preservation

[Snake lover 3-25]

is there a way to preserve dead fish... without taking away their smell? i use the feeder minnows that die to scent pinkies... :confused:

[adamanteus]

I think you'll find that freezing works a treat.

[Snake lover 3-25]

i try not to feed them to my snake because of the thimin (spelling???) thing.... but i use them to scent...

[Snake lover 3-25]

okay i'll try that but doesn't it take away some of the scent???

[Stefan-A]

Not at all.

[adamanteus]

I don't think so. Not that I've ever noticed.... you thaw it out, it's smalls like fish!
Why not just use trout to avoid the whole thiamin issue?

[Snake lover 3-25]

i wouldn't know where to get it... how do you thaw your food???

[adamanteus]

You can buy trout in just about any fishmongers or supermarket.
I cut mine into meal sized pieces, prior to freezing, then I let it thaw on a small plate at room temperature.

[Snake lover 3-25]

oooo i put mine under warm water.... my mom wouldn't be happy if she saw defrosting mice on the counter... :)

[Stefan-A]

Young mice I thaw in room temperature or on top of some moderately warm source of heat (aquarium lamps for example), older ones in a plastic bag in warm water. Fish I thaw in warm water.

[Zephyr]

Any one else use tilapia?
I don't believe it contains a lot of thiaminase, and it's about 3x cheaper than trout.

[Snake lover 3-25]

never even heard of it...

[Zephyr]

AKA St Peter's fish.
Apparently...
DUN DUN DUN...
Guppies contain bacteria that produce thiaminase! *Gasp.*
Maybe other livebearers have these too!
Thiaminase - The Aquarium Wiki (http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Thiaminase)

[Loren]

is there a way to preserve dead fish... without taking away their smell? i use the feeder minnows that die to scent pinkies... :confused:
I use an ice cube tray, fill it with water and put one or two fish per ice cube and freeze it. Then just thaw out a cube in luke warm water when its time to scent. I have been doing that for my ribbon and little checkered, although just tonight they both took unscented pinks for the first time.

[Lori P]

Note to self: should I ever visit Loren, never, never ask for ice in my drink... :D

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

note to self: agree with lori.

[Zephyr]

I usually just cut the fish in half *pre killed, lol* and smear the guts all over pinkies if I need to scent. NEVER fails. A tad barbaric, but you get to see some neat feeding responses.

[Snake lover 3-25]

I poked mine (that were already dead) with a fork LOL:D

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

oh yea? I squeeze the brain fluids out of pinkies onto fish when I feed the babies. It helps them become accustomed to the pinky smell and they usually accept pinks right off the bat once they are big enough.

I crush all the fishes heads with my tweezers before giving them to the babies :)

[Loren]

oh yea? I squeeze the brain fluids out of pinkies onto fish when I feed the babies. It helps them become accustomed to the pinky smell and they usually accept pinks right off the bat once they are big enough.
:)

That is a very good way to start scenting.

My ribbon snake and my little checkered garter both just took their first totally non scented, thawed pinks this week. I had been using guppies for scenting. I like to have the head end of their meal taste like what they like(frog or guppy), then leave the tail end of their mouse natural, so the last thing they taste is mouse.

[Loren]

Note to self: should I ever visit Loren, never, never ask for ice in my drink... :D

Thats actually the only ice I usually keep around.
But if you come to visit, I will make clean ice just for you :D.

Just hope I dont get them confused...



I actually keep all the frozen animals(frogs, fish, lizards, mice, rats) in a separate freezer in my garage.

[Snake lover 3-25]

EWWWWW!!!! you have frozen LIZARDS!!!!!?????

[Loren]

Of coarse! What else am I going to feed the lizard-eating snakes?:)
I prefer to freeze them first, so I dont have to deal with possibly tranfering mites to the snakes, since they are wild caught.
I usually only catch males, so I dont hurt the wild populations much.

[Snake lover 3-25]

Ewwww... sorry but i think of them as more of pets than food... just like feeding snakes to king snakes... i guess i could get used to it if that's all that my snake would eat... but to me it's like feeding your cat to your dog... :(

[Loren]

lizards are pets too, I have many, but if you want to keep the variety of reptiles that I keep, you have to accept that some of them dont eat mice. I do try to scent as many of them over to rodents as I can though.

[Snake lover 3-25]

Okay... at least you try... what else can you do... as ling as they're not live...:(

[Lori P]

but to me it's like feeding your cat to your dog... :(

And this is a bad thing... why???

LOL Just kidding. I'm annoyed at several of my cats this morning as they knocked over the only plant that I've ever gotten to survive in my care (a cactus named Bob) and broke his cool pot. I believe Bob will continue to survive, tho, despite my black thumb and rude cats.

[anji1971]

Bob will be fine.........cacti are tough, even for people with black thumbs!;)
Too bad about the cool pot though -- cats are so notorious for breaking all the favourite ceramic pieces in the house.

[adamanteus]

Cats are so notorious for breaking all the favourite ceramic pieces in the house.

They're non too kind to leather furniture!:mad:

[anji1971]

Sounds like James may be a tad annoyed with his cat, too??

[Lori P]

Bob will be fine.........cacti are tough, even for people with black thumbs!;)
Too bad about the cool pot though -- cats are so notorious for breaking all the favourite ceramic pieces in the house.

Yeah... well... I managed to kill Bob's friend. Sigh. I don't know how I can be so good with animals and so bad with plants. :rolleyes: Here's one you won't believe-- I tried planting kudzu for the goats and couldn't get it to grow!!!!! Kudzu for pete's sake!!! The scourge of the south!!!!

[anji1971]

Okay, you're right. That is pretty sad.........best wishes for Bob.:rolleyes::D

[Snake lover 3-25]

my cat has ruined every door in our house and not to mention the wicker chairs...:(