garter food

[ssssnakeluvr]

ok....I got the recipe and tried making it...used a pound of salmon and mixed up a wonderful mess.....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/snakefood002.jpg

I used small ziploc sandwich baggies and pressed the concoction out relatively flat.. I let it sit in the fridge for a couple hours to solidify. then I took out the salmon jello.....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/snakefood002.jpg

the recipe filled 2 1/2 sandwich baggies... I then cut them into strips.....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/snakefood003.jpg

[ssssnakeluvr]

it came out pink instead of orange, but who cares what color it is as long as they eat it!!!!

I had 2 full baggies....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/snakefood006.jpg

I cut the side of the baggies and pulled them apart to get the salmon jello out.....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/snakefood005.jpg

they were then cut and put into smaller baggies for feeding time....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/snakefood004.jpg

I got all this from one pound of salmon......

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/snakefood007.jpg

I went out to the critter room to put the salmon jello in the freezer (I just fed everyone yesterday) I decided to cut one up and put in a few cages.....I dropped about 5 pieces in on cage with 4 eaterns (2 yellows, silver, and orange). it landed in front of one of the males......he pounded it right away!!!! by the time I left the room he had eaten all 5 pieces!!!! I hope the rest do too!!!!!!!

[Hornets23]

I saw a recipe like that and thought about trying it. It looks like a good idea. The question is....did you taste it don?

[ssssnakeluvr]

no......not sure I want to try it...... :o

[guidofatherof5]

Looks great, I wonder how well it does after it has been frozen?
Are you planning on freezing any of it? If so, let us know how it turns out. Thanks for sharing.

[infernalis]

My only question is why?

It looks so much like Salmon strips, why not just keep slicing your block of Salmon.

Does the animal hoof by product (Gelatin) add something?

Trying to make stronger fingernails & toenails? I heard it helps promote stronger hair too.

[anji1971]

Nice job, Don!:cool:

I have all my trout jello frozen, and it thaws fairly quickly. It stays fairly pliable too, so even when frozen you can snap or cut off smaller pieces (for the little guys).
So far no evidence of freezer burn, although I put only one bag out at a time. The other bags are in tupperware containers to give them more protection while in storage.

[anji1971]

My only question is why?

It looks so much like Salmon strips, why not just keep slicing your block of Salmon.

Because this stuff has all their vitamins and nutrients added in, so it's an all-in-one food. Salmon strips still need to be dipped in calcium powder, or a multivitamin, which I found the snakes didn't particularly like.

[infernalis]

I see, none of that was mentioned before.

Don said recipe, but never said to add the suppliments.

So all I saw was salmon jello shooters;)

[anji1971]

I got the recipe from Charles Parenteau, and then shared it with Don. I think Charles' version is in the thread called "Trout Mixture".
I still have two snakes left to eat the stuff, but those who did have really gobbled it up. And if I can get them all to go for it, then feeding time is a walk in the park from now on.:)

[ssssnakeluvr]

guess I left off the part about the vitamin supplements..... they aren't taking the salmon with vitamin powder on it real well. Charles Parenteau uses it with his snakes....no bones and stuff to digest, digests quicker so they can be fed more often and grow faster. I am still a fan of rodents for them...that diet has worked will for Scott Felzer for years..... will also have a couple holdbacks this year and feed them on this diet and see how they do! will have to keep everyone posted

[charles parenteau]

Yessir,well done !Better to cut in pieces before its frozen :)still better with cake decorating gun...only because garter snake prefer round piece rater than square.Take it easier..you better makes small quantity ,because of the snow inside the zipploc,it don't seems to matter to much.

When Phil Blais give me this recipe almost 10 years ago ,B1 vitamin was the only supplement to add...I Saw the original recipe and never talk about supplement.Few month ago Phil told me to add beta caroten and calcium ...I know hes A good friend Of Alan Francis Both are doctor they really know what garter need.

In few weeks you will see the difference between your snake.
Keep feeding some snake with rodent and other with this mixture.
Dr blais tell me what it all about and show me the difference between individual.You never notice but many problem occur on your snake only because of their diet.
Since my start with gartersnake I only keep 3 wildcaught female that I didnt release into wild,and I convert them to rodent without any trouble...they all died from unexpected illness same thing happen to Phil.
Wc snake should be feed only with this mixture or what they eat in the wild.Its more evident on wildcaught snake.
Captive born specimen are more tolerant on rodent cuz they are use to.at least altern with fish or whatever they eat...
Don your big melanistic will probably take a few more inche with more girth.Im glad you try it...

[ssssnakeluvr]

would love to see a couple more inches on the melanistic!!!!! she is 43" now!!!!! :eek:

[snakelover]

is the a stable diet or would they need anything else if fed on this?

[crzy_kevo]

im going to be trying this just picked up a package of geletin and i agree with anji on the snakes not liking the vitamin and calcium powder because mine wont grab the food from the end dipped in it so this will be a welcome change unfortunatly for me i dont hae a food processor or a blender so i will have to do this by hand and my question is did you guys add any water to it or just let the natural moisture in the salmon be the dissolvant for the geletin

[crzy_kevo]

is the a stable diet or would they need anything else if fed on this?

this should be a stable diet because it has all the essential nutrients they need including a ton of protein which will make them bigger and not fat

[ssssnakeluvr]

gonna be tough grinding the fish by hand...you need to mix the gelatin with hot or boiling water and mix with the fish and vitamins in the blender....if you are grinding the fish by hand...good luck, gotta get totally mushed and thoroughly blended with the gelatin mix....grind the fish before starting with the gelatin, or you will have a cup of clear jello and won't get the mess to stay together.....try using a mixer.....with the 2 beaters used for making cakes....that might work to

[crzy_kevo]

thats what i was planning on doing im problably going to toss the rest of my frozen salmon into some warm water to tham then turn on the beater cuz i have one of those but i might have to dump some out and mash is with a fork
how much water did you add to the gelatin ?
the amount it said on the package?

[ssssnakeluvr]

for 1 pound of salmon i used 1 1/2 pkts of gelatin and 2/3 cup boiling water

[crzy_kevo]

i think i have a little less than a lb of salmon so ill just use one packet and a 1/4 cup of water then

[ssssnakeluvr]

maybe closer to 1/2 cup and 1 pkt gelatin

[crzy_kevo]

ya thats what i meant

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

The nice thing about this is that is is a complete food, vitamins, calcium, and protein in a very easy-to-digest form. I have always had doubts myself that an all rodent diet is healthy for garters. I have never used it because it often causes then to become obese, and while they look fat and happy to us, it's very unheathy for a snake to be too fat. I have always felt that too many rodents is a bad idea for garters since it really is not natural for them to eat that many of them at all. I have been using a LOT of trout and salmon lately, and I have some very happy garters! I still use rodents also, actually right now I am doing 2 feedings per week, 1 rodent, 1 fish.

I am going to try this recipe myself, except I am going to use both trout and salmon in the same mixture. My question is, what about adding some worms to the mix? As well as some frog leg meat and even a few pinkies??? It probably won't look ner as pretty (with the worms and what not) but it will be more varied!! I will have to use much more than a pound though, thats for sure!!! I fed today and every bit of the .8 lb filet was gone and they wanted more!

So I guess I am going to try making this stuff, except with more variety in the foods added to it!

[charles parenteau]

Shannon dont add worm or anything except fish because the gelatine wont congeal that why we dont put the head the guts ...everything they need is inthere even more..
with this food your garter will becomes round with more girth ...its easy to over feed the snake because they cant stop eating ..they eat until they are full full 2 days later its all gone they are ready to feed again ...your garter can easily becomes fat so do not over feed them ..its kinda hard ..
one rodent one fish per week is good enough .im gonna ask to phil blais what is the equivalent mixture versus rodent ...

[Zephyr]

Shannon dont add worm or anything except fish because the gelatine wont congeal that why we dont put the head the guts ...everything they need is inthere even more..
with this food your garter will becomes round with more girth ...its easy to over feed the snake because they cant stop eating ..they eat until they are full full 2 days later its all gone they are ready to feed again ...your garter can easily becomes fat so do not over feed them ..its kinda hard ..
one rodent one fish per week is good enough .im gonna ask to phil blais what is the equivalent mixture versus rodent ...Any chance you could type this again, en francais?

[charles parenteau]

En francais bien sur ma langue maternel es- tu seieux??pas de problem.recris moi pis je te dit en privé ,sans probleme

[charles parenteau]

kevin .you will
you are brave .when its blended its like yogurt before the gelatin congeal.i burn a few cheep blender before buying my black and decker..its like 100$ her in quebec.its in investement ...i forgot the calcium in the picture.the gun is not necessary.http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s152/parenteau/Photo0066.jpg

[crzy_kevo]

ok well i made my first bacyh the mixer worked well to blend most of it then i just spooned the mix onto a cutting bored and choped it in multiple angles about 200 times then scraped it against the board and spooned it back into the bowl i mixed the supplements into the fish first then i added the geletin mixture witch i hope dissovled enough because i stirred it forever then mixed it in with a spoon and then just spooned the rest into a ziploc bag like don now im waiting for the freezer results

[charles parenteau]

Great man its done already!.you deserve an award.can you send to us a picture of the result.Its gonna work and they will eat for sure.i dont know if the gelatin will do the job..your motivation may help .

[ssssnakeluvr]

ok well i made my first bacyh the mixer worked well to blend most of it then i just spooned the mix onto a cutting bored and choped it in multiple angles about 200 times then scraped it against the board and spooned it back into the bowl i mixed the supplements into the fish first then i added the geletin mixture witch i hope dissovled enough because i stirred it forever then mixed it in with a spoon and then just spooned the rest into a ziploc bag like don now im waiting for the freezer results
you want to put the gelatin mix in the fridge for a while to let it set up..then you cut it into strips and freeze for when you feed....

[crzy_kevo]

ok well it set up in the freezer pretty well it was in there for an hour but i think it can still harden a bit more but on another note (now i think it was completely done yet) the mix started to fall apart a lot more easily as it warmed up so i do think i need more geletin next time however my babies are eating it no problem the adults though are still on the i want mice phase

[ssssnakeluvr]

cool....yea, sounds like it might need more gelatin....

[reptile3]

That is awesome you got them to eat some... I may try this when my family is at school/work. I know my cats will be sitting there with me making it..! they might like it!! ha ha


ok well it set up in the freezer pretty well it was in there for an hour but i think it can still harden a bit more but on another note (now i think it was completely done yet) the mix started to fall apart a lot more easily as it warmed up so i do think i need more geletin next time however my babies are eating it no problem the adults though are still on the i want mice phase

[anji1971]

ok well it set up in the freezer pretty well it was in there for an hour but i think it can still harden a bit more but on another note (now i think it was completely done yet) the mix started to fall apart a lot more easily as it warmed up so i do think i need more geletin next time however my babies are eating it no problem the adults though are still on the i want mice phase

Kev, I used a little under a pound of trout, and I still used 1 1/2 pkts of gelatin, with about 1/2 cup of water. It seems to hold together really well that way.
Glad you tried it with the regular mixer, I was wondering if it could be done that way.
Good thing I took the plunge and tested this recipe first. It really seems to be catching on.:D Thanks again to Charles for sending it to me!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Shannon dont add worm or anything except fish because the gelatine wont congeal that why we dont put the head the guts ...everything they need is inthere even more..
with this food your garter will becomes round with more girth ...its easy to over feed the snake because they cant stop eating ..they eat until they are full full 2 days later its all gone they are ready to feed again ...your garter can easily becomes fat so do not over feed them ..its kinda hard ..
one rodent one fish per week is good enough .im gonna ask to phil blais what is the equivalent mixture versus rodent ...

my garters are already as round as they can be without being over weight :p

However I do not feel that one food item per week is sufficient. Any garter I've ever tried that with lost too much weight and often showed signs of weakness/lethargy, not to mention, unhappy. Wild garters hunt and eat almost every day, unlike many snakes who often lie and digest for a few days before seeking more food. That is why I feed smaller meals twice per week, seeing as garters have such a fast metabolism. All other snakes eat once per week, and the garters have a much faster metabolism than they do, so they need to eat more. My babies get fed little bits once every other day.

If I can't add more variety to this gelatin mixture, my problem with it is that it is not varied. It's strictly fish. I prefer the varied diet method, and so I am still going to try adding other things to the mix. It won't hurt to try it. Worms and amphibians make up a large portion of many garter diets. If that doesn't work, then just plain salmon and trout with the occasional frog legs on fish day will do, because it would be senseless to turn it into gelatin if I am still going to be offering all the other stuff as well.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I am trying this tonight!!!! I have a pound of tilapia and a pound of salmon... wish me luck!!!!

[crzy_kevo]

good luck dont use a kettle for the geletin the water cools off too fast cook it on the stove in a small pan or something i had little clumps left in mine that wouldnt dissolve

[charles parenteau]

Good luck shannon !!My last mixture was also made of tilapia and salmon..

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

well it is in the fridge until tomorrow morning... I hope it worked... surprisingly Knox gelatin does not give ANY instructions on how to actually prepare it!!! Just how to make fruit flavored treats.... How stupid... I looked it up online, used my best judgement and am going to hope for the best!!!

[charles parenteau]

On knox gelatin its 50 ml of water per pouches. Put your water in a pan ,make it boil add your gelatin in water and with a whip mix it until the gelatin becomes liquid..Athe same time I begin to mix trout in blender . Add the gelatin with the rest of trout together that will help the blender work.