Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I was wondering if I could just go to the supermarket and buy frozen meat to feed my Alligator Snapper? What types of meat have people been successful with? If I buy fish and just break pieces off at a time from the freezer, whats the best way to defrost the meat or will the warm water in the tank defrost the meat? If I don't feed my turtle vegetables, will that affect the turtles health or growth? Thanks a lot!

You can do that ocassionally but I highly recommend cut up or whole fresh fish. Large minnows are great and you can get them at any bait store. Problems arise with too much thawed out fish. If you do use some you need to thaw it out completely before you feed it to your turtles.

Whats wrong with feeding them frozen fish? ive been feeding mine frozen fathead minnows for two months now & dont see anything wrong with him but his size.

I'm confused...I meant frozen meat, but I'm talking about buying the meat at the supermarket and then leaving it in the freezer until needed. Is that what is considered as fresh meat to you guys? Also, is it better to feed Snapping turtles fish over chicken and beef? Is there any need to add vegetables into their diet? Thanks!

I think frozen is okay on a limited basis but too much thawed out fish can result in thiamine deficiency and if continued the animal could get neurological problems. If you alternated with fresh as in live fish, reptomin, etc you should be fine. Some people give their snappers veggies but I never have and they have done fine without them.

ive tried reptomin zoo med & hikari turtle food but mine wont even go close 2 it. All he wants 2 eat is frozen fish & krill. He eats about 4 krills and about 10 frozen minnows a day. Is this an ok diet for him? If not what else should i throw in the mix?

He won't eat live fish? Just let the fish swim in his aquarium. He should lie thre with his mouth open waiting for a fish to swim by. Mine eats pelleted food but also likes mice.

He does but i havent put any in his tank in a while. What could happen if i dont feed him live fish?

As I said before, they could develop a thiamine deficiency if given too much thawed out fish. If you give him a balanced diet of live fish, pelleted food, mice, etc. you shouldn't have any problems. Basically all mine get are live fish and pelleted food and they grow fast and I don't feed them everyday. Small ones I usually feed every other day and the larger ones usually twice a week.

My snapper was born around August or September and it is about 2 and a half inches big in diameter. Is that a normal size for its age? Also, I just wanted to get an idea of how much to feed it. If I feed it every other day, is 2 mealworms too little or too much? Thanks again for your responses, especially RickD. I really appreciate it.

My common snapper was the size of a silver dollar in early sept-2007, he is now at a 5" shell length(4-08), I feed him every day. He now eats around 6, 2" minnows a day, easy! (fresh frozen,they are bought as fishing bait live,then I freeze em) he also eats Fresh caught and frozen catfish, Live night crawlers (I cut them up into 3 pieces) Occasionally I'll throw in some Beef liver chunks,Chicken, Pheasant, large freezedried Krill. When he was smaller I would just make sure what ever I gave him was small enough to not Gag Him and I gave him about the same amount of food a day as two-times the size of his head. that seemed to work real well...But that guy can 'Mack-Down' some food now!!~ He gets reptomin and other pellet type turtle food also.. I need a bigger tank now!!

i feed mine chicken gizzards, hearts, and beefheart. they also have live fish available to them. they are about 5 years old and are all over 10" long and very wide. mine are way to big for minnows but i have them in a 1500 gallon pond with probably hundreds of minnows as they will breed constantly. i have never observed them eating minnows but who knows. i also have a variety of aquatic plants if they want to eat them. and my common snapper who is about a year older, is even bigger. so big that i don't think i could pick him up by myself. once i put them in the pond about 2 years ago, they grew very quickly and i only feed them about 3-4 times a week and less in winter. hope to post pictures as soon as i drain the pond..

how big is your guy now?

id say up until my ally had a 12-13 inch shell length mine ate crickets, supermealworms, reptomin, trout chow, and thawed out rodents (not many rodents though tell it was about 4-5 inches in shell length), crayfish, nightcrawlers, rosies, shiners, and fish i would catch while fishing (froze them then thawed them out for feeding) probably fed every other day when smaller. when he was real small i offered him small amounts of food everyday

now only 8 yrs old he has a 17 inch shell length and gets fed once to twice a week. mostly gets thawed out fish i catch mixed in with fresh tilipia or catfish fillets from the seafood place. also gets thawed out or freshly killed rodents. loves his large crayfish like they are crack!

when smaller i offered him some greens and he never touched them. i have seen common snappers eating collard and turnip greens.