The Puffer Forum

What if I can't find small snailes for my spotted puffer? I have no means to buy them over the internet cause I don't like to use my CC or paypal... The pet store has big snails, but I'm not into breeding them at the moment. Is there a substatute? perhaps shrimp with a shell or a bigger snail smashed up into small pieces? And how often should I feed them a snail

Any tips of the trade would be greatly appreciated thanks.

There is an excellent article on foods on the main page of this site.

I read that article but it doesn't have any substitute for snails? I'm just worried, I want my puffers teeth to be worn properly when eating harder snails...

Sorry if I sound rude, didn't intend to

Yes it does, all the hard shelled items such as cockles, mussels, shell-on shrimp, etc. Anything with a hard-ish shell.

lol what is a cockle? Ok so those small shrimp with shells will work.. thanks for all your help boxermom, you've been very helpfull... so far my puffers are doing well thanks to your advice, my aqurium is loaded with scenery but they still go up and downt he walls lol

There's a picture of a cockle on the food page. Looks like a small round clam sorta.

Glad to help, that's what we're here for!

Cockles are bivalves. They are sold in seafood depts in Europe, but I've never seen them offered in North America. There are species of cockles native to the US East Coast however that are not locally eaten. I've collected two common species intertidally in New England.

Snails are excellent food. My puffers live mainly on blue crab (that I catch) legs and claws, frozen, cut and thawed in Zoe vitamin, with ramshorns snails comprising a close second in their diet. The snails rarely reach the bottom, and are taken with such relish that its easy to think snails must be a natural food item for our puffers.

Shrimp from the seafood counter are best in smaller grades (higher relative surface area of shell) and I prefer wild-caught to aquaculture shrimp because the shells are harder. If in the US, look for relatively small, quick frozen bagged shrimp harvested from the Gulf of Mexico. Typically about $6/pound, they can be cut frozen, and packed in smaller packages in your freezer, then thawed for feeding. When buying "fresh" - always inquire if they were previously frozen - in which case, you do not want to freeze them again...unfortunately, "fresh" now sometimes means "previously frozen". If you live on the coast, any wild caught shrimp will be better than aquaculture ("tiger", etc.) shrimp. The supermarket chains most often carry Gulf shrimp if they have wild caught shrimp at all and they are very good.