Porcupine Puffer ate my glass Floating Thermometer!!!

[my2rotties]

Yup he has indigestion... not much you can do aside of trying peas and krill. I would imagine if he is inflating he has not tore his stomach up from the glass enough stop him from doing so. I would think this is a good sign but I am not sure. Whenever he did this at my house you would swear he had difficulty chewing as well, but I think it is from him trying to upchuck what is bothering him.

When he had indigestion here, he would not eat for up to a week, and was fine. I would take a shrimp or prawn and almost tease him with it for trigger a feeding response. Be careful when you do this, since once he strikes he tends to get both fingers in his mouth along with the food. How do I know this? He almost came out of the tank with my fingers once. He didn't do much damage but it hurt.

Like you mentioned to me a long time ago... he is getting really bored and needs some sort of stimulation. I am thinking you need a couple of fish you don't care about much for him to hunt. He was a big boy when he was caught, and I think he was hunting in the wild for too long to be totally happy in captivity at times. He is still the largest puffer I have ever seen.

Originally Posted by bulletsworld

UPDATE: On Stewie (a.k.a Griffie) the porcupine puffer...

I spoke to soon about him NOT inflating himself. Late lastnight he was blowing up like a big balloon over and over. Poor lil buddy. Although..he wouldn't touch the peas, he did swallow the krill whole. He seems to be having trouble chewing. I'm thinking he cut his mouth on the glass when he had the floating thermometer almost all the way in. However he ate!!! WOoHOOOO! Now he doesn't want anything to do with me. Dashing away from me when I come to the tank. He's acting as if I may have made him swallow the darn thermometer! Usually Stewie follows me around as I walk by. He won't even let me pet him now, he dashes away.

I will try to get a picture of Stewie for ya guys.