Goldfish?

[Finalflash50]

Today at the pet store, the man serving my feeders to me had accidentally given me a few goldfish by mistake. They're still the same size as the rosey reds that I usually get, but I realized it probably wasn't a good idea to feed a different breed of fish without asking about it first.

Basically, can feeding goldfish to a ribbon snake have any kind of risk? I think there were only 4 of them out of the 10 I fed to her. I've been wondering this for a while now.

This is Vados by the way. I've been on these forums before but after my last snake passed away I hadn't posted for a while, but I just got her in October of 2017, and she's really sweet. She's growing nicely too, about to shed her skin for the first time at this home.

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[guidofatherof5]

You can but I wouldn't. 4 of them are not going to create a problem for the most part. Goldfish have 3 strikes against them 1- They contain Thiaminase which blocks the absorption of vitamin B1. 2- They have a low nutritional value. 3- They usually carry a parasite load.

[CoolSnakes]

A few won’t hurt but don’t feed them often. Goldfish are not healthy for snakes and can lead to longterm problems.

[Peterra]

Also, I think rosy reds are just as bad as goldfish. All the points Steve made about goldfish apply to the rosy reds as well.

[guidofatherof5]

Also, I think rosy reds are just as bad as goldfish. All the points Steve made about goldfish apply to the rosy reds as well.

Absolutely.

[Finalflash50]

So what would somebody recommend? One thing I remember about Stripes from years ago is that he never showed any interest in anything I tried to feed besides fish, tiny feeders.

[guidofatherof5]

Ribbons can be fooled into eating other foods, pinkies, night crawlers if you scent them with fish water or a ground-up fish. Coating the other food works. The ribbon I had was taking both pinkies and night crawlers by this method.

[Finalflash50]

I'll try that, I've also seen before that they feed on tilapia quite readily, although I've never tried it.