Tilapia

[snake man]

Hey guys, can you tell me what you know about tilapia? Pros? Cons? Best place to aquire it?

Thank you

[setfree]

I don't buy any of my fish so I can't help you there.:o But if you go fishing and freeze your fish I don't see any problem with that. P.S. That is also a lot cheaper!:D

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Pros-Garters go mental for it
cons-it's most commonly sold as fillets so there wont be any bones so you'll need to feed rodents as well or put Ca powder on it.

[Didymus20X6]

Pros:

Once a snake learns that it is food, he or she will gobble it down like Pac-Man.

It's relatively inexpensive.

Apart from issues with heavy metals ("EXCELLENT!" *GUITAR ARPEGGIO!*) and parasites - both of which are issues with just about any fish - it's pretty safe.

No thiaminase.

Humans can eat it too.

And, if you get it frozen, you can probably keep a large portion of it on hand for not a lot of money.

Cons:

As with any fish, be wary of where it comes from and what risks there are.

Parasites can be an issue, but freezing the fish for an extended period of time will kill them. Cooking the fish - which your snake may or may not like - can help with that as well.

If you get filets, there are no bones, so you will have to supplement the diet with other items - like whole pinkies - or calcium powder. Or ground-up bones.

Some snakes won't take to fish filets, because in the wild, they are used to live prey; but garters can be trained to eat it with patience.

About half of Little Dude's diet is tilapia. The other half is nightcrawlers. So far, I have only seen Tiny eat nightcrawler pieces.

[Sonya610]

Freezing the fish in an industrial freezer kills most all parasites, your home freezer doesn't drop the temps low enough (I also eat raw fish so I pay attention to the parasite risk thing). Read the thread above (the stickied thread) regarding scary chemicals in processed frozen fish and the suspected fatality risks.

I just bought some tilapia the other day and tried to feed it, the female ate it, the male ate one mouthful and then decided he wasn't into it. The tilapia I purchased was farmed in south america, after reading hte STPP chemical risk associated with much frozen seafood I am trying to find out if it was treated.

[mb90078]

My snake two (young) adult snakes which readily take salmon filet, are sometimes more hesitant to take Tilapia. If they're particularly hungry or in "inhale all food mode" they'll eat it, or if it's scented with other fish (salmon or silversides), they'll eat it no problem. But there are other times where they're not inclined to eat it, yet they'll always take salmon.

[infernalis]

Cons - virtually all tilapia is treated with Phosphates to "retain moisture and freshness"

[kibakiba]

The Safeway fish counter doesn't treat theirs with anything, it's just frozen. That's what they usually say, at least. I can taste a big difference between the safeway kind and the others. Lately, though, Safeway seems to be kind of dodgy with their fish, so I haven't bought it. I ask if it's treated with anything before buying it, and they just say "I don't know" or "maybe" So, I haven't been buying fish for a couple months.

[Light of Dae]

Find a Seafood market, Make sure it is fresh n untreated with anything. Talk to the people there, find an owner or someone who actually knows about what they are selling, not just some kid who works there.