted by madmatt on November 06, 2002 at 00:05:19:

In Reply to: Re: Feeders: Who gets feeders other than goldfish? Where do you posted by Thamnophile on November 04, 2002 at 22:16:09:

good feeder fish. I have considered your responses and I realize that I may just be poorly positioned to keep my snakes easily because of feeding issues. Too bad because I have what I think arte the coolest snakes around, eye of the beholder for sure:)
Thank you guys for the recommends about the bait shop and the rosy reds. Turns out bait shops too far and rosy reds(haven't given my animals signs of thiamine deficiency, but too uneconomical too feed to subadult compresicauda. I have bypassed the problem by placing shards of Vitamin B complex down gullets of goldfish so far without ill-effects but I guess I am reaching a point where I am just burned on the maintenance of these guys living in L.A. as I do. Maybe I'm just getting too busy for my favorite hobby:(
Just thinking out loud guys, not whining or feeling sorry for myself!
Matt
:As someone on the gartersnake forum pointed out to me, rosy reds are minnows, and are in the same family as goldfish (carp) the Cyprinidae. Rosies have the same problem with thiaminase causing thiamine deficiency that goldfish do. If I can find it, there was a link posted on the garter forum to a list of fishes that do contain thiaminase, and a list of fishes that do not. I know trout, and the livebearers - guppies, mollies, and swordtails, don't contain thiaminase. Some people though swear that they feed goldfish, rosies, and other minnows for generations of garters with no ill effects, so who knows - I just don't want my garters to get ill. Hope this helps.

:Lisa

::All my live feeder fish are Rosey Red minnows that I buy from a local pet store. I buy about 50 at a time, but at 10 per dollar, it isn't that bad. I get a huge quantity of wild caught sunfish (I guess that's what they are) which I freeze for a week before offering to the snakes. I get the fish from another student at my college who is doing a study on Painted Turtles. The fish get caught by the hundreds in her turtle traps so she just bags them up for me. Most of them are too big for my watersnakes at the moment but at the rate they're growing, it shouldn't be an issue much longer.
::Have you tried bait shops? That's usually a good place to get different kinds of fish but keep in mind alot of the fish are w/c and have parasites.

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Follow Ups:

What do you use as a Vitamin B supplement? Pierson 11/06/02 (1)
- Pierson, Here's how I administer thiamine supplements... madmatt 11/07/02 (0)
Re: goldfish/other food options michael56 11/06/02 (3)
- Re: goldfish/other food options Thamnophile 11/06/02 (2)
  - Will try trout and various frozen parts, I do try rosy reds madmatt 11/07/02 (0)
  - Re: goldfish/other food options - Lisa michael56 11/06/02 (0)