Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I defrosted some frozen fish for my two ribbons. (I chose one off the list of non-'thia whatever' fish) They didn't strike at it when I dangled it for them like they did with the minnows and goldfish I had been giving them. They may just not be hungry, since they did have a rather large meal of minnows about three days ago. Have you guys had success with frozen fish?

Thanks
Cat

I was feeding my babies tiny bits of frozen/thawed bait store minnows for about the first 6 or so months of their lives. I would buy a dozen and freeze most of them (they usually gave me 2 or 3 dozen for my 80 cents!) When they got big enough to eat a whole minnow, I started feeding mostly live. By then I had read enough about frozen that I thought it might be best. Now, one still eats live minnows, and one is switched to pinkies. I still have some minnows in the freezer, and I would use them if I were out. It's a trade-off, of course. Frozen is less likely to contain any parasites, while fresh does not have the thia...whatever issue. I'm glad one of my yearlings is eating pinkies now. Good luck. Duffy

I put large pieces in a bowl for my adult ribbon and tiny ones for the baby, and the baby ate one of the larger ones! He hasn't even completely swallowed it yet, and his scales are stretched out so much the you can see pink skin in between! (His head and neck now look like a bullfrog!) Is this okay? Will he digest it just fine, or will he choke on it?

Cat

The babies are still in with the adult, then? I would get them into their own tank, away from the adult. It is possible that some of the young could wind up as food themselves, and it's just a good idea to separate them. You have already experienced one possible problem. As for the little one who at a big chunk??
Could go either way. If the lump makes its way down towards the stomach, it's probably just fine. If not, it might puke it back up. My guess is that it will move on down and be digested, but that's a guess. Depends how BIG the big chunk is. Good luck with the little dudes. Duffy