How to freeze feeder fish?

[garterluv15]

Hey everybody,

I'm thinking about getting a garter snake, and I've heard that you can feed them feeder fish without thiaminase (feeder fish b/c I don't have a fish market near me). Since I don't like watching things die, here's my question: Can you freeze feeders, and if so, how? Thx!

[Stefan-A]

You can freeze them, but there are no tricks to freezing fish, so I'm almost certain I haven't completely understood your question.

[guidofatherof5]

Not sure you can take the suffering out of the process, unfortunately. Freezing is what it is.

[garterluv15]

You can freeze them, but there are no tricks to freezing fish, so I'm almost certain I haven't completely understood your question. Probably a stupid question now, but I was basically asking if I should freeze them in a cup of water (and wait for them to thaw out before giving to the snake), or jus put them on a dish in the freezer.

[garterluv15]

Not sure you can take the suffering out of the process, unfortunately. Freezing is what it is. When I said "I don't like seen things die", I meant by physically seeing it die; if I put the fish in the freezer, I don't have to watch it die.

[chris-uk]

I find buying them already frozen works nicely. I get neat 1kg packs of individually quick frozen smelt which arrive frozen and delivered to my door. OK, to justify the shipping cost I need to buy several kilos of smelt with a few hundred pinkies...

I don't know that I would buy a live feeder fish unless I needed to feed them alive (if I'm ever unlucky enough to get a snake that refuses dead food). You say you don't have a fish market near you, but surely you have somewhere that sells fish for human consumption? When I only had a couple of snakes they ate a lot of salmon and trout which I'd buy fresh, cut up and freeze. They ate very well on organic Scottish salmon (with calcium and vitamin supplements every few feeds). Now they put up with smelt.

[CrazyHedgehog]

I find buying them already frozen works nicely. I get neat 1kg packs of individually quick frozen smelt which arrive frozen and delivered to my door. OK, to justify the shipping cost I need to buy several kilos of smelt with a few hundred pinkies... .
(sorry to hijack thread)
but Chris where do you get your smelt from? I breed my own mice by the hundreds, so pinkies are not a problem

[chris-uk]

When I said "I don't like seen things die", I meant by physically seeing it die; if I put the fish in the freezer, I don't have to watch it die.

Putting a fish in a domestic freezer whilst alive would be a cruel way to kill it. As would taking it out of water and leaving it to suffocate. The humane method to dispatch a fish is to stick something into the brain and wiggle it around (called pithing the brain). If you can't dispatch an animal humanely, buy it dead.


(sorry to hijack thread)
but Chris where do you get your smelt from? I breed my own mice by the hundreds, so pinkies are not a problem

Kiezebrink - they do smelt in 1kg bags for £3. Postage is something close to £20 though, hence I order hundreds of pinkies to justify the cost, but actually the smelt I used before that came from aquatics shops and cost £2-3 for 100g in a blister pack so even with the postage buying 3kg would be significantly cheaper than getting it locally.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Check out the Sally's San Francisco Bay Silversides! They are usually available at pet smart stores in the carnivore fish frozen food section !
When I said "I don't like seen things die", I meant by physically seeing it die; if I put the fish in the freezer, I don't have to watch it die.

[ConcinusMan]

Yes, those. ^^^ you can also buy tilapia fillet already frozen. Just make sure there is no preservatives or anything but tilapia and water on the ingredients. There's no need to use "feeder fish" at all. Sally's silversides are frozen in water. They keep better and don't dry out and freezer burn if they're frozen in water. And don't store them in a self-defrosting freezer. As far as freezing to kill parasites goes, most household freezers aren't set cold enough. Some parasites will survive anything above around 5 degrees F. For freezing meats and fish, and for killing possible parasites in fish, i use a freezer that is set at, and stays around, -10 F.

But he got the name a little backwards. It's San Fransisco Bay brand, the product is Sally's silversides. They are sold at petco or where frozen brine shrimp and other frozen food for aquarium fish is sold. They're better than the Ocean Nutrition brand. Those dry out, freezer burn, etc because they're not packed in water.

[nitrogen15]

Another good option is to talk to a fish monger and ask for scrap cuts. They sell scraps for almost nothing and the meat's still good quality. It's important to ask about preservatives like Concinnus mentioned.