wild caught fish safe to feed reptiles?

buzzbait · 07-17-14, 11:55 PM

I feed my turtles perch filets every once in a while and I want to start feeding my nile monitor pieces of perch to and start feeding him fish once a week. I don't really see why it wouldn't be safe I mean that is what they'd be eating in the wild. I can catch and ton of perch, bluegill, and crappie and wanna start feeding these to my turtles and lizard atleast once a week

Pirarucu · 07-20-14, 01:56 AM

The fact that they are wild isn't a problem in and of itself, but the prevalence of pollution in most bodies of water would make it too big of a risk for me to take the chance. Just my personal opinion.

franks · 07-20-14, 03:05 AM

I agree. As a steady diet I would be a little concerned. I would offer it once in a while but not as a staple. Make sure to keep your temps up.

formica · 07-20-14, 09:25 AM

yep pollution is a serious issue

also the type of fish is important, most Perch species have very sharp spines that will do serious damage to any animal that does not have a digestive tract or mouth that can deal with them

a comparison of the types of Perch that Nile Monitors encounter and eat in the wild (Nile Perch i suppose?), with the ones you catch, might help, but the spines in Perch found in Europe and the US are pretty damn big and twice as sharp :-S

buzzbait · 07-21-14, 10:47 AM

Turtles live in a pond in my backyard so the temps are whats outside, here in Colorado we are averaging 90 degree days easily its pretty warm. The body of water I'm taking these fish out of Is small reservoir that is a water source for the city. No skin contact, no dogs, artificial flys and lures only, I don't think I have to worry about pollution in that lake. Other places I fish maybe but not there. As for the species of perch it is yellow perch which do have sharp spines I could see hurting my animals if I fed them whole. Im talking actual filets that I cut off of the fish so sharpness of spines shouldn't be a problem

**millertime89** · 07-21-14, 11:07 AM

Hello fellow Coloradan! I would be most worried about the mercury levels in the feeder fish. Where are you located?

fedupdon · 08-29-14, 05:55 PM

If you can eat the fish then there should be no problem reptiles can eat things we can't I used to rob sparrow nest to feed my snakes

CosmicOwl · 08-29-14, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fedupdon

If you can eat the fish then there should be no problem reptiles can eat things we can't I used to rob sparrow nest to feed my snakes

You shouldn't do that unless it's an invasive species. There is no reason to upset the balance of a wild ecosystem so that you can feed your captive bred animals.

Akuma223 · 08-29-14, 06:19 PM

I imagine he means house sparrows.

LiL Zap · 08-31-14, 09:45 AM

I wouldn't feed wild caught fish. Too much potential for disease transmission, parasites etc.

Pirarucu · 08-31-14, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiL Zap

I wouldn't feed wild caught fish. Too much potential for disease transmission, parasites etc.

Not actually that likely. You'd have to have a parasite living in the fish which is capable of surviving inside an organism from the other side of the planet, which it has never come in contact with or adapted to. Very unlikely, especially with it being a monitor.
Mercury and DDT would be much bigger concerns.

CosmicOwl · 08-31-14, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pirarucu

Not actually that likely. You'd have to have a parasite living in the fish which is capable of surviving inside an organism from the other side of the planet, which it has never come in contact with or adapted to. Very unlikely, especially with it being a monitor.
Mercury and DDT would be much bigger concerns.

On the other hand, that parasite could thrive because of the fact that the organism hasn't evolved to deal with it.

LiL Zap · 08-31-14, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pirarucu

Not actually that likely. You'd have to have a parasite living in the fish which is capable of surviving inside an organism from the other side of the planet, which it has never come in contact with or adapted to. Very unlikely, especially with it being a monitor.
Mercury and DDT would be much bigger concerns.

I'm just saying in general, wild caught prey items aren't usually the best thing for anything in captivity. Too much risk in my opinion at least. I agree with you though man lol.

Pirarucu · 09-01-14, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

On the other hand, that parasite could thrive because of the fact that the organism hasn't evolved to deal with it.

Absolutely possible, but very unlikely. Theoretically, the same could be said for gut bacteria in roaches. Every prey item we feed has a massive load of bacteria, in most animals there are more bacterial cells than there are animal cells. Every one of them could possibly cause problems. It's just not likely.