Does anyone worm feeder guppies?

[Hornets23]

Hey everyone, I haver read about the possibility of fish passing internal parasites on to snakes. Does anyone worm their feeder guppies before giving them to the snakes? I saw some fish wormer at the pet store and it said not to use it on fish intended for human consumption but it didn't mention feeder fish. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Lori P]

I do-- I deworm and also feed the feeder fish really well for at least a week before offering to the snakes. Just makes me feel better knowing the snakes' food is full of nutrition and as healthy as I can make it.

I did not have luck with the medicated fish food-- they wouldn't eat it. So now I use the effervescent disks with the medication. Hope that helps!!!

[mycolorfulheart]

I do-- I deworm and also feed the feeder fish really well for at least a week before offering to the snakes.


I've been wanting to try feeding my snakes some guppies for awhile now, but I was worried about parasites. Thanks for the advice!

[Lori P]

Good luck, and keep us posted on how they like them!! :-)

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

is it metranidozol?

I can't get fish to eat that gel stuff with that in it either.... I don't worm my fishies before I feed, I mainly just use strips of f/t fish. but I was told by a breeder at a show once after mentioning one of my garters possibly having worms, to take a small fish... cut him open... and apply the fish-food-wormer gel to the inside of him and feed to my garter. It worked! He pooed out some really ucky things in the next few days, but he's been great ever since.

I also was told (for my dumerils ground boa) to take a few drops of the metranidozol gel and apply it to a gallon of water, and use it as his drinking water. But I didn't have to, no worms there...Turns out that snake was jsut a mean grumpy evil heartless serial killer-type individual.

[Hornets23]

Thanks for the advice!

[zooplan]

I only used Guppies as living food for non eaters.
My normal food is tawed smelt and rodent babies.

[Peet]

My approach has always been to get the garters off of fish and onto rodents as soon as possible, although admittedly I only have experience with West Coast varieties. Rodents seem to reduce the necesary frequency of feeding and also the clean-up, leading to overall more hygenic conditions for the snakes (they're checked daily but I can't always get on a mess the moment it happens). Apart from worms, I worry about the many medications that may be used on the fish at the breeder, in transit, and at the pet store to reduce disease. Constant exposure to these medications doesn't strike me as healthy. For the same reason, I avoid feeding chicks to my other snakes accept very occasionally or in the event I have a problem feeder that won't take anything else. Chicks are almost invariable fed medicated food. All of these concerns could be addressed by "cleansing" everything for a week or two before using it as food (as I have done with snails before feeding them to box turtles) but I prefer to just avoid problematic feeder animals.

[reptileparadise]

I'm wondering if its necessary to de-worm feeder fish.
I know a lot of parasites can infect animals when they are eaten, but is that the case with parasites in fish as well?

[drache]

I can't say with any certainty that it's ever been an issue with any of my snakes, but
none of my cb snakes have ever had any apparent parasite problems and many of them start out with minnows
I do also switch them to f/t fish and rodent asap - generally successfully and permanently - so I've never had a snake on feeder fish for more than about three months in my care yet, although I've got one that backslides and needs to be "retrained" from time to time
to tell the truth, I think feeder fish are disgusting and it bugs me no end that additionally I have to go out of my way to get them and the stores sometimes don't even have them
and then an average 30% die before they get eaten
I have all sorts of problems with them, but my snakes getting parasites or sick from them has never been one of them

[Hornets23]

Good point. It does seem like a lot of the fish die. And you never really know what you're getting.