Garter Diet Question

[DrKate]

If you have references to those studies, I am interested (particularly as it relates to the mechanism of the deficiency).

If you've got access to Aquatic Sciences & Fisheries Abstracts through your university library, use "thiaminase" and "alewife" as search terms and set the fields to "Anywhere." There are loads of studies, I only read enough of them to convince myself the salmon had thiamine deficiency and were eating the alewives live. If you don't have access to ASFA, PM me and I'll send you a list of the search results. Since the OP asked a very practical question, I don't want to further clog the thread with academic nonsense.

[adamanteus]

I don't want to further clog the thread with academic nonsense.

I'm sure the original poster will appreciate that, Kate.
That said, the discussion between yourself and Benjamin on the question of thiaminase is fascinating and relevent, and obviously you have both researched the subject. Perhaps one of you might consider starting a thread devoted to this topic?

[DrKate]

Perhaps one of you might consider starting a thread devoted to this topic?

Haven't we already got several?

I'm not being flippant, really. I feel like I've been looking up thiaminase info and making posts about it for weeks, anyway. In particular there's the recent "I have fed my garter goldfish for 13 years" thread. Unfortunately I think the really crucial pieces of information - what exactly is the garter snake's dietary requirement for thiamine, and how thiamine-deficient (or how variable in thiamine/thiaminase content) are goldfish/rosy reds/shiners as a diet - are simply not known, which is why all we ever come up with is "avoid thiaminase-containing fish" and "feed a varied diet."