Crayfish food?

[Bobb-o]

I have several small crayfish that i caught out of the lake and am keeping as pets. I have had them for aboot 3 weeks now and have been feeding them a steady diet of Venison Hamburger (20% pork). But what should i be feeding them according to what they would be eating in the wild? Should i feed them dead minnows? or worms? or just basically whatever?

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the former.
-Albert Einstein

[Guest]

Carefull... last time I checked it is not legal to transport live crayfish in Minnesota!
Food in the wild consists of dead fish/minnows, worms, insect larva, bugs, etc... basically anything they can grab. Pork is ok. They like raw bacon! Minnows would be better having less fat and no nitrates.

Change your water often, at least every three days to a week (depends on volume). This will help the PH factor in their enviornment. Use lake water as chlorine in drinking water may kill them. Give them something to get under and to be in the dark.... as they like to hide. Tin can, plastic container, a plate, flat rocks.... if they feel secure and have plenty of food, they'll lay eggs (which mom carries under her tail). Have more than one spot as they like their own place and do not share space well. Babys need their own little spot to hide as adults will eat them. They have gills and do not breath air... so you do not need a spot to crawl out of the water for them. They do not like direct sunlight. keep your tank in a cool spot but too cold and they become dormant.... about 65 to 75 degrees is good.
These guys can be trained to come to a tap on the glass for food. I raised one once in Texas to be 8 1/2 " from a baby. Kept it in a wash tub in my garage. Cat ate it! Shot the cat.
Catch'n
Dave Hoggard

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Fishermen are catch-n on
Catch'n Tackle
For Bass, Walleye, Pike, Lakers, Trout, Panfish
Used by FishingMN Family

[EBass]

LOL - you shot the cat!

[BLACKJACK]

Good one Dave! You made an honest cat out of him!

[Guest]

Crayfish eat about anything, like Dave said.

I like to keep a couple in the bait tank to clean house as it may. They scour up dead minnows pretty darn well.

They would likely eat Dave's dead cat too.

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Backwater Guiding
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[Fish On! Guide Service]

Bobbo,
You can have up to 25lbs of live crawfish, you just can't fish with them in waters in which they weren't captured. As far as raising them as pets, thats another story, I'm not sure about the specifics on rearing crawfish. You can find regs on crawfish on pg 56 of their online adobe format.

How about raising a bunch and we'll have ourselves a crawfish boil.

Stephen

[Guest]

Sorry about popping in here when I have no comment about crayfish, but that is entirely too funny with shooting the cat!!! I'm still laughing at the whole thought of it all. Yes, it isn't nice, but sure is funny!

Gary

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Let 'em go so they can grow!!!

[Redlantern]

Having just killed my daughters hermit crab, I have a bit of hermit crab food left. It's not much, but you can have it if you want it. I did learn that one shouldn't let the hermit crab crawl under the fridge, kind of a sickening crunch when I pulled out the fridge to get to it.

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Erik

[Guest]

Shooting the cat.... I should explain.
You know, I come from a different world. Texas.
Times, in my youth I musta killed at least 20 cats a month! Having a gun-rack in the truck and a scoped 22 Marlin with a Weatherby scope... I was a true Dead-Eye Dick! The only thing that ever "slowed me down" from killing those quail killing machines was a city limits sign!
Couldn't shoot in town with a 22 (bullet traveled too far) and a shot gun made way too much noise to get away with that!

Cat hunting was no sport in West Texas, it was a conservation effort. Every little town faced keeping the stray cat population down or else had no quail hunting!

So kindly understand, it did not take much of a reason at all to blast a cat that had been hanging round my garage... eatin' my little pets up!

I still suffer from this "afliction". I have the wife and three kids that are cat lovers, a dog, and now... only two cats left.
Just lost one of our cats last week to "old age". I have mellowed too in my old age. Took me several hours after "Blackie" passed to even think of ... "only two to go"!

Yep, I do not care for cats. Sorta like my "pet-peeve".... and I hate worms sold in black dirt!
Worm-dirt! I hate black worm dirt... no way I can come home after fishin' with that dump that I don't look like some kina coal miner!

Anyways... sorry if I o-fen-deed any of you cat lovers.
Catch'n
Dave Hoggard

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Fishermen are catch-n on
Catch'n Tackle
For Bass, Walleye, Pike, Lakers, Trout, Panfish
Used by FishingMN Family