Trout mixture!!!

[charles parenteau]

Honestly I have to say that trout mixture is not the perfect food !!!!!
I know that this recipe is good at some point and it not!!!!
I was the first to say that it was the best food for your garter and I post it over and over again .I will tell you what happen to me and what is my conclusion.

I know few master In the garter snake world that fed exclusively their snake with it and I have to say that they don't have such problem as me or at least at different degree.I don't know if its just me or whatever but together we will put the finger on the problem and I hope to find answers.

A wc adult garter snake fed mainly with trout jellow will look healthy ,top shape and everything will make you feel safe with this home made food .
If you don't see any problem that don't mean that their is no problem at all you know what I mean???

for exemple 3 years ago I caught a gravid female in early May ,until she gave birth in mid august I was feeding her mainly with jellow and worms .
She had lot of babies and i only kept two of them then just one female ,Its not easy to see if i had a problem in general or if it was just this one snake.
Somewhere else on the forum I told you all that I though it was some kind of neurological problem and was wrong this was the first sign of incoming problems.The snake had locomotion disorder and did spiral downward instead of swimming....

MY dark flame eastern that give birth this year was fed with jellow and worms and few toads and frogs .Too much Jellow for sure because all my babies all of them have locomotion problem at different degree.
I release most of them I only keep few pairs and at first its look irreversible .The fruit of my labor is totally scrapp!!!
I don't know what to do with them And honestly every time I see them crawling like I barely control my self its hard to face the fact!!!

I just came back from my earth worms paradise and catch worms for all winter long I have few frogs in the fridge ,I think I will be fine in January when I will take them out from hibernation.Jellow will take only a small part of the food...I hope you all understand and Forgive me if you have the same problem because you did my recipe!!!
I need to have more reflection and if someone had the same bad experience .
Its not that easy because too much of something or not enough like vitamins will show you the same anomalies ,so its easy to worsting it or take another bad step.

I will make my jellow only with trout and Vitamin B1 because My friends told me tilapia worsting the problems and its true and curious thing male seems to be more affected than female...I will had infos later im tired now .

[guidofatherof5]

With all the variables (especially genetics) I think it's hard to blame the Jello mix. Sounds to me like it might have been something put in the jello. For example, if a Product of China fish was used that might taint the whole batch. It will be interesting to see what some of the other members think. I know that a few of them use the jello mixture.
I've always wondered what kind of freezer life that mixture has.

[charles parenteau]

Tanks Steve ! Your the first to give me your impression and show me another aspect of what can be the damn problem...

2 generation of thamnophis Atratus are feed only with jellow and the years born babies don't seems to had the locomation problem only time will tell .THis is a lot of fish ,Sirtalis sirtalis eat fish in wild but not as much as other sub species I dont know if it's too much fish ?


Over the year my friend told me Tilapia is not good as much as trout.He
didn't experience this problem since he only trout.

The species of garter snake ?
The type of fish use?
Over dose vitamin?
lack of vitamins?
Gelatine Knox ??I think its mainly proteine??
Many more.

I still believe in the Jellow and ii give it another chance to it because I know many pros had success with it.They switch from rodents to jellow not for nothing!At least this is what they told me.

Everywhere I caught my eastern garter snake their main food sources is the same :earth worms,toads,frogs and a tiny part of fish (some eat slugs but ...)
At some place only worms and slugs are available and they still give bigger ,healthier litter .
I expect my Dark eastern female to be gravid from mid-January to April -May
And until April only worms and sometime minows will be available ,as soon as I can frogs and toads will be on the menu.
I should take my female out of hibernation in early april but Im afraid to lose my male during this time.Another thing that playing against me!
Another failure is not an option!!!!!

[ssssnakeluvr]

wow...sorry to hear that. I used it for a bit.....but only the jello. like Steve mentioned, it could be something in the fish... where did you get them? I have been using strictly salmon lately...and rodents. I have had some problems with using only tilapia with babies....they get the weird twisting motion going on....had the same problem a few years ago before I found out catfish were on the bad list!

[drache]

I've wondered about tilapia . . .
I also wonder about anything that's farmed because of the way farmed animals tend to get bombarded with pharmaceuticals so they can be overcrowded and fed junk

[charles parenteau]

Twisting motion this is the right word!
Tilipia bombarded with pharmaceuticals make a lot of sens.
Recently I didnt use salmon or rodent ,only trout mixture but for a while I mixt trout and tilapia ....

tanks guys appreciate!

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Fish for thought...

Fortunately, I have not had to face this problem because I feed neither jello nor tilapia. I am not saying the jello mix isn't good. Alan Francis gave me his recipe last year when he was here in Humboldt. I have since tried to make it twice, each time a disaster. Trying to clean up the first jello/fish massacre ended with me actually sticking trout skin in the garbage disposal; Wow! I didn't know it was that tough! It broke the garbage disposal! Won't do that again!

I feed my hydrophilus, elegans, terrestris, and infernalis/fitchi CB froglets; pinkies have been taken by my terrestris only; my elegans has also eaten a baby fence lizard (accidentally.... it was meant for my Night Snake); but trout!.....

Well, my Oregon Garter "Lefty" is a trout fiend (my CA Red/Valley and my Mountain like it too)...

I just get a fresh rainbow or brookie trout (WC if I can get it) and cut it into managable pieces; I remove bones unless there are small ones "perfectly" embedded; I use skin, eyeballs, and fin bases (Lefty eats 'em all); if the fish is fresh caught with the guts intact, and I trust the water source the fish came from, I throw selected innards into the mix. I only occasionally sprinkle calcium supplements, as Lefty also does get a frog once in a while.

The trout usually lasts me up to 2-3 months, depends how much I "filet." I only have 5 garters, so it's never a grand ordeal. Mmmmmmm! Fish!

I'm thinking about making some Mahi Mahi marinated in Masala and Pomegranite molasses, a little brown Jasmine rice, a few asparagus in the skillet... Mmmmmm! Fish!

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Oh, must add: I am not overly concerned regarding impaction, since I remove most of the big bones. In the case of hydrophilus, I have witnessed these snakes schlepping away fish carrion (half-rotten, all over-exposed, mangled, bones all over the place!); I'm not too worried about Lefty.

[guidofatherof5]

I'm thinking about making some Mahi Mahi marinated in Masala and Pomegranite molasses, a little brown Jasmine rice, a few asparagus in the skillet... Mmmmmm! Fish!

When's dinner. I'm starving and that sounds really good.

[charles parenteau]

I love fish »HUmmmmmmmmmmm |!|