BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Around April 2011, I bought 2lb of Periwinkle (sea) snails for my Red Tegu. I've had them in the freezer since that time to kill off any parasites. Has anyone ever fed Periwinkles to their BTs? I was thinking of thawing a few out, grinding them into a snail paste (shell and all) and making little snail balls for my new BT and Red Tegu.

Thoughts?

Why not try it out and tell us how it goes? :-)

What would be the reasoning for grinding them up? Isn't breaking the shells up good exercise for their jaws? I'd give them whole, unless they're enormous.

Personally, I would not be concerned about parasites but I would only feed saltwater fish or seafood very infrequently because of the high salt content.

Mark.

Also, periwinkle shells are extremely hard. No way a bluetongue skink could break those. It takes either a solid blow from a hammer, a fish, or a diamondback terrapin to crack one of those things open.

Blucas wrote:What would be the reasoning for grinding them up? Isn't breaking the shells up good exercise for their jaws? I'd give them whole, unless they're enormous.

This:

critterguy wrote:Also, periwinkle shells are extremely hard. No way a bluetongue skink could break those. It takes either a solid blow from a hammer, a fish, or a diamondback terrapin to crack one of those things open.

Their shells are very hard. I'd have to smash them with a hammer first and then put them in the food processor until they completely break down. Then make them into tiny little balls, haha.

mark_w wrote:Personally, I would not be concerned about parasites but I would only feed saltwater fish or seafood very infrequently because of the high salt content.

Mark.

My plan was to do just that. Feed them occasionally as part of a varied diet.