Goldfish, not OK? rosies, OK? Confused...

[vulgaris]

Well that's neat. I never thought of just offering them slivers of food. I already use a calcium supplement... Sounds like a good plan.

[Lori P]

Now, again, with the variety thing... my vet was actually a little concerned when I told him I had to chop up pinkies for Miriam. He told me to make sure she doesn't just always eat one part, like, don't let her just always eat the head. Make sure she gets different organs from time to time. So, I think with the pieces of fish (and I do use salmon strips myself) make sure that at sometime they get whole foods too (like whole minnows, whole pinkies). Just to make sure they are getting the "whole food" advantage and not missing out on the nutrients found in whole foods.

[adamanteus]

Good point, Lori. For that reason I always slice my pinkies lengthways and offer a 'full' half.

[Stefan-A]

The only problem is that the guts, including that precious calcium-filled stomach, spill out when the snake drags the half-a-pinkie around the cage.

[adamanteus]

Haha, that's so true! I generally tweezer feed (plus a bit of powdered cuttlefish) to avoid that.

[Lori P]

That's the problem I'm having... I like the concept of slicing them lengthwise, but they fall all apart!

[adamanteus]

Lori, you need a really sharp knife... like a filleting knife.

[Stefan-A]

I use ordinary scissors. Not incredibly messy, unless you try to cut through it too quickly. But the blood and guts do stick to everything, so it's not much help, when the snake decides to drag the pinkie around a bit instead of swallowing it right away.

[Lori P]

Well, the chopping part is ok, I chop them when they're frozen. But when Miriam tries to drag it off, "stuff" goes all over. Hopefully soon she'll be big enough to eat them whole!!

She did partially eat a sliced one this weekend and then regruged it back. But then she ate a big minnow off the tweezers a few minutes later. Think it was just a one time thing??

[adamanteus]

I usually slice them (with a filleting knife) once they're thawed. It's surprisingly un-messy. When tweezer feeding I find you can drop 'stray bits' back into the body cavity as they're eating! Lovely!