Jello for snakes??? with appologies to Bill Cosby

[Sid]

I have not try this, but below is a link to a trout anf geliten mixture Alan Francis uses:
Alan's Garter Snakes - Maintenance of Garter Snakes

[RZL36]

Please don't take offense, but why would you go through all that trouble?

I always thought the formula to success was rosie reds to rodents.

Once on rodents, is there anything better?

[sschind]

Please don't take offense, but why would you go through all that trouble?

I always thought the formula to success was rosie reds to rodents.

Once on rodents, is there anything better?

Well, for one thing, Rosie reds are on the list of fish that contain thiaminase which is not good for reptiles, and for another thing, not all snakes switch to rodents. That is why I specified in my posts that I do not know if I would try it unless I got a lot of snakes that didn't switch to rodents.

Some people simply feel that variety is the best and a steady diet of rodents, especially for a species that did not evolve with rodents a main part of their diet, is not a good thing.

Another thing, personally, I could see this as a major time saver if a person had a lot of snakes. A couple of hours in the kitchen with a blender and a pot of water and you have snake steaks for months. Simply take them out of the freezer and you are good to go. The mixture would have everything you need, rodents, fish, worms, a bit of everything. I think if I kept only garters I might be tempted to go this route even if they did eat rodents but since I have other snakes I would never be without the rodents any way.

[Snaky]

I've tried it

I don't think the gelatine will do any harm. I used trout at the time, just chopped it up to little pieces and blended my way to a big piece of blurry. After that added the gelatine and blended it again. It worked, but at the moment I don't see the advantages that much. My picky eaters didn't eat it, but the rest did. If you have a lot of snakes it will probably easy that way to feed them... because you can easily but pieces from it. When it becomes hot ( for example if you put it directly under the spot), it will become a mess again though.

[RZL36]

Good points sschind.

Say if I were to start doing blacknecks, I would need to something like this?

I also hear that rosies don't contain thiaminase. Goldfish do, but rosies don't. Is this right?

[Lori P]

The minnow thing has me scared now! I've read both-- that minnows do, and minnows don't contain the enzyme. But then I also read that diff. breeds of trout contain it too. So honestly... how do we know what's safe???

[sschind]

I could see the gooey mess thing in a tank under the lights, not something to look forward to.

My blacknecks were pretty young when I got them but they went to scented pinks the first try as soon as they were big enough. I'm hoping that is the case when I get them to breed in a year or so.

As far as the Thiaminase goes, according to the list that James provided earlier in this thread (could we make that a Sticky if it isn't already) the rosies, which are just a color varient of the fathead minnow as far as I know, does contain the enzyme. Brown, rainbow, and lake trout are listed as not containing it. The thing about the list is you have to look closely. Herring is on both lists but different species, one found in the great lakes the other in the atlantic (I guess I'll have to give old Ma Baensch a call)

Right now I have had to resort to giving my female albino checkered rosies because for some unknown reason she can't swallow mice. She was eating them fine for a long time then one day I checked here cage after she ate and she could only get it down about 3" past her head. She puked it up the next day. She had eaten larger pray several times and even when I went back to pinkies she couldn't get them down. She doesn't seem to have any problem with the rosies though. I'll be picking up some trout this afternoon though.

You are right though. it does appear to be very confusing adn all I will say is that it will probably get worse before it gets better.

[RZL36]

I just read on wikipedia that rosies do contain thiaminase.