Picky eater; preference of where to get fish!

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Hi! So I got my two lovely babysnakes from Scott F last Thursday - one Florida Blue-Sided (skittish as hell!), and a Neon Blue California RS (way more calm). The similis is on pinky mouse parts and has eaten since arrival without a problem.. but the infernalis has not touched any pinky parts. I was hoping just scenting them would be adequate but I may have to go and buy some feeder fish for the little guy (I feel better knowing he gets calcium from whole-bodied food, etc). NOW! My question is.. where is a good place to find silver sideds or rosy feeder fish? I have tried looking it up and it's ... a little vague, let's just say.

So, especially to those Canadian owners out there, where you prefer to get your fish from??

Thanks!

[Majorica]

I thought Petco carried these?. Assuming you have a Petco within driving distance.

[d_virginiana]

Don't use rosy reds. They contain thiaminase, which can cause severe neurological problems and death. Some people have used them without problem, but IMO there's just no reason to take that risk if you don't have to. You can buy f/t silversides at most chain petstores or on the internet and cut them into appropriate sized pieces. If you're talking about babies from this year, you'll want feeder guppies rather than minnows anyway.
Try cutting up f/t fish first though. All live feeders (especially petstore guppies) have the potential to transmit parasites.

Also, it hasn't even been a week yet. He probably just hasn't had time to settle in well yet. If Scott said he was eating pinkies before he was shipped out, he'll probably eat those once he feels comfortable in his new home.

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The CRS was on fish - he told me specifically rosy feeders.
But thanks, I will try to find the silver sides!

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I realize now that I failed to mention the CRS was on fish before arriving to my home.

[RedSidedSPR]

"rosy feeders" are rosy red minnows. Don't feed those. You can use them to scent though.

I buy tilapia fillets from Trader Joe's. My snakes prefer them over the silversides. I've never bought it anywhere else but I'd avoid walmart/target and use a market or trader joes. Better quality.

I refuse to give petco money but they, and most other pet stores carry frozen, whole silversides. little fish like minnows except they don't kill your snake.

[Mommy2many]

If you have access to fresh water stream, you can find dace minnows for your snakes. Petco has silversides frozen and I would only use fresh fish from a market or fish store, nothing frozen. You can freeze what ever you don't use, including the minnows if you can find them and your snakes don't eat them all! I feed mine salmon but at the moment, only my larger, older snakes will eat it.

[d_virginiana]

... There's nothing wrong with using frozen feeders. I can see why people wouldn't want to give their money to Petco/Petsmart, but there's no health reason that fish from a fish market would be healthier than frozen silversides, and several reasons (ie; potential mercury in w/c fish) that it might be worse...

If he doesn't go for frozen, I imagine it's probably the presence of a live fish more than it is specifically rosy reds that would get him eating. Other species or guppies would probably have the same effect as a rosy.

When you use wild fish you run the risk of parasites and diseases (this also applies to live feeder fish; they are kept in such cramped conditions that they usually aren't healthy) as well as toxicity from anything that might have gotten into the stream or groundwater. Also, many common fish contain thiaminase. Unless you're confident in your ability to ID wild minnows, you could easily get one of those species. Mainly, it's just a lot of trouble to go to for something that's less safe than what you can buy on the internet or in a petstore.

[RedSidedSPR]

I didn't say the market is healthier than the silversides, I meant fillets from a market are more quality than fillets from Walmart or Target, which have killed snakes.

Frozen silversides rock. I just buy them from petsmart instead of petco because petsmart make me hate humanity less.

[d_virginiana]

lol, I was replying to LeAnn's post with that bit (I should take the time to quote things when I post).

Now that I re-read what I wrote it sounded a bit snippy, but that was just the result of me juggling a couple internet windows and a quiz I was writing. This thread got my quiz tone-of-voice.

Wasn't there a really long thread awhile back where everyone was discussing the pros and cons of various sources and species of fresh fish and filets?

Just out of curiosity why do you prefer petsmart to petco? I'm not really a fan of either. All I know is I buy most of my stuff from Petco and I always want to pull my hair out afterwards (though I should thank them for letting me adopt a perfectly healthy, perfectly behaved BP for free because it had 'behavioral issues') :rolleyes:

[Mommy2many]

I also meant the same as Jesse. My reference was not meant towards frozen feeders such as silversides but frozen fish at supermarkets. I should have been more clear. As for the fresh fish, you are correct about risk of parasites. If you have a picky eater or babies trying to start eating and need fresh fish, I would prefer my stream to anything. I can buy at a pet store.

[RedSidedSPR]

Just out of curiosity why do you prefer petsmart to petco? I'm not really a fan of either. All I know is I buy most of my stuff from Petco and I always want to pull my hair out afterwards (though I should thank them for letting me adopt a perfectly healthy, perfectly behaved BP for free because it had 'behavioral issues') :rolleyes:

I'm not a fan of either either. But all the petcos I've been to, especially the one near me, takes the worst care of their animals I've ever seen from a pet store. They have a green tree python right now, half dead and covered in mites with only a half log (no branch) in the cage. The two monitors both have mouth infections. They try to feed crickets to baby corn snakes. Nothing appears to ever be cleaned, water bowls are empty, humid tanks are dry, etc. I don't think one of their animals (and they have a large selection of animals compared to most petcos) is healthy. And they don't care.

One could say the same about petsmart but what petsmart does that petco doesn't do, is only stock particular animals. They don't bring in random animals like GTP's and monitors that they, nor the person who buys it can care for. In addition to that, with my petsmart at least, the employees actually care, at least enough to make an effort to care for them right. They take my suggestions/corrections and actually act on them. So I just prefer them. I can talk to their employees without wanting to break their face.

[d_virginiana]

I also meant the same as Jesse. My reference was not meant towards frozen feeders such as silversides but frozen fish at supermarkets. I should have been more clear. As for the fresh fish, you are correct about risk of parasites. If you have a picky eater or babies trying to start eating and need fresh fish, I would prefer my stream to anything. I can buy at a pet store.

Sorry I misunderstood that (I thought I'd seen you talking about silversides and stuff before, so I was wondering where that was coming from!). Yeah, I wouldn't trust frozen supermarket stuff either.
Ugh. I don't trust anything from local creeks around where I live-- Google the Eden, NC coal ash spill. If you didn't see it when it was on the news, several tons of arsenic and selenium waste got dumped into our river.


I'm not a fan of either either. But all the petcos I've been to, especially the one near me, takes the worst care of their animals I've ever seen from a pet store. They have a green tree python right now, half dead and covered in mites with only a half log (no branch) in the cage. The two monitors both have mouth infections. They try to feed crickets to baby corn snakes. Nothing appears to ever be cleaned, water bowls are empty, humid tanks are dry, etc. I don't think one of their animals (and they have a large selection of animals compared to most petcos) is healthy. And they don't care.

One could say the same about petsmart but what petsmart does that petco doesn't do, is only stock particular animals. They don't bring in random animals like GTP's and monitors that they, nor the person who buys it can care for. In addition to that, with my petsmart at least, the employees actually care, at least enough to make an effort to care for them right. They take my suggestions/corrections and actually act on them. So I just prefer them. I can talk to their employees without wanting to break their face.

Yeah, I've seen our petco bring in some really high-maintenance animals that no one buying from a chain petstore is going to be able to care for. When I'm looking for a new reptile and want to adopt one, I'll usually check out their adoptions though. The one near me has a board at the back where they basically post info on the reptiles they can't sell because they got sick from the crap conditions or bite (which is ridiculous; don't buy a snake if you can't deal with getting bitten). There's only one employee that works there who really seems to care about the animals, but it's clear they don't really give them the training to take care of them.

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Thanks for all the input, everyone! I am going to make a few calls tomorrow. I just got nervous because I have never had a snake under sub-adult, and decided I will mix fish/pinky instead of just scenting!

[RedSidedSPR]

I'm watching a baseball game as I type this and the sponsor behind the plate is petco. Taunting me.

[RedSidedSPR]

Thanks for all the input, everyone! I am going to make a few calls tomorrow. I just got nervous because I have never had a snake under sub-adult, and decided I will mix fish/pinky instead of just scenting!

You can throw some worms in there too.

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I just might, next rain. Lots of safe pickins. :D

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Found some silver-sideds (Sally's brand, which I looked up and it says they are safe..).. he nipped at the pieces so far. :3 How long before I should start to worry about him not eating? Should I just watch behaviour and visibility of bones, etc?

[Mommy2many]

They can go awhile without eating. I have babies that are now 10-11 weeks old and I have a few really small ones still. That's 11 weeks! They must have eaten something but are definitely on the teeny tiny side...

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He ate!! I wanted to do cartwheels.. he ate! Yay! :D

[guidofatherof5]

He ate!! I wanted to do cartwheels.. he ate! Yay! :D

Congrats. What did he eat?

[d_virginiana]

Found some silver-sideds (Sally's brand, which I looked up and it says they are safe..).. he nipped at the pieces so far. :3 How long before I should start to worry about him not eating? Should I just watch behaviour and visibility of bones, etc?

You can't ever really see bones except maybe the spine a little bit, but it's actually pretty easy to tell when they're dropping weight by looking at them from above. When you get into the serious danger-zone, it's hard to describe, but they get a really floppy sort of feel, like their muscle tone just vanishes.


He ate!! I wanted to do cartwheels.. he ate! Yay! :D

Good to hear :) The Sally's brand is what I use for mine.

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Congrats. What did he eat?

He ate some pieces of silver-sideds, going to check if he ate again today. :)

I will mix with pinky parts later on, methinks. Unrelated to eating, but I noticed that when I put the snakes together, they slither over eachother calmly, almost like safe acknowledgement -- my CRS also does this to my hand (the florida blue fears me greatly; he barrel rolls and poops instead). Not like I am assuming I am special, but I take that behaviour as a good sign? :3