Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there, its been a while since i posted a message in this forum (killer homeworks, especially that now i've graduated to high school >.
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My "babies" :
1.0.0 Indo BTS (Tiliqua gigas gigas)
0.0.1 Rainbow skinks (Mabuya multifasciata)
0.0.3 RES (Trachemys scripta elegans)
0.0.3 Amboina box turtles (Cuora amboinensis)
1.0.0 Chinese softshell (Trionyx sinensis)
1.0.0 Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
1.0.0 Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
And still growing...

Eep, i lost half my message!!!
I'll just hafta make it short.
When we try feeding fish to BTS, we say its unnatural, yes?
Yet, we feed our BTS with dog food, cat food, and, some foodstuffs, for example banana.
Most BTS LOVES banana. Can we find bananas growing in the Australian bushland? I dont think so.
Next, dog food/cat food. We feed these foodstuffs for convenience (c'mon, admit it, i also feed these to my bluey, so dont b shy). Are BTS able to hunt down poultry? lamb? beef? Does any of this make up the diet of a wild blue tongue???
So, theres gotta be a more logical explanation for not feeding FRESHWATER fish/crabs, crayfish, etc.
I'm open to any comments, ideas, anything. This is just an argument i thought, it doesnt mean i dont like the idea of feeding the above items to a bluey or anything, just wanted to kill some time, hehe.
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My "babies" :
1.0.0 Indo BTS (Tiliqua gigas gigas)
0.0.1 Rainbow skinks (Mabuya multifasciata)
0.0.3 RES (Trachemys scripta elegans)
0.0.3 Amboina box turtles (Cuora amboinensis)
1.0.0 Chinese softshell (Trionyx sinensis)
1.0.0 Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
1.0.0 Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
And still growing...

You know, I was thinking the same thing the other night as I was feeding my Mbunas/Utakas...I honestly dont see how it could be harmful to feed a BTS fish. They are omnivors as you all know. I'm sure if a lamb, chicken, or cow died out in a field, a BTS would take the opportunity to get a free meal? Its just meat, not so different from mice I dont think. And you dont think that a BTS has ever ventured down to a stream or river for a drink and stumbled across a dead fish washed onto shore? I doubt its too good to feed them saltwater fish, but I dont see how certain tropical fish would harm them. We eat fish for some of the same vitamins our BTS are supplemented with. IMO, feeding small amounts of fish and other controversial items would be more natural than stopping at the store and coating domestic crickets with ground up multi-vitamins. The only downside I can think of would be possible parasites in the fish being hatched in the wild, but no different than feeding small lizards? Im guilty of throwing in the occasional dead Mbuna frye, but only because I know what it was fed and what the water parameters it was raised in are. Whats everyone elses thoughts?

Because fish and reptiles are ectothermic vertebrates they tend to play host to many of the same endoparasites. This is not the case with mammals, birds and insects which have relatively few endoparasites in common with reptiles (and amphibians).

So basically the reason you don't feed fish to reptiles is to reduce the chance of giving them parasites.

n/p
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Edward
Carpe diem