Another lethal batch of Wal Mart fish

[infernalis]

Not sure if anyone remembers but about 18 months ago I purchased a pack of Salmon from Wal Mart and fed a whole slew of snakes, within 12 hours of consuming the fish Snakes began convulsing and throwing up.

The death toll was about 25 percent.

The day before yesterday I fed a group of my snakes some Tilapia from Wal Mart. The very same thing happened all over again, snakes convulsed, puked and died very quickly.

The first time I blamed the Salmon, however many feed salmon with no problems, This time I refuse to blame the tilapia, instead I chose to blame Wal Mart (The common denominator in this sad equation)

Only upon closer inspection did I find that the Tilapia flesh is yellow (not white) and slimy.

This was not apparent while frozen, and since I ground it up with frozen pinkies before it thawed, the mix was blood red, so I never noticed the tilapia was in fact spoiled.

Myself, personally it will be a very cold day in HE double toothpicks before I ever feed my snakes anything from that store ever again.

Lost 4 snakes this time out, Including a trio that I had invested 2 years into.

I'm off to market for some fresh trout......

[gregmonsta]

Sorry to hear this has cropped up again and has caused you some losses. It's hard to trust these big chain supermarkets. I always check the packaging for additives etc but it's always worth going to my local fishmonger. 9/10 the salmon and trout on offer there is cheaper and, at the most, caught the day before.

[guidofatherof5]

Very sorry to hear about your loss.
I worry even when I feed so-called, fresh fish.
Last month I fed some fresh Steel head trout. 3 snakes reacted by puking it back out. Another tried but was unable.
For the next 3 days that snake just laid around but did recover fully from the ordeal.

[zooplan]

Sorry, to read about your loss.
I´m not using any fish from a supermarket.
There are too many supplements in human food, that don´t need to be published.
Hopefully I´ll be able to get all my snake feed from a zoo suplier as long as I´ll keep snakes.

[MoJo]

I am so sorry for your loss. That really is horrible.

[Stefan-A]

Sorry to hear it. A real disaster.

[Stefan-A]

A thought occurs: It wasn't salted by any chance, was it? The symptoms fit.

[fish_4_all]

I guess iw ill be catching the salmon I feed to my snake once it starts eating fish. Maybe that is why mine won't eat the tilapia I bought from the store but it is supposed to be fresh with no additives.

So sorry that you lost any snakes. I am glad that you shared though so that others won't make the same mistake.

[infernalis]

A thought occurs: It wasn't salted by any chance, was it? The symptoms fit.

The package was labeled "frozen fresh tilapia" and I read the ingredients "Tilapia"

If it was salted, it was packaged incorrectly.

Anyhow, I just went to the only place around that kills the fish to order, There is a fresh shipment of rainbow trout arriving Wednesday.

Regardless of cost, I'm picking up a whole rainbow trout packed on ice.

Until then, I'll go net some dace, that's getting fairly difficult now, as the water temps have dropped significantly, the minnows are hiding under rocks.

[kibakiba]

I've never had that happen with the fresh fish here, but at the Albersons, Fred Meyer and Safeway that we get our fish from is really just caught, fresh and never frozen. We buy a kind of large chunk of salmon and tilapia and freeze it right when we get it. 5$ of each feeds 8 garters every 2-3 days for over 2-3 months for me. Of course, they get pinkies and worms when I can afford it.