The Puffer Forum

busybones wrote:

rengnath wrote:Ill try going on Saturday to a pet warehouse by my house. They have a reptile section so that would probably be my best bet. How big are these things?

They are about 2 inches...Meal worms are great too! they are around an inch long or so...good for smaller puffs but my big Fahaka likes them too cause they are wiggly.....

And btw busybones, pookie is adorable.

They do have smaller ones! That is an "adult.." lol
You can breed them but it's in a pretty nasty//smelly way!!
So I'd rather just buy them!

See my post at the end of the 1st page. I think we were posting at the same time.

Pufferpunk wrote:Vitamins are always a good thing!

Be careful feeding those worms to your puffers. They are extremely fatty & their outer skin (chiton) are very difficult to digest. Even for reptiles.

Hello Pufferpunk!

Do you have to worry about parasites/disease with these worms? Or any worms in that case?

And Lisa, same here. I dont like breeding things, even snails. In all honesty, I dont need another thing to clean.

Are you talking to me? lol
If so I seen your post!

I can certainly see how it may be difficult to digest, but then again just thinking about it.. wouldn't a crayfish be extremely hard to digest?
By any means neither should be a staple in a puffs diet, but I like them because it changes things up a bit! & Kaleeko just loves them!

rengnath wrote:

Pufferpunk wrote:Vitamins are always a good thing!

Be careful feeding those worms to your puffers. They are extremely fatty & their outer skin (chiton) are very difficult to digest. Even for reptiles.

Hello Pufferpunk!

Do you have to worry about parasites/disease with these worms? Or any worms in that case?

And Lisa, same here. I dont like breeding things, even snails. In all honesty, I dont need another thing to clean.

Lmao that made me laugh!! I don't mind cleaning only because my bf and I share so I only have to do 3 tanks & so does he!

I know that crustaceans are a natural food for a puffer, as are soft-bodied worms. For some reason, puffers can digest the shells of shrimp, crays etc. Not so with mealwom chitons.

Hmm well that's good to know! I did not know that!

Maybe Ill stay clear of the king worms then. I want to change it up a little bit for my puffer, and would like to go with ?prawns? maybe from the food store. When getting things from the food store, what do I want to look for? Do I just got to the store, find a package of prawns in the seafood section and feed it to my puffer?

I just buy them from the groccery store, fresh I hear is best, but Kaleeko will still eat the frozen ones, we get Tiger Prawns, and we defrost them in warm water, and remove the shell and break it up into little pieces. We don't feed him the whole shrimp, we feed our other fishies with it too!

If i give my puffer some of the shell, will that help to wear his teeth to prevent overgrowth?

Toss it in whole, after defrosting in warm vitamin water.

Pufferpunk wrote:Toss it in whole, after defrosting in warm vitamin water.

Alright, and last question. I appreciate your help! What do you mean by vitamin water? Like the stuff you get at the store for human consumption or more like the Kent Marine Zoe that I soak my freeze dried food in?

Exactly!

Pufferpunk wrote:Toss it in whole, after defrosting in warm vitamin water.

If you do buy Tiger Prawn.. do NOT toss the whole thing in, it will make your puffer so huge..! From 2-3 little pieces Kaleeko looks like a beach ball (not literally, just very, very, very fat)
Shrimp sure, they're half the size!!

Alright, THANKS PUFFERPUNK!