Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A few weeks ago, I was in the aquarium section of a pet store chain, which I will not name, looking in their section of frozen foods. I came across a couple of baggies of an incredible variety of tropical fish all frozen together. Waste not, want not. I asked the manager where they came from and she told me they were freezing all of the tropical fish that died on them, and selling them as food for turtles, various amphibians and cychlids, because it was perfectly safe. I can hardly wait for comments on this one.
-----
Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

That's absolutely absurd that those are safe, they more than likely died of disease and it's hard to get rid of those diseases unless you know what you are doing. The way that breeders freeze mice to kill all the parasites, i'm not even sure what they do to them.

They pump high concentration of carbon dioxide gas to fill the container the mice are in and leave a small opening for the oxygen and other gas to diffuse out. Because their is greater and concentrated amount of CO2 it will push out other gases suffocating it, and when the mice breath it in, it causes CO2 poisoning. This should knock them out immediately and kill them very quickly. Carbon dioxide poisoning doesn't cause them any pain. If you do it yourself, after opening the container you can get knock out, also, if the gas go directly into your face. Be very careful! I think that's the way it works.

I think you got on the wrong thread, Knot. This discussion isn't about euthanizing pinky mice.
-----
Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

Sorry, I just re-read the post above and I guess it was related to that.
-----
Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

just seeing if I was banned or not.

I honestly cannot think of a good reason to use these. The biggest reason? Have you seen how many dead fish are usually floating around in aquariums before employees take them out? If it is anything like the firebelly toads I saw the other day at a pet store that had obviously sat there more than 24 hours, you can assume extremely toxic bacteria have already colonized the corpse.

My reasoning here is, if someone has to cut corners to that extreme, what business do they have owning animals that will eventually require veterinary care and cost more money than if they provided good food in the first place????

I think that the human equivalent to this practice would be like eating roadkill.
-----
*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

Exactly the point. It's an unconscionable practice. I happen to know some itinerate "mushers" that often live off road kill, when they aren't bumming off my daughter or me, but at least they cook it first. (I've actually eaten some pretty good roadside venison.) This is a well known pet store chain which is (at least locally) recycling fish that have bellied up on them with no one knows what disease. They net them out and sell them for fish, reptile and amphibian food. I put on my ignorant inquiring face and asked if it was safe. "Of course," I was told, "it has been frozen." Freezing doesn't make them safe for feeding to anything else raw. Freezing doesn't kill fungi or bacterial spores, nor some stages of parasites. You already know that, so do I. But Joe and Jane Customer don't. I didn't bother to argue with the posturing employee working for minimum wage. But it did piss me off enough to pass on for comment.

-----
Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

My rule of thumb... if I wouldn't eat it, I shouldn't give it to my herps. This takes a lot of imagination sometimes because I have to pretend I'd eat mice and crickets... But I'd definately eat those over nasty frozen aquarium fish.

I would think that any animal deaths, the chain store would have to report them to higher management and/or "shrink" out the item like they do in any dep't store; retail is retail. I did read something about petco that said they were fudging reports of animals that died before being sold. Maybe there's a link? I can't see why they should use dead fish as feeders; they died for a reason. Also, how nutritious could a dead fish possibly be, especially if it died of a debilitating illness, malnutrition, etc? Only the healthiest feeders should be used.
-----
*~Ginevive~*

"...only the heathiest feeders should be used"

Just like only the heathiest animals should be sold. It's quite sad how few "good" shops there are. Someday there will be better laws protecting animals and their treatment in pet stores. I couldn't imagine feeding dead, frozen fish. I hated feeding frozen mice to my ball pythins for fear of this same situation. If I had to get pre-killed/frozen it was only from one place that I knew the owner well. I miss that place.
-----
Heather

First I'd say I agree with all the post, why to take the chance to feed a potentially sick dead animal to your healthy pet if you can avoid it.

But keep in mind that in the wild a great part of animal who fall victim of predators are exactly that; sick animal, turtles particularly will feed on dead fish in the wild, frog in the other hand, feed on live animal in the wild, (they still may be sick but not dead yet).

Most of the fish available now in pet shop are captivity born and raise which take care of a lot of desease found in the wild. Most died from transportation or trauma due to change in water quality and/or temperature if not killed by a tankmate.

Claude

The other issue with feeding dead fish is not only the pathogen issue, but residual drugs such as copper or meth blue that could be in the fish. Working in a fish store, many of our dead fish were the ones recieving meds for variousd ailments.