Feeder mice and rats

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VenusAndSaturn

Sub-Adult Member
I'm okay with feeding mice/rats to my animals, except for beardies... since mice (To my knowledge) are an invasive species in Australia which is there for unnatural for a bearded dragon to eat and is also quite hard to digest for them, plus if a beardie were to catch a mouse it would be very rare and the beardie would end up injured if its bigger than a hopper (most likely) unless it got a really good bite on the head before it could attack.

I have two animals that regularly eat mice and rats, a few times I've fed live but for the most part its all frozen thawed (Easier to store and less expensive along with less dangerous). Whenever one doesn't eat its food I can usually give it to the tegu, or even my BTS (Indonesian blue tongue not northern).
Or sometimes my cats...although not really on purpose, when I throw a discarded mouse/rat outside usually one of my cat comes running and gobbles it up either that or one of the foxes living close by eats it. Nothing goes to waste in this house.

Theres a few humane ways to kill a rat/mouse, I've done one way when I was trying to feed a mouse to my tegu but she ended up not wanting it because it was live so I ended up pre-killing it for her. The way I pre-killed it was by dislocating its neck basically... I believe the correct term is cervical dislocation.. if needed I can go into more detail about it but you could easily look it up online. The second way to kill one is by Co2.. which I would have done but I have no idea how to set the gas chamber up and just wanted to get it over with and feed her, but anyway that seems to be the preferred way to kill them as its the least painful way.

I do have to say though, it's interesting watching a snake eat its prey, but not so interesting when your dodging flying pinkie mice parts... if only my tegu realized she didnt need to "kill" everything before eating it. Last time I fed her mice she threw a pinkie at me (Which is basically a baby mouse)... managed to barely get out of the way in time before it hit me in the face.
 

HippieLizards

Gray-bearded Member
Beardie name(s)
Daisy, Loki, Rocket, Phoenix, Mulder & Scully. Non beardie pets: Stan (Leo) Cayde (Hognose) Tillery (cat)
Hello,

I Agree with what Venus said. If I were to get a snake I would be fine with feeding it a frozen/thawed mouse or rat but Beardies should NEVER eat mice unless it is EXTREMELY emaciated. That in my opinion is the only exception because:

-It can be a chocking hazard.
-It is VERY high in fat.
-Bones can be hard to digest.
-Could cause impaction if too big or if the beardie didn't digest it fully.
-As Venus said it isn't a normal thing that they would eat in the wild.
-and If the mouse or rat is alive it could bite the beardie and cause an infection.

These are just SOME of the reasons why you shouldn't feed beardies mice or rats In my honest opinion.

-HippieLizards.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Short answer - not appropriate to feed to a bearded dragon (or a bluetongue skink either).

>> too much fat
>> too much risk of parasites
>> too hard to digest
>> not native to the natural range.
 

JessPets

Gray-bearded Member
I believe in only feeding F/T unless absolutely necessary. Yes, in the wild snakes aren't going to find a frozen/thawed rat just waiting to be eaten - but in captivity, when other options are present, why not try another way? Feeding live can cause stress to both the prey and the animal it is being fed to. Rats and mice can and will try to injure your snake, and it really isn't worth the risk. Not to mention avoidable pain that can be spared on the poor mouse! Co2 chambers or snapping their necks is a much more painless way to die over being eaten alive by another animal. No, I am not against snakes, or any other meat-eaters. IMO, if there is a way to spare pain and injuries to a living creature, I am going to opt for that method.

Just my 2¢
 

VenusAndSaturn

Sub-Adult Member
Luckily the only live animals I ever fed were way too small to cause harm to mine. Nothing bigger than a hopper mouse. I much prefer F/T but if I have to I'd feed live if my animal wouldn't take anything else which with some snakes and other reptiles they can be picky like that.

I think I've probably fed live mice before two or three times, once or twice when I first got my BP as that was what she was on before and I wanted to make sure she ate before transitioning her onto F/T. And then once with my tegu, but that quickly turned to pre-kill as she didn't want to eat it when it was live. Mostly got her a live mouse to make sure she'd eat it before moving to F/T. She did eat it... but only after I brained it and then in the process she threw one half of it at me, I should just get a separate enclosure for feeding so I don't get hit in the face with food.

I do agree with you, If you can go with either prekilled or F/T then you should go with that to prevent problems that can occur. But if your snake/reptile refuses to eat prekilled or F/T then that really sucks because unless your watching it the entire time and able to intervene your animal could get very injured depending on prey size.
 

HippieLizards

Gray-bearded Member
Beardie name(s)
Daisy, Loki, Rocket, Phoenix, Mulder & Scully. Non beardie pets: Stan (Leo) Cayde (Hognose) Tillery (cat)
VenusAndSaturn":31cprk77 said:
I much prefer F/T but if I have to I'd feed live if my animal wouldn't take anything else which with some snakes and other reptiles they can be picky like that.

I do agree with you, If you can go with either prekilled or F/T then you should go with that to prevent problems that can occur. But if your snake/reptile refuses to eat prekilled or F/T then that really sucks because unless your watching it the entire time and able to intervene your animal could get very injured depending on prey size.
I Wholeheartedly agree with you. You put it at a very good point to consider. :)
 

ThatAwkwardkid

Member
Original Poster
First I would like to say I should have made this clear in the beginning, I do not think that it is Humane to feed something like a mouse to a reptile that in its natural habitat would not have the chance to catch its own place of origin. I also do not recommend feeding Pinky's or even feeder mice to bearded dragons as a constant source of food. In my opinion even if you have a full grown bearded dragon one pinky once a month is fine as a treat. And again while I did just say I do not think it is humane in the first sentence, I do think it is okay as a treat. In my experience I think that only really pinkies and fuzzies are okay mostly because pinkies can't really bite same with fuzzies. And they should be pre killed in a Humane matter. Such as dislocation of the neck, red hot needle through the brain (that is if you know how to), gas chamber, anything that's quick Humane and does not put them in pain,,, hey that's a good rhyme. And as for snakes and other reptiles I wouldn't really know I know for snakes bigger mice are okay and same thing for stuff like tegus and full grown iguanas and any type of monitor lizard. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 

VenusAndSaturn

Sub-Adult Member
I'd just like to say feeding a iguana any sort of meat (insect or mammal) would be very bad for their health and possibly lead to their death if fed too much (really shouldn't be feeding that stuff to one in the first place since they are herbivores).

Also feeding a full grown bearded dragon a pinkie or hopper once a month would most likely lead to quite a few problems with its health, probably one of those problems being fatty liver disease as pinkies are practically only fat.

As someone stated earlier mice are not from a bearded dragons natural range so it would be quite unnatural to feed something like that to one and of course quite unhealthy as well.
 
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