Cat food???

[DrKate]

Hey gang, after reading the "trout mixture" thread I checked out Alan Francis' web site to see the original recipe. Right under that recipe is a suggestion to feed adult garters commercial cat food! He *must* mean canned food, and not kibble, right? Has anyone tried it?? Do you just put out a dish of the stuff like you would for a cat and let them munch away?

I don't think I'd feel right feeding my boys exclusively cat food, but if they'll go for it, it might be useful as an occasional supplement or when other foods aren't available - certainly full of vitamins and minerals and whatnot, so it might help with general dietary balance.

Anyway I'd love to hear if anyone has actually done this...

[ssssnakeluvr]

I have never used it, nor will I, it was designed for cats, not snakes.....a little probably won't hurt.....but I prefer to stick with the snake food... there's preservatives and such in it...

[Thamnophis]

As a part of a varied menu there is nothing wrong with catfood.
Only catfood is not good enough, to my opinion.

[gregmonsta]

I only used it in emergency circumstances years ago when I lived in the country and ran out of fish fillet ... or money lol ... but I only ever fed the trout and salmon mixture pouches about 3 or 4 times. Cat food also has other proteins and an unsuitable mix of vitamins/minerals as I read somewhere.
OK for an occaisional feed ... but not a staple diet.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

the only time I would ever consider using that stuff was if I somehow was out of EVERYTHING for them to eat. And even then, I would only buy super premium, holistic stuff, any of the cheaper or commercial brands are full of nasty fillers, by products, and loads of preservatives. I say, steer far away from cat food, it's cooked, it's processed, some of it's even salted, it's made for cats and there are a ton of other things to feed your garters!

[GartersRock]

What she said!!! Accept I think she said it nicer. lol!

[garterchick]

I tried it last night, all of my snakes turned their noses up and won't have anything to do with cat food. Oh well, back to mice, worms, and fish fillet.

[DrKate]

Thanks for trying the experiment, Tina! Mr. Francis says adult garters usually switch to it "readily" - I was pretty skeptical of that, myself. (Looking at it again, I think he's maybe using something chunky rather than the smooth pate-style stuff. Maybe a snake used to taking dead items would be more willing to try chunks than a plate of pate.)

Well anyway, I was just curious if anyone was feeding cat food regularly, since Francis' Homemade Trout Jello is so legendary. For the sciencey types out there, the Merck Veterinary Manual (http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/171406.htm) mentions cat food as being too high in protein for carnivorous reptiles in general. Interestingly, this also suggests to me that feeding fillet strips (i.e. no organs or gut contents) as the majority of the diet might not be the best long-term strategy either, even if you're careful about keeping calcium intake up. Maybe deep-freezing whole guppies to minimize parasite risks would be a good base diet.

Anyone tried deep-freezing wild-caught earthworms to minimize *their* parasite loads? In my mind, a thawed earthworm just turns to gray mush. :( But maybe it works better than I imagine...

-Kate

[ssssnakeluvr]

earthworms would turn to mush right away.... have never had any parasite problems with feeding worms either.

[drache]

I seem to remember reading some years ago that a european member fed something like beef heart cat food, and that this stuff apparently is pretty chunky
I bet it's just american cat food that's this gross mush - probably because some fool sued the cat food industry when their cat choked on something

[gregmonsta]

I've frozen earthworms before ... defrosted in cold water they turned out just fine ;)

[DrKate]

Thanks for the info, Greg, glad to hear that works! We've got earthworms like crazy here in the (rainy but warmish) winter, but the ground is so dry in summertime I haven't been able to find any - they must just burrow deeper than I'm willing to dig in my garden. :rolleyes: If I could collect up extras in winter and freeze them, that would be great.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I've frozen earthworms before ... defrosted in cold water they turned out just fine ;)

I second that!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Thanks for trying the experiment, Tina! Mr. Francis says adult garters usually switch to it "readily" - I was pretty skeptical of that, myself. (Looking at it again, I think he's maybe using something chunky rather than the smooth pate-style stuff. Maybe a snake used to taking dead items would be more willing to try chunks than a plate of pate.)

Well anyway, I was just curious if anyone was feeding cat food regularly, since Francis' Homemade Trout Jello is so legendary. For the sciencey types out there, the Merck Veterinary Manual (http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/171406.htm) mentions cat food as being too high in protein for carnivorous reptiles in general. Interestingly, this also suggests to me that feeding fillet strips (i.e. no organs or gut contents) as the majority of the diet might not be the best long-term strategy either, even if you're careful about keeping calcium intake up. Maybe deep-freezing whole guppies to minimize parasite risks would be a good base diet.

Anyone tried deep-freezing wild-caught earthworms to minimize *their* parasite loads? In my mind, a thawed earthworm just turns to gray mush. :( But maybe it works better than I imagine...

-Kate

to be perfectly honest, I am sure if I offered it to my garters, the would down it and not think twice. My garters are just too used to eating anything as long as it's held by tongs... but I still won't ever try it!

[charles parenteau]

Turtle food stick works ...but I prefer trout mixture and earth worm.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I would not feed turtle food sticks on their own, simply because they are made for omnivorous turtles and contain a lot of plant-based materials. In the reptomin food sticks, there are different parts of wheat, corn, soybeans, potatoes and algae all listed as major ingredients, with the only meat protein being fish meal and shrimp meal. I saw some baby checkereds advertised on KS once who were being fed solely these sticks... I emailed the guy asking him you know... hey, how hard is it to feed a snake what it's really supposed to be eating? There's so much vegetable stuff in those they can't possibly be very sustaining without feeding them to the snake endlessly! I never got a response... Our snakes cannot harness all of that vegetably stuff, but it won't hurt to stuff small prey items such as feeder guppies with these sticks. Their plus is that they are vitamin fortified and add some extra bulk to a somewhat watery, easily digestible food item such as a little fish. In my eyes, stuffing fishes with reptomin would be the equivalent of gutloading crickets before feeding, it's like feeding a very well fed fish to your snakes! My only complaint with the food sticks, is that they are dyed and I don't even like to use salmon that's been dyed if I can avoid it!

[charles parenteau]

Shannon your absolutely right!and I dint mean to do .
I saw few one with turtle stick but I DONT fed my snake with it!Moistened Reptomin turtle food stick saw it in vivarium magazine and reptile magazine 1995.
I only fed my garter with worms and trout mixture .
On summer time its 50/50 worm and trout mixture ,on winter time when they dont hibernated .1/3 worms and 2/3 trout mixture .

Its so easy for me to seach for worms from april to late November.

By the way i don't encourage people to fed with worm for fishing sell a the store .they become toxic for some reasons and long terme feeding with it that can kill your snake or make them ill .Go search your worms in the wild its better.same thing with fish.for exemple its better trapp minow in a pound than feeding with golden fish...
Small thing make big difference.

[KITKAT]

I have a baby eastern that was not eating well, and I got her eating by feeding her shredded Friskies cat food. The shredded food is basically a gravy with "noodles" of solid food in it, and I fished out the noodles, wiped off most of the gravy, and fed a few.

The flavor was ocean fish, I think... the label is blue.

Now she is eating baby nightcrawlers and salmon pieces.:cool:

[guidofatherof5]

Using it for one that may have died from "failure to thrive" is a good trade off. Glad you gave it a shot and put the time and effort into the little one. I would love to see a picture.:)