puffer fish teeth trimming

[jake gillespie]

its time for me to trim my puffers teeth and im a little nervous it being my first time. im not real sure on what to do can you help me?

 

[J double R]

feed it snails.

 

[chazsgirl]

:iagree: you wouldn't have to worry about trimming if you fed them pond snails between 1-3xs a week depending on what kind of puffer you have.

 

[chanj]

yup, i toss a few pond snails in for my puffer too, to keep their teeth in check. As a side question, would freeze dried krill help in trimming teeth too? or is it not hard enough to make a difference? (red eyed red tailed so he's only 2.5 inches long)

 

[Jag1980]

its time for me to trim my puffers teeth and im a little nervous it being my first time. im not real sure on what to do can you help me?

What? I never heard of this??

 

[jake gillespie]

thank you lots!

 

[LittlePuff]

You'll need to sedate them with H2O and a few drops of clove oil and use nail clippers to trim them.

 

[ChoiAquarium]

Snails. Hands down

 

[The Zigman]

HA!! And you guys think Discus are hard to keep??
lemmie get this straight, you have to catch and sedate the puffer, and then trim his teeth?? I thought they had a "beak" I need to see this...

 

[bazil323]

Be very careful with the clove oil! If you over dose, you could kill the puffer. The best way to handle teeth growth is by feeding a variety of live snails, live shrimp, frozen krill, clams, squid, crab, shrimp, etc. Freeze dried foods like krill will also help, but you need to soak them first so that they don't get too much air in your puffer's belly. Vitamin soak works great and helps you puffer get those nutrients he/she might not be getting. However, SAPs and dwarf puffers tend to still need teeth trimming. The other types should be able to be controlled with diet only, but it still happens.

Read this article on puffer teeth trimming. It's a great step-by-step on how to do it safely: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/hospital/dentistry/

For diet these two are great too: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/feeding/feedingproblems/

In fact, that whole website is a great source of info and help about puffers. The forums are great too. When I need puffer specific info, that is always my first stop.