night crawlers and goldfish?

I have a small sumatran water monitor and I was wondering if I could feed him goldfish and nightcrawler as a part of his diet. I was told that feeder goldfish are very dirty fish and not to feed them to monitors. I have feed mine some and he likes them.

I used to feed my savannah nightcrawlers, he would eat a dozen at a time.
Are worms alright to feed to a water monitor. I live across the street from a golf course so I have a endless supply of crawlers, would be nice to have free food for the lizard.

Goldfish contain copper sulfate. It is stored in the liver and kidneys and becomes toxic over a period of time. Golf courses use fertilizer and pesticides to treat their grass, both of which can be toxic to reptiles. The night crawlers collected from the golf course will probably contain high levels of these. Other feeding options include rodents, crickets, ground turkey, raw beef or chicken from the grocery store, and hardboiled eggs. A variety of foods is good to allow the monitor to get plenty of vitamins and minerals. Good luck!

As Mikesnake said.
You can get whole fish, as long as they are high quality. Feeder goldfish are not good at all. They usually have been kept in medicated water, even if the STORE isn't keeping them in medicated water, they have been RAISED in it. They've stored it in their bodies.
My monitor loves worms too, but never feed worms from a golf course! Golf courses are practically toxic dumps as far as pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Buy worms at pet stores, or bait shops.
Wolfy

Thanks for the input guys.
question? from my understanding alot of the night crawlers that you get from pet stores or bait shops come from golf courses in canada, I was reading a article about how the golf courses set up contracts with people to allow them to collect the worms. If that is true those worms will be the same. other question when you say you can get whole fish but only high quality what kind of fish are you talking about, I know I'm not giving my monitor my walleye or perch fillets out of the fridge. I spend alot of time on the water fishing whether its ice fishing or in a boat, and I was wondering about bringing home bluegill, crappie would that be alright. should I feed the monitor the fish with the fins cut off, or should I cut into strips. And what about when I clean my catch for the day and theres a big pile of fish scraps left is it alright to feed the insides of the fish to the lizard I figured there would be alot of good nutrients in the guts of the fish. Just trying to expand the lizards diet as much as possible, and If I can bring an extra fish home each time I go out thats one less meal to worry about. Any input on the fish idea would be great, I figure if I eat the fish they should be alright for him.

I wish a dish of fish more than a knish

When using wild caught fish be careful of parasites and pollutants. Suitable fish that can be safely and effectively used are ones you can easily breed. Sailfin mollies, sword tails, guppies and platties for example. Feed them foods designed to be fed to food fish such as shrimp chow, trout chow and catfish chow. Mollies tend to do better with more algae in their diet as well as salt in the water


Digby Rigby [email protected]

If we are what we eat I could be you in the morning!