Best diet?

[MasSalvaje]

Jumping around to different threads I have noticed that many on this site prefer to use a mixture of food items other than rodents. I was curious to see if it is a convenience and cost issue, or a health issue? If all I feed my garters is pinkies, are they missing out on something they need?

-Thomas

[Stefan-A]

Feeding them rodents is the most convenient, but also the most expensive alternative. A mixed diet is hopefully going to prevent health problems caused by a lack of calcium, the presence of thiaminase (in uncertain cases), or excess fat. Some do consider rodents to contain too much fat and it's been said that pinkies don't contain enough calcium. Right now, all of my garters run on rodents, because I'd like to fatten them up after the winter.

It's all three, I suppose. Convenience, cost and health issues.

[adamanteus]

I use a varied diet (approx. 50% fish, 45% rodent, 5% earthworm) for several reasons;
Cost must be a consideration, and pinkies are expensive. Pinkies are indeed high in fat and low in calcium. Earthworms may contain essential trace elements not found in the other two foods.

I hope that providing a varied diet I am 'covering all the bases'.

[And_Lyn]

I hate to hijack this thread...but where can earthworms be bought that are acceptable to feed to garters? A bait store?

-Lyndsey

[MasSalvaje]

I hate to hijack this thread...but where can earthworms be bought that are acceptable to feed to garters? A bait store?

-Lyndsey

I have wondered that myself.

It isn't a problem for me to offer a varried diet so I guess it is better safe than sorry, I had just always heard that pinkies with the backend dipped in a quality calcium powder was a complete diet. Another question I have is about the type of fish. It drives me nuts when I hear pet stores recommend goldfish but how many other fish fit into the same category? I breed Platties and find it cost effective and fast just to scoop some out and put them on a dish, I also fish a lot and really do not like fish at all so I could give them trout slices. Are Platties a safe fish to feed to Garters? Which is better between the two?

-Thomas

[Stefan-A]

Are Platties a safe fish to feed to Garters?

If I remember correctly, they aren't.

I use rainbow trout and vendace, both known to be safe. This summer I'm going catch a few perch and see if the snakes find them acceptable.

[MasSalvaje]

If I remember correctly, they aren't.

I use rainbow trout and vendace, both known to be safe. This summer I'm going catch a few perch and see if the snakes find them acceptable.

Not to sound like I am doubting you at all but does that mean Guppies are also unsafe? They are from the same live bearing family.

I don't mean to cross threads on this one but I am interested to see how my snakes would take to the trout gelatin. The hard part will be convincing my wife of the idea of trout jello in the freezer.

-Thomas

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Not to sound like I am doubting you at all but does that mean Guppies are also unsafe? They are from the same live bearing family.

-Thomas

Guppies are safe.

Platies and guppies are actually in the same genus!!! It's weird because mollies look a lot like platies, but they are not in the same genus as the other two. I was wondering about that also, but chose not to say anything. I thought that platies were labled safe.... but I know someone came into our forums and said they had a bad expierience with platies, and maybe Stefan was just remembering that?

[adamanteus]

I use trout and salmon, nothing else. There are undoubtedly other safe fishes, but there seems to be a constant debate as to which are safe, which are unsafe and which are almost nearly maybe safe. Trout and salmon are safe without question, they're also nutritionally good (maybe a little fatty), easily obtainable, cheap......

[And_Lyn]

And where can earthworms be bought?