Reptiles Magazine Community / Reptile Forums / Feeder Forum

Bearded Dragon Food

Liverpoolfan9 — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:05:01 GMT

Was wondering if bearded dragon could eat roaches and not just crickets, mealworms, and greens.

Gecko food

snake51 — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:49:11 GMT

Good day fellow herps;
I get my feed for Lizzie at the local bait shop and pet shop. Seeing that there are no mealies around, would she eat earthworms, wigglers, or redworms? I'm not sure if she'll eat waxworms, and I'm now having trouble finding superworms! The very small mealies she won't touch. I'm not sure if she's eating her crickets, either. And I don't have the space to buy mealworms in bulk (assuming they can send me the right kind). Any suggestions, other than roaches? Thanks.

Breeding Crickets????

Liverpoolfan9 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 07:18:56 GMT

I have 2 bearded dragons and they eat like crazy. I was wondering if it would be cheaper to breed crickets and what is involved in doing so?

Breeding crickets.

Liverpoolfan9 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 07:17:27 GMT

I have two bearded dragons and they eat like crazy. Was wondering if it would be cheaper to breed crickets and what is all involved in doing it?

Grasshoppers for Leos?

Nikita — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:48:52 GMT

At this time of year, there are many grasshoppers in my area. Walking along overgrown lanes near a wildlife rehabilitation center where I study/work, I see scores of them jumping among the grass.

So I was wondering if this abundant food source is appropriate for my leopard gecko, Elliot. I would clip the back legs to prevent jumping and injury to the lizard, and I know that this area isn't sprayed with chemicals. Are there any hazards associated with grasshoppers as leopard gecko food?

Biting Wax Worms

FastFoward5k — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:35:47 GMT

Today I was feeding Oz, my leo, a wax worm. I was holding it and then it curled up against my finger and I felt a painful stinging. Did it bite me or sting me or something?

Best online breeder

little lizard — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:05:09 GMT

I have a 3yr. old male creasted gecko and would like to get a female.Most pet stores don't have any big enough to put with my guy,so my question is who online can I order an adult female from?I have never ordered an animal though the mail.Or tell me who to avoid would be helpful to.

Mice arn't breeding

TheAnole95 — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:28:56 GMT

I had 2 mice for about a year know, male and female, and there not breeding. I want them to breed because in the next few months I'm going to get a ball python and I need mice for it. I don't know how to tell apart different sexes in mice. plz help

Re:blkfirecrystal

snake51 — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:43:52 GMT

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Personally, I have found that keeping multiples in one cage (harem) has caused injury to other mice (competition?). I usually just stick one male/one female per 10 gallon and wait about three to four weeks-when she is showing. Of course, sometimes the male shoots blanks, but what the hey. Try again. (I have accidentally mated brother and sister with no harmful effects.) She then gets her own home with shelter and cardboard tubing from toilet tissue, with a little tissue still on the tubing. She uses this, along with the tubing, for her 'nest'. I will exchange the water dish for a water bottle, so that the fuzzies don't drown in the dish (learned this the hard way=( ). Plenty of rodent pellets to go around also. Some mothers turn into 'killer mice', i.e., she likes to attack my fingers when I clean her cage or feed her. I have been breeding mice for over four years now, with over a dozen cages in the house, along with four snakes, a leopard gecko, and two betta fish (not easy to find dates with this farm!). Also trying my hand at a mealworm farm.

Need feeder mice or rats in or around San Antonio, TX?

stayc788 — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:18:23 GMT

Hello, my name is Stacy, I live in Adkins, Texas, just outside San Antonio. I have recently begun breeding mice & rats & are looking to maybe interest some of you local reptile lovers to our growing supply of feeders. For the last few months I have just been trying to breed to have a large enough supply of all sizes to start spreading the word to those who might be interested. So if there is anyone in San Antonio or the surrounding cities that is looking for a new supplier for feeder mice and/or rats, please feel free to let me know. I look forward to chatting with you all.

Stacy

Would you consider feeding your Crested Gecko Strawberries?

Crested Man — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:49:04 GMT

What do you think?

3 mo old Kenyan Sand Boa will not eat!!! Please HELP!!!

keare — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:12:56 GMT

I have a 3 month old Kenyan Sand Boa that simply will not eat for me! I have researched this on the web and have tried several different things lately and she still wont go for it!

She made a 1100 mile drive with me in her Deli cup and I know that stressed her out, and then she was in a cool (70 or so) environment for 3 weeks. I have her habitat set up now, sand substrate in the warm side (I keep it around 90-95 day/80's at night) and wood shavings on the cool side... she did go into molt and I know that messed w/ her appetite as well. She had a very difficult molt as well... I had to soak her several times and assist her with the shedding. I have tried warmed up pinkies in a seperate container (at night) and even tried braining the last one as I heard that usually stimulates appetite... nope. It was still there in the morning. I have tried the "Zombie mouse dance" and she did strike a couple of times about a month ago, had it in her mouth, but eventually just let go of it and ignored it...

I am worried that she's not going to make it through this, she is weak and looks very dehydrated... she does have a small water dish in her cage, but i have never seen her drink.

On a good note though, she is still pretty active in her cage still, goes from warm side to cool side and burrows well...

The only thing I have not tried is live pinkies and that's because I can not get them here in Waco...

Anything I may be over looking gang???

Nutrional Food

TheAnole95 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:53:20 GMT

I feed my anole and tree frog crickets and flys, but I would like to give them somthing a little better for there nutrional value. What would be the best food?

Disapering Crickets

TheAnole95 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:33:44 GMT

Every other day i open up my cricket container and every time I see less and less every time. I put the holes in the middle on the top of the container so the crickets cant jump up on there. Its weird

Breeding feeder Mice/Rats

blkfirecrystal — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:52:14 GMT

The important thing to remember when starting a colony of mice and rats is to be patient. It takes several months to establish a successful breeding population. Each harem consists of one male and his 4 - 5 females. (One harem per cage) Having any more or less females in a harem is inefficient. Personally, I started with 2 harems. As the litters grow, the healthier females can be kept in separate cages and upon maturity become apart of their own new harems. I do not keep males unless I need a replacement male for a non-biologically related harem. Incest is not uncommon in rodents; although it is inefficient. If 2 mice that are related mate, they usually produce far less offspring than 2 unrelated mice. I have found that laboratory breeding cages are excellent temporary homes for expecting mothers. Some breeders spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on breeding racks when this is not really necessary. Personally, I find that 10 gallon aquariums work wonderfully for each harem. They are easy to clean, provide adequate room and are inexpensive. What you do not want to do is buy the overpriced, showy plastic cages sold at pet stores. These cages are impossible to keep clean and they permeate the familiar rodent stench all too well. I use pine shavings that I buy in bulk from Walmart. ($6) The pine scent naturally covers up some of the odor and pine is also inexpensive. Cedar shavings are harmful and aspen is both pricey and odorless. I started using the recycled paper Carefresh bedding, but it only intensified the mice odor and was also costly. New shavings need to be added at minimum once a week.

You will also need a heavy food dish, water bottle and some sort of hide. If food is left on the cage floor it will become contaminated and possibly cause health problems. Hides are important for the mice to stay de-stressed. Hides do not need to be purchased. They can be easily made from milk-cartons, cereal boxes etc. However, if the hide is cardboard it will need to be thrown away and replaced at least once a week. I use cheap plastic hides I bought on clearance from the pet store. I simply wash them off once a week at the same time I schedule for cage cleanings.

Rodent blocks are the recommended food for feeder and breeder mice. With that said, they can be quite expensive if you are having 20lbs of it shipped to your house or are buying the 5lb bags at the pet store. Personally, I breed my own rodents to save money, not spend more money than I would on frozen “artic” mice. I have done pretty extensive research on rodents’ dietary requirements and I have discovered a cheaper way of feeding my breeders. I buy 50lbs of bird seed ($12) and mix this with 10lbs of squirrel food ($6) and 20lbs rabbit alfalfa pellets ($6). This mixture contains hay, sunflower seeds, millet and corn. Every other day, they are given some fresh fruits and vegetables that my family consumes anyway, so they are already in the house. Stale bread can also be a snack for rodents.

When a female is noticeably pregnant (you can tell from the sack-like protruding belly) remove her from the breeding cage and put her into her own cage. If you do not separate the pregnant female from the other mice, the odds are that they will kill the young. It is rare, but I have observed an instance where a birthing took place inside the harem cage and the newborns were being cleaned and kept warm by their father. Most other males would not have been so kind. If the male does not kill his own young the other females usually will. However, some mice are naturally kind and altruistic. I have had only 2 female mice so far that could be used as surrogates or teachers/wet nurses. Each individual mouse has a personality and it is important to observe their behavior before entrusting them with another’s children. A surrogates job is to give the new mother a chance to "take turns" with the litter. While one is nursing the other is usually resting, eating or drinking. As you can imagine the pups get quite big and fat while having a second mother. Surrogates can be used to nurse other litters for approximately 90 days after they themselves have a litter. At 90 days they need to become pregnant again in order to continue the production of milk.

The birthing cage may be smaller than the breeding cage but if the female believes it to be cramped she may cannibalize her litter. My females are typically moved to birthing cages 5-7 days before the birthing. I recommend starting out with at least 1 harem of mice and here’s why: young mothers or first time mothers (1 out of 5) have problems with their pregnancy. If both mother and young survive the birth the mother may sense something wrong with them (genetically) and choose to cannibalize them. The same concept occurs when an injured or genetically inferior mouse is added to a harem of healthy mice. They will usually gang up on the misfit and cannibalize him/her. Also, some mothers are paranoid about humans watching their nesting behavior and/or disturbing their nest both before and after birth. Therefore it is imperative that the mother be left alone the week of the birth and only disturbed for reasons of nourishment (feeding/watering.) Males/Females will nurse for approximately 4 weeks until they will need to go their separate ways. At this time the mother can be returned to her harem.

From my observations young female rats do not have the same problems as mice. It is only when the rat pups are weanlings and there is insufficient space will the rat mother sometimes kill her young. This can be diverted by gradually taking young away from her for your reptile’s consumption. Rat harems need a lot of room. I modified a large rabbit cage by wrapping it in chicken wire for one of my harems. Pet store large rat cages cost anywhere from $100 – $200. I recommend you make your own cage out of 2x4’s and chicken wire. Rabbit, ferret, chinchilla, mouse, hamster cages will not work for rats. Mice and hamster cages are too small and rabbit/ferret cage bars are too far apart. Remember that an adult rat can fit through a space as large as a quarter and an adult mouse can fit through a space as large as a dime! Weanling mice can fit through a space even smaller! This is another reason I prefer glass or plastic containers for mice.

All in all, you need to remember that these are irrational animals that will do strange things from time to time. Mice, both male and female, are very territorial. New females/males introduced to a harem will usually be maliciously attacked and sometimes even murdered. Males are not to be kept together or they will usually fight to the death. Again, rats do not seem to have the same social problems. However is it well known that rats do not do well alone. At the very least rats that are not in any harem should be kept in pairs. I do this for my juvenile rats waiting to become a part of a harem. Rats as well as mice are sexually mature at about 6 weeks of age. Breeding should be allowed at about 8 weeks of age to avoid complications.

One way to determine a mouse’s/rats gender before they are sexually mature is to compare the between their anus and genitals. Males have a much larger space than females between these two areas. Eventually, the male’s testicles will descend between this area. It is nearly impossible to tell gender of newborns. It is best to wait a week or two before determining gender. The same is true with rats only it seems more difficult to determine gender if you do not have rats of different genders to compare to one another. All rats have large spaces between genitals and anus only the males have an even larger space than females.

Rat/Mouse pregnancy = approximately 21 days

Any time after her birthing a doe (female) can be impregnated again by the male. Some breeders have a doe both pregnant and nursing but this causes extreme stress for the doe. It is my observation that the higher stressed the mother is, the smaller/weaker the offspring are.
For some reason a litter may be born that is extremely small and barely alive. If the mother cannibalizes one, the odds are that she will cannibalize the rest and in my opinion it is best to cut your losses. Their is no need for the mother to become further stressed trying to nurse a lost cause. At this point I "call" the litter and feed them to my young kingnakes then freeze the extras for further meals.

Males will sometimes fail to mate if they are too overweight. The best thing to do with an overweight male is to temporarily replace him with what I call a "floater" male. A floater male does not have a designated harem, he is simply an extra sexually mature male that can mate with females who do not have a harem at the time or step in for another harem male. I have more than 5 females per harem but at any given time there are many females in birthing cages. If it so happens that all the harems are full (5 females, 1 male) the extra females can mate with the floater male. While the floater male is taking care of business, the other male needs to be on a strict diet and given lots of exercise on an exercise wheel before he may be returned to his harem.

Females may fail to mate if they are extremely underweight. Therefore I recommend the female be removed from the harem and given somewhat high-fat foods along with normal fiber and protein. Here are some good foods to give an underweight mouse:
Avocado on bread or crackers
Peanuts
Almonds
Sunflower seeds
Low lactose cheese like Asiago or provolone
Peanut butter spread on bread or crackers (If peanut butter is too thick the mouse may choke)

I started breeding rats when the mice could not catch up with my monitor's food demands. Mice take over 6 weeks to mature and in that time you must feed them, water them, have extra cages for them and ...smell them. I only breed mice for my young snakes now. Rats are far better to feed larger monitors because they take merely 1 1/2 - 2 weeks to become the size of an adult mouse. You do not need any extra cages for them beside the birthing cage and the mother does all the feeding (until 2 1/2 weeks of age when they start to nibble on whole foods.) My monitor Loki is 34" and currently eating 4 week old rats and only needs 1 - 2 per meal.

Keeping your rodents in a storage shed/loft/covered porch is more convenient (and less smelly)than inside your house.

Laboratory Mice breeding cages can be purchased at Reptile shows for about $10

Ordering online or petsmart

mississippiensisman — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:11:12 GMT

I know petsmart overprices everything, but i'm worried about the quality of the mice from shipping. Any advice is welcome.

Petsmart take out crickets.

Crested Man — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:00:58 GMT

A while ago I got Petsmarts "take out" crickets. One o0f Petsmarts worst products yet. They have dead crickets in the box also cricket larvae in it. I ended up throwing it out when I got home.

A couple questions...

Spoty — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:38:18 GMT

I have a few questions that it would be great if someone could answer.

1. Do you guys have mealie shortages because where I live there is??
2. What to feed in the appease of meal worms??
3. My leo is extremely picky is there anything like mealies, I can feed her??
4. Any other tips you may have would be extremely help full.

Spoty is a 6 year old Leo, that I have had all my life. She is a least 8 inches long.

New worms on the market

the herptile master — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:52:41 GMT

I keep hearing about these two kinds of feder worms in reptile magizeens. They are called the phinox worms and the rainbow mealworms. Both are suppositly great for your herps but i never see them in pet storeS. can you all provid me with pics and some more imfo on these worms?

beardie advice.

gojira1011 — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:45:31 GMT

I recently just got a juvenile beardie. Not sure how old he is, but he was really small when I got him.... and I've had him for about a month now.

This is my problem: the little stinker won't eat anything but live crickets!!! I have tried every kind of leafy green that is appropriate for a beardie, various fruits, those instant beardie meals that you just add water to, and various dry foods. He will not eat anything except crickets. I don't know what to do. I've tried everything I can think of. Any advice on how to feed a snoopy beardie?

feeding dish for frogs

TheAnole95 — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:47:43 GMT

Could I put a cricket in a deli container and my tree frog would see it and get it. Thats what I do for my Anole.

Fattening food for the Green Anole

GreenAnole09 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:06:35 GMT

One of my Green Anoles is getting really thin.Too thin.Does anyone know what foods would be healthy for the Green Anole and give her more weight?I can do store bought and food I catch myself.Thank you.

F/T mice/rats in SouthEast PA

Moyer78 — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:07:51 GMT

I am looking for other people close to me in SouthEast Pa would would be intrested in ordering frozen mice or rats shipping will be cheaper with more people buying let me know if you are intrested I can provide more information if needed

Russian tort. diet

little lizard — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:13:26 GMT

I've been getting mixed info. on what to feed her.Some places I've read don't feed kale,broccoli,cabbage.She won't eat cabbage but she likes broccoli and kale is that ok?

Weird Crickets

TheAnole95 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:34:20 GMT

Today I woke up and was going to feed my lizards, I noticed that 3-4 crickets were folowing this one cricket. It was very weird. Is this a normal beavhior???

Anoles and Fruit

GreenAnole09 — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:11:51 GMT

I've heard that if you put a sliced fruit an anole tank,the anoles with get on the the fruit and lick the juice off it.I also heard that the fruit may make them a little happier.If they do eat it,what fruit do you reamend I get.I can easily obtain grapefruit,(a person in my area has a grapefruit tree and squirrels always climb on the branches and the grapefruit below the branch falls onto the ground and the guy that owns the tree doesn't care if you pick up the fruit)oranges,bannas,grapes,apples,and pears.

How do you breed crickets?

TheAnole95 — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:58:42 GMT

I'm not sure how to breed crickets. I tried it once, but it didn't work. I would like to learn how because I could save money.

what do you feed

SNAKE CHARMER — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:07:18 GMT

so,what do you feed your herps & feeders me i buy my rats frozen that have been kept on a diet of lab blocks(except for the pinkies)& i feed rats to my snakes & my sav gets a pinkie every now & again i feed my crickets commercial cricket food & drink then there fed to my sav my sav also,eats canned cat food,ground turkey,boiled chicken,boiled eggs,& i'm getting him some canned insects soon

what type of fruit do you feed your Reptile

UROFAN — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:52:40 GMT

what type of fruit do you feed your reptile and how much fruit do you feed your reptile a month?

Snapper Diet

Reptile Maniac — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:16:19 GMT

I might be getting a common snapping turtle baby in the next few days, and I can't really find info on feeding, so does anybody know how and what to feed snappers? If you could, could you also post some good links on feeding snappers.