Trout mixture

[lestat]

I have been trying to do a recipee i saw on a site for trout. It suggest's getting 4 trout already gutted and liquidizing them and putting gellatine to make it solid and freezing it all to give to the Garters. Never again. I did it with 2 Trout and i am glad i only got 2 in the end. Cutting them into small chunks and liquidizing them. What a mess. Done it and waiting to see how it turns out.

Costs
1 Liquidizer £7.90
1 Packet of gellatine £0.63p
2 Gutted and beheaded trout £2.83

Hope it works.

[adamanteus]

That would be the recipe from Alan Francis?

[jeanette]

gelatine would be a good calcium source

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

definately sounds like alan francis' recipe to me!! I read that same thing!

[Gijs & Sabine]

Alan Francis uses this recipe for several years now. And it works really good for his garters, they love it. He showed us when he fed it and it looks so easy. You just take out of the freezer what you need.

We never tried it, but I think if you make it more, you'll get the hang of it.

[lestat]

Thats right i got it from Alan Francis site. He has some wonderful snakes.
Will be trying it out tonight.

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

I am still trying to get the mixture right. My garters didn't touch the last batch (too much gelatin?). Also, I didn't cut the trout small enough before I blended it; the skin got caught in the rotor and fried the motor!

Since I like to eat fish, fresh trout pieces are often available!

Steve

[KITKAT]

I have been trying to do a recipee i saw on a site for trout. It suggest's getting 4 trout already gutted and liquidizing them and putting gellatine to make it solid and freezing it all to give to the Garters. Never again. I did it with 2 Trout and i am glad i only got 2 in the end. Cutting them into small chunks and liquidizing them. What a mess. Done it and waiting to see how it turns out.



Reminds me of a Saturday Night skit about the "Rauncho Amazing New Bass-o-Matic!

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Wow! That's terrific bass!

[infernalis]

Reminds me of a Saturday Night skit about the "Rauncho Amazing New Bass-o-Matic!

Please, that was a Bill Murray sketch, you know how long ago that was.

careful, we may figure out just how old you really are.:D

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

The SNL skit I saw was played by Dan Aykroyd; Lorraine Newman was the bass juice sampler. I saw it on a "Best of Dan Aykroyd" video... Oh no, it was a VHS tape! I must be a fossil! LOL!

[infernalis]

Your right, duh... Too much doobage when it was on:eek:

[Lori P]

ROFL... didn't know there was such a thing as too much!!!:D

[infernalis]

Well if one cannot remember Dan from Bill,

http://www.danceswithreptiles.com/1fun/stoner1.jpg

[Garter_Gertie]

I never did that ****. Nope. :D I was too terrified my parents would KILL me! but I'm making up for it now... (pops open annuder beer...)

[KITKAT]

I'm a day older than I was yesterday, and a day younger than I will be tomorrow!

LOL!

KIT

:p

[ssssnakeluvr]

The SNL skit I saw was played by Dan Aykroyd; Lorraine Newman was the bass juice sampler. I saw it on a "Best of Dan Aykroyd" video... Oh no, it was a VHS tape! I must be a fossil! LOL!
I used to watch that all the time when I was in high schcool...yea, I am a little old....my son asked me what kind of dinosaur I rode to school!!!!! :eek:

[Lori P]

Sniff... I put a Neil Diamond song on my cell phone as my ring back tone and the 18 yr old who works with me had NO IDEA who he is. Am I THAT old???

[infernalis]

Tell that kid he needs to rent the "saving silverman" DVD....

[Lori P]

ROFL!!!!! Omg, I forgot about that movie... Jack Black right??

[infernalis]

And Neil.....:D

[charles parenteau]

Honestly I have this recipe for few years,Im use to that ...
That the best food for garter and water snake ,so much better than rodents and worms..
This is the only food i give to my captive garter snake they grow 3-4 time faster ,better healt.
Its not popular but effective.
http://http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s152/parenteau/Photo0075.jpghttp://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s152/parenteau/Photo0069.jpg

[jitami]

Charles, can you share your recipe with us? Do you use a pasta maker or something to get it into long thin strips like that? Looks do-able, but I've heard so many stories of the recipe going wrong that I'm afraid to try.

[charles parenteau]

Because of my poor english it will be a challenge for me to make me understood...but Iil give you the recipe real soon ,and how to do it ..
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s152/parenteau/Photo0075.jpg

[charles parenteau]

This is hard to prevent freezing burn or snow in the bag but ,there is no problem at all.

[anji1971]

Well, isn't that neat? It looks like worms, but packed with all the goodness of everything the snakes like to eat!
I'm kind of interested in the recipe myself.
Charles, you can even send it to me 'en Francais'. I can understand it much better than I speak it.;)

[charles parenteau]

I know this recipe since 2000 ,but I only use it since 2- 3 years.oMG ITS HEAVEN...My mentor introduce me with a new method ...it change everything and i learn that the original recipe has a little bit changed since its start few years ago.
For long time I only gave rodent to my snake,And now I know rodent are not such a good food for garter ,Not natural food for sirtalis sirtalis ...

I cant going much further in this discussion gonna take all day for me...
Like everything there is good and bad side of this home made food.I mean its just a little bit dirty ,When making with the mixer it get dirty,Im little bit clumsy in the kitchen so there is trout everywere!!

The defection are liquide , smell a little bit..
Your snake grow faster when not over feed ...

What you need is fish especially trout ( fat fish)without any guts no head ,WITHOUT SKIN ****** your mixer will burn for sure....
Sometime i mix trout with with fish to make variation,your local fish is good too,i did with small mouth bass its was perfect..

Lack of vitamin b1 in fish,you should add betacaroten and calcium ,herpetolife...gelatin to congeal the all thing...
**This recipe is base for a big trout 3/4 kg fish 1.5-2 lbs **
-100mg vit B1
-2 pouches gelatin knox
I also add 1 caplet betacaroten and 1 caplet calcium with reptolife vitamin.
I add fish and supplement in mixer with the gelatin to make it work easier .
spread the all thing on a cold metal tole and put in the freezer few minutes ,make it congeal ,after you make slice the size you want ,like the famous KITKAT.after in the freezer .Now i use decorating gun for cake with many size nozzle to do this worm form ...better than sliced food..

better advice is learn by your mistake ,make adjustement on your next recipe...ajust the amount of gelatin different fish ,weight .
I just scatch the surface of the all thing i mean there is alot to say about that.
have a good chance if any ???? ask to me ...

[adamanteus]

Thank you for the recipe, Charles. Isn't this the same as Alan Francis' garter food recipe? He seems to have a lot of success using it.

[charles parenteau]

Oh I dont know ,I learn this from Philippe Blais ,the gun I use was modified by Philippe...They know each other for long time some kind of partner ship I think....

[Jack Neary]

Wayne,
Actually, it was a Dan Akroyd sketch, circa 1978, with Loriane Newman prouncing after drinking out of the blender jar 'That's Great Bass"!
LOL
Regards,
Jack

[anji1971]

Merci, Charles!
I have a cake decorating gun with lots of nozzles. What a great idea to shape the stuff. I'm going to try it as soon as possible.:)

[jitami]

Thank you Charles!!! Anji, let us know how yours turns out and if you make any adjustments!

[anji1971]

I'm hoping to get everything I need this weekend, and whip up a batch by early next week.
I'll probably send Charles 54836589 PM's asking questions about every little step along the way. I tend to get a bit nervous when trying new things.:rolleyes:

[reptile3]

When your done Anji, you can send us some!!! LOL



I'm hoping to get everything I need this weekend, and whip up a batch by early next week.
I'll probably send Charles 54836589 PM's asking questions about every little step along the way. I tend to get a bit nervous when trying new things.:rolleyes:

[anji1971]

Somehow, I doubt that a gelatinous frozen-fish-mush-mixture would survive shipping well.:D
Besides, if I have to get all messy and stinky making this stuff, then the rest of you can too!!

[Aundrea]

Yessss please send me some this way also Anji LOL :D

[jitami]

LOL Anji... I really can't wait to hear how yours turns out :)

[brain]

So what’s the gain in the making a mess, getting to much gelatin, not enough vitamin?

Sounds like an easier idea is to just cut the fish in bite size pieces and feed. Also how much to feed. If you have “like most” many snakes I see the benny but for like three snake that’s a lot of packaging.

[charles parenteau]

If you have only 2-3 garter snake Its maybe too much trouble....

[anji1971]

So what’s the gain in the making a mess, getting to much gelatin, not enough vitamin?

Sounds like an easier idea is to just cut the fish in bite size pieces and feed. Also how much to feed. If you have “like most” many snakes I see the benny but for like three snake that’s a lot of packaging.

The appeal, for me, is that I can put everything the snakes need in one food, and thus cut down on getting my husband to drive me all over hell's half acre for worms, fish, vitamins etc. (Quite the jaunt when I need everything at once!)
With an initial investment in the vitamin supplements, some of which I already have, and an inexpensive second-hand food processor, I think I can do it with minimal messiness, and have a large supply of food that will really stretch my budget. Only drawback will be if the little buggers decide not to eat it!!:eek::D I'll start with a very small batch.

[ssssnakeluvr]

If you have only 2-3 garter snake Its maybe too much trouble....
can you pm me the recipe....I might be interested in giving it a try!!!!

[anji1971]

Success!! :D
I made the fish mush, and it worked.
Really not as messy or smelly as I anticipated, and the whole process only took about 30 minutes from filet to freezer.
It looks like GummieWorms for snakes!

Then, the ultimate test. Feeding time.........

Inchworm (big surprise:rolleyes:) went right for it, and ended up eating everything in the bowl. The other two babies just ate a couple days ago, and weren't hungry today.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/p1110091.jpg

Deejay liked it:
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/p1110096.jpg

So did Autumn. (She's the one in back.)
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/p1110102.jpg

In fact, the two of them kept fighting over the same pieces, so I guess it's pretty tasty.........
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/p1110098.jpg

Chili is still on her fish boycott, so she didn't eat the homemade food either. She'll probably snap out of the "worms only" streak eventually.

[adamanteus]

Thank you for 'field testing' the recipe, Anji... looks as though it was a major hit!

[charles parenteau]

YEY..Yes you are a good cook!!! probably they will shed more often..
youll see the difference of girth...Not fat but round garter.they eat more each time and they eat more often than if you give rodent wich take 3-4 or more days to digest .I feed my garter twice a week with it..
put some very small piece of worm in your home made food and even the stubborn will eat it

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol sure looks like they loved it!!!:D

you should put some of those pics in the contest:p;)

[reptile3]

Anji way to go!! Awesome pics too!! I need to try that, that looks easy enough & the snakes LOVE it!!:D

[olive oil]

Wow, makes me want to try it.

[jitami]

Very cool! Nice job Anji! Thanks again for the recipe Charles!!!

[drache]

far out, Anji
thanks for taking the leap
I was sort of on the fence, but your results are super encouraging
and thanks for the recipe, Charles

[anji1971]

...they eat more each time and they eat more often than if you give rodent wich take 3-4 or more days to digest .I feed my garter twice a week with it..


I did notice that those who did eat, ate a LOT. (you should see how fat Inchworm is right now.:D)
Thanks for these feeding tips, Charles. I'll be sure to feed twice weekly.

Thanks for the rave reviews, everyone. It really did go over well with the snakes, and it's surprisingly easy to make. Just under a pound of trout made a whole sh*tload of snake chow!

[charles parenteau]

Its a pleasure to share experience and good trick!!
what 's cool about this recipe,it change the all thing,especially is you have many fish eating snakes...
This concept is at first for large collection of snakes that need daily cares,when feeding becomes expensive that help.
each garter you have makes one more reason to try at least...

for some people its just a luxury for another this trout mixture really change theire life...hehe.

[Spankenstyne]

Although I only have a whopping 2 Thamnophis, I'm very interested in trying this out. I'll be sure to post results as well.

I'm a little confused about what to do on the supplementing end though. I see Alan adds about 4 teaspoons of vitamin powder, while here I see more specifically: 100mg of B1 + a caplet of beta carotene + a caplet of calcium and herpetolife. I just want to make sure I'm not missing any vital nutrients while at the same time not over doing the supplementing.

I'd ideally like to use the supplements I already have handy so is it a matter of just adding some extra calcium & some sort of multivitamins and not worrying too much as long as it's not excessive? I'm guessing since we're gutting and skinning/beheading the fish it's just to make up for what's now missing from the fish as a whole food source?

Sorry for the questions, I just want to make sure I'm going about this the right way.

[anji1971]

I used a trout filet that weighed in at 0.384kg (a bit under a pound) and I added 100mg of B1 and 2tsp. of RepCal.
I don't know how much fish Alan started with, as I've not seen the original recipe, but it makes sense that you'd have to adjust according to the quantity.
*my jar of RepCal gives specific amounts to use per pound of food*

[drache]

*my jar of RepCal gives specific amounts to use per pound of food*
that's good to know
Alan Francis uses 4 trout at approximately 8oz each for his recipe - just went to look
heck - here it is
Alan's Garter Snakes - Maintenance of Garter Snakes (http://www.gartersnake.co.uk/maintenance.htm#Home-made%20garter%20snake%20food)
real easy to cut that recipe in half

[Lori P]

Anji, this is toooo cool! Your snakes took to it so well. Wow, I'm going to have to get motivated one day and try this too!!!

[anji1971]

Well, half of them have taken to it so far. The others I'm still waiting on, and hoping for the same results.
The ones who like it don't seem to be able to get enough. They keep eating, and eating, and eating, and..........:eek:

[Spankenstyne]

Well I made a batch and what a mess I made with the cake gun haha. The rest was easy but making it into worm shapes will take some time & prectice. I'll use a bigger bag next time.

I thought I had liquified it well but the odd small vertebra hiding in the mix would clog the gun up and I'd get liquid trout gushing back out the top of the bag while I squeezed. Combine that with a bit of panic worrying about it all turning to jelly before I could finish and it was a sight.

I also put it straight into the freezer to gel, I think next time I may try and put it in the fridge first to jell-o up rather than just freezing and then bagging. Takes a lot of space if you go the round shape way, I had it spread out on wax papered cookie sheets.

Any tips would be great. I see that salmon & tilapia work as well, any other common store bought fish I can use?

[anji1971]

I found squeezing it out of the bag to be the hardest part as well!
My hands were killing me when I was done, but I think I may have overfilled the bag. Next time I'll break it down into smaller portions before squeezing.:p

[Spankenstyne]

Well the small albino checkered ate a ton of it, the slightly larger checkered didn't seem interested at all the first go around.

[anji1971]

Well, that's a good start!:)
Only half of my six ate at first, but they've slowly come around. Even Chili, in the middle of a shed, ditched the worms-only diet and ate some last night.
Just little Sweetpea left to go............

[crzy_kevo]

thats good news i think i spoke too soon though when i said i needed more geletin i think it did just need more time to set because it seem to hold together very well now but as for cutting when frozen i find that very hard to do its like trying to cut a block of ice so im letting it thaw a little so i can cut it up into pieces then thaw as needed im going to try and leave a few larger pieces for the big girls in case they come around and want to eat it and maybe leave a piece sitting in the mouse tank for a little bit to let it pick up some scent in case that will intice them a little more

[anji1971]

Mine doesn't freeze extremely hard, I can cut mine up right out of the freezer.
(Maybe I added too much gelatin?:confused:)
But I'm sure if you thaw it for just a few minutes, you'll be able to cut it easily enough. Good kitchen scissors work very well.
I found they didn't all take to it immediately, but slowly they're coming 'round and I've got only one left to try it.

[crzy_kevo]

i let it thaw for about 20-25 minutes and i was able to cut it into long strips and from there down to little stips for feeding the babies but i also think there might have been a bit more water in my salmon since i soaked it first which would explain the rock hard freeze

[charles parenteau]

kevon your mixture is not mix...taht why its so hard to cut anyway its frozen..and as Don tell you should cut before its frozen.
Spread it on something .in the fridge 5-10 min take it out cut in slice.after the ziploc in the freezer cut already...

[ssssnakeluvr]

yes......put it in ziploc sandwich baggies and put in the fridge for a half an hour or so to let it gel up. then cut into strips and put in baggies to freeze....

[crzy_kevo]

as i mentioned lol i did end up cutting i it up i had it in the ziploc bag just like don i let it sit out for the 25 minutes so it wasnt so hard but still frozen and they and it is cut up into enough piece that it is going to last me a very long time if only the babies eat it my adults still wont touch it but i have an idea there is a bait shop near me that i think stays open year round i might be able to get some worms from them to try and intice the adults to eat because as of right now it seems like all they want is mice

[crzy_kevo]

also it may not have been in a blender but i minced it up so well with my knife that it was like a salmon paste before i added the vitamins and geletin

also if i can get a hold of some worms and my adults eat them i am going to try and add them into the next batch, i will just have to mince them up really well too and hopefully there will be enough in there to make them want it

[drache]

keep us posted on your progress
curious as to what adding the worms will do

[anji1971]

Apparently if you add worms to it, the gelatin won't congeal. I wouldn't advise it!

[charles parenteau]

First before add worm ,you should think about what will happen when defrost will that smell good ???I dont think defrost worm will taste or smell good .maybe in tiny quantity...you know what happen to dead worm .??smell like hum...

[crzy_kevo]

ya thats true dead worms are pretty rank maybe i can get some succes with scenting the mix with worms before i feed it

[drache]

ya thats true dead worms are pretty rank maybe i can get some succes with scenting the mix with worms before i feed it
you could try defrosting your mix pieces slowly in the fridge in a container with live worms

[crzy_kevo]

thats a good idea i will definately try that if just plain old worm slime doesnt work

[drache]

at last I got around to making this stuff and I'm quite happy
all of my snakes who'd not been eating went for the stuff
the xenochrophis I'd given to my friend went nuts over the stuff
and the cats love the leftovers
here's my question though:
how important is it to leave the bones in, given that I'm already adding supplements?
my food processor did not sufficiently grind down the bones and I keep having to pull off bones that are sticking out of the strips

here's a little Idea I have
next time I make this stuff, I want to try and make a few strips with rodents embedded - sort of like rodent in fish aspic

[charles parenteau]

I dont leave the bone in ,its easier to blend it..and it stuck in my decorating cake gun ... there is no problem if you cut in strippes.Make your own experience with rodent but imagine the smell when defrost ...the taste ??? Will the gelatin congeal enough?
I keep the mixture as simple as possible...share with us about your experiment...

[drache]

thanks Charles
it's really rather academic, because it seems that once you've got this stuff, there's no need to switch to rodents, but I do want to see whether it works and how the potential is for embedding other things
the way I was envisioning embedding the rodents was not blended in, but whole
the idea was to take entire pinkies, put them into the mixture, flatten it out, and cut little strips so that each pink has a thin covering of fish jelly and a bit of a tag on each end
in any case - if I ever have to medicate the cats, this would be great stuff to just stick a pill into

[charles parenteau]

Sounds great!!Im sorry sometime i dont understand,my dictionnary is incomplete.I think its a good idea,diversified food is good.
Its rodent wrap with trout mixture!!!maybe you need less supplement.
I agree hehe:)

[anji1971]

Quick update..........
My little Sweetpea finally ate the fish jello! Now I've got all six of them on it. Such a relief!:cool:

[And_Lyn]

it seems like everyone wants to try this stuff but no one wants to make it haha, people sell pinkies, why not make and sell this in various sizes and bag them in 100 piece bags?


i just made someone a lot of money... :cool: ill take 25% and call it a deal




Quick update..........
My little Sweetpea finally ate the fish jello! Now I've got all six of them on it. Such a relief!:cool:

[charles parenteau]

I make this mixture last night and honestly,my garter love it when its fresh,because of the conservation its hard to keep this mixture appetizing ,Now i only make small quatity because of the consevation...
I dont think this stuff should be sale on the market...

[crzy_kevo]

i have been plannig on making this stuff and selling it to the people who get snakes from me in the summer since all the babies i raise will be fed this stuff

[guidofatherof5]

Great idea. Extra cash, nice.

[brain]

And for those who don't but snakes from you.... :confused:

[charles parenteau]

I Just want to tell about new developpement.Don'T give to much of beta carotene,its not very necessary give like 1/4 of a caplet for a 1 to 1.5 lbs of fish ,YOu can add Beta caroten every 2 batch.Too much its like not enough. but I know that beta caroten in too much quantité is not good.B1 should be added in each mixture .

I tiny difference.