John
>
> From: Jeffrey Fullerton <tcmajorr_at_westol.com>
> Date: 2003/09/19 Fri AM 10:15:16 CDT
> To: "nanfa_at_aquaria.net" <nanfa at aquaria.net>
> Subject: NANFA-- Garbage Disposal Turtles & Other Herps
>
> Best canditates for gettinf rid of unwanted fish are the Kinosternids-
> mud and musk turtles. They are small, predominantly aquatic, rock hardy
> - you can keep them in a plastic pan or bucket (but they really deserve
> better) and will consume dead or surplus fish with gusto. Pellet based
> fish food or food sticks made specifically for turtles are a good staple
> diet between the occassional fish, and they also like worms and other
> inverts that one would think to feed to herps.
>
> I have a bunch of Striped Muds- Kinosternon baueri which live in a
> plastic trough. They are one of the more attractive members of this
> group typically 3 well defined yellow or tan stripes on a darker brown
> carapace and range mostly in peninsular Florida with a recently
> discovered extension northward along the Atlantic coast to probably the
> Rappahannock river in VA. They even have a little personality. They are
> very perky and come doggie paddling to me at feeding time!
>
> For the non-turtle enthusiast one or two turtles of this family are
> probably sufficient to service the average fish collection. For a really
> big collection, or large fish- a snapping turtle might work better but
> can be dangerous to handle.
> Also if you're into snakes, garter and water snakes could also serve
> that function because fish are a major part of their wild diet. And
> there are some Monitor lizards that also consume fish.
>
> Jeff
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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org