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My Nile has a very active craving for feeder goldfish, he eats them any time he gets the chance. I wanted to know if they are perfectly fine for him, do they contain too much fat? Hes just 11 inches at the time.
Ive heard goldfish arent the best thing to feed monitors. Goldfish are very dirty animals and carry alot of bacteria. Id try to go with something from like a grocery store that you can just leave in a dish for him/her to eat. Saves the pain of keeping live fish and also is probably alot better nutritionally for them.
He will not touch anything dead, ive tried that. He will only eat anything if it moves,lol.
Then maybe get some other types of feeder fish then. Or get a long set of tongs and see what waving stuff infront of his head will do. Sometimes if they like the smell just a bit of movement is needed to start a feeding response.
Hehe, ive tried that, he knows its really dead im guessing. He sniffs it, and walks off with his head down....
Steeve B
08-12-04, 10:38 PM
Fish is a natural part of niloticus diet, IV never experienced any problem with feeding them to my captives, I use to collect all the dead and crappie gold fish from a supplier and feed my niloticus, and even today I routinely pick up dead road kills to feed my monitors.
However if you really wish to play it safe! Then perhaps housing your feeder fishs with a good quality filter and monitoring there health would be the way to go! (this site has a sister site devoted to fish and there care) in nature niloticus will feed on whatever is available at the time, if fish is plentiful they will take them, then will move on to something else like grass hoppers, whatever the season prevails, often a bloom of any particular food prey is followed by a lack of prey, giving time for hunger to set in, this conditioning can be easily duplicated with captive by simply not feeding 4-5 days, your monitor will surly take a rodent afterwards.
Hes only 11 inches at the time so i feed him a golfish when i go to the local pet store. Do you think hes ready for a pre-killed feeder mouse?
Steeve B
08-12-04, 10:54 PM
I hope you go to the pet shop often? Baby niloticus needs to feed every day!
Feed him worms crickets grass hoppers snails slugs hole-fish hopper-mice rat-pups feed till he’s full and happy, make sure your husbandry is correct so that he can metabolise all this good food and grow healthy.
No no no, i only feed him gold fish every once and a while. He has a full suply of crickets 24/7 :P
reptiguy123
08-13-04, 02:35 PM
Just don't make crickets his staple diet. He needs vareity and he needs meat! Do you have any pictures of him?
No i dont at the time. I feed him different things on occasions... Golfish, Crickets, Worms, and Pinkies so far. Ive heard some people feed them can dog food every so often i may do this.
Hes very healthy, hes growing at an alarming rate and is extremly active. Now i must tame him :P
reptiguy123
08-13-04, 02:45 PM
Don't feed him dog food unless:
1. He has no other food and it is an emergency.
2. He is a dog.
lol i saw that a doc, dont worry i wont.....
Cruciform
08-13-04, 02:50 PM
Goldfish are not a good choice for part of a regular diet. They contain thiaminase which breaks down thiamin.
Pick up the recent issue of Reptiles with the snapping turtle on the cover, and there's an article on feeders in it. They briefly touch on fish.
Ive seen nile monitor hatchlings raised on feeder fish as the majority of their diet and fed every day as many as they will eat one ornate nile a few years ago in particular as well some crocdilians come to mind. The niles fed fish (and they were much better minnows not goldfish) never grew period until they were gotten off of them and fed chicken peep parts, then mice. The Crocodilians had even suffered bad calcium deficiancy problems MBD, bent up upper jaw etc. Ive seen some common miles that were fed goldfish as the biggest part of their diet and some fed only them, they were tiny animals that had MBD bad. Nile monitors eat insects, frogs, toads, other lizards, small mammals etc etc, fish are only a small part.
bistrobob85
08-15-04, 10:55 PM
the fun thing with monitors is that they eat lots of different things... In my opinion, the basic captive monitor food should be rodents. They have bones that will turn out to calcium for your own monitor's bones, they aren't too fat ( compared as if you fed it canned dog food, which should only be for a monitor dying from starvation an needing some immediate weight gains... ), they still have less proteins than insects but their also cheaper... For my sav, i feed appropriate sized rats every three days and snails, occasionnal chicken or other meat, rarely goldfish and i've defenetly stopped with the dog food, which i gave once in a few months because it's starting to be a little fat, ill need to adjust my feeding schedule...
phil.
I was just going to say pinkies pinkies pinkies all the way (exactly for the reason stated above) for the most part, of course alternate with feeder fish (that you've fed), crickets, king worms, or small crayfish even. My nile loves fish from the grocery store too as a treat -Rainbow trout, or a big salmon tail whatever, that's the nice thing about him, not too picky as long as its meat!
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