The Puffer Forum

I was outside today mowing the lawn. We don't use pesticides so when I found a little earthworm I thought.. why not? Well the three LOVED it! They fought over it and in seconds it was gone.. I feed frozen bloodworms, krill, snails and now Earthworms. Do you think the Earthworms are OK for them as long as they are pesticide free?
Thanks!
Mary

I feed primarily earthworm, supplemented with snails and crayfish.

Really! How cool is that? I never read about feeding them Earthworms but they sure love them! How many do you feed a day? I gave them two small ones and they were gone in a flash!

Nick, can sw handle earthworms?

mdemille, watching piggy puffers eat is always fun.

The worms simply don't last long enough for the water to affect them, lol, not in my tank. I feed only one every other day or so, but I get HUGE organic nightcrawlers from my pet store job.

when I first got my puffer, that's the first thing I got him to eat, was earthworms.
Then potato bug.... then centipede... then snails and shrimp.
I don't feed him "bugs" anymore but.... yea I haven't given him a worm for a while....we have a foot of snow here haha

I get earthworms at my LFS to feed all my puffers. I don't really feed anything as a staple, their diet is highly varied.

I give my GSP crickets on occasion. I buy them for my Leopard Gecko, but my puffer loves them so much I alway throw one or two in when I buy a new batch.

I like to give Chomper MEALworms becuase I figured they'd be more hearty/healthy
is that right ?

there's actually more nutrition in earth worms, but meal worms are still good. I believe their exoskeleton (chitin?) is hard for them to digest though...?

What I meant was, is it ok to give sw puffers earthworms! Where would a sw puffer find an earthworm in the middle of an ocean?

DRRT wrote:What I meant was, is it ok to give sw puffers earthworms! Where would a sw puffer find an earthworm in the middle of an ocean?

A bird was carrying it across and accidentally dropped it... puffer food.

I think it's fround on by some to feed unnatural foods, but they are still pretty good for them, so it's a personal decision IMO.

I don't know if I would feed earthworms to milton just because worms scare me. Its bad enough feeding frozen blood worms, Yuck!! Live worms squiggling around seems reallllly gross.

I haven't tried earthworms yet but I do feed my puffers grasshoppers in the summertime. I also do not use any chemicals on my lawn and they absolutely love the treat. Be careful to watch and make sure they eat them though because the grasshoppers can hop right out of the tank. I learned this after I clobbered myself in the head when something landed on me while I was sitting in bed one night. (I thought it was a spider.) Then I realized it was my puffers snack.

With GSP specifically, I don't worry about FW/SW food types, as they cruise the full range and aren't dependent on any nutrients found only one place. For fully SW puffers I don't know if I'd make them a staple, but they are mostly easy to digest complete protein with little fat, so I think they're pretty digestible to just about anything. Just make sure SW puffers get plenty of clam, cockle, mussel, or similar, and they should be fine even with earthworms as part of their diet.