Chicken babyfood/catfood to replace live food?

[CaptainVimes]

My Fiance feeds his blue tongue skink pure cooked chickenbreast (fit for human consumption) either as the sheba cat food, or he literally buys cooked chicken breast from the deli counter at Tesco.... apparently according to the BTS forums he frequents - this is ample "meatstuff" for his beardie, he only feeds locusts OCCASIONALLY AS A TREAT because Bob simply likes catching locusts and munching them all up.

Now my question.. in bold so you know exactly what response I am trying to get from this thread...

Can I feed Dexter (3yrs old guesstimate, 18" long from tip of nose to tip of tail) cooked 100% pure (nothing added) chicken breast INSTEAD of his Live food... Or NOT?

OR... Can he have a mixture of MORIO WORMS AND 100% PURE COOKED CHICKEN BREAST, AS STAPLE?

 

[midmichicer]

Chicken is not a good staple for a Bearded Dragon. I would not feed it to them at all to be honest. There is no known research to me that suggests it would be safe. It has High phosphorus and high protein but it is still questionable.

 

[CaptainVimes]

OK, I knew it was high phosphorous, and I know that High phosphorous can interfere with the calcium intake (I THINK I read something like that anyway) so I was a bit curious about it. :?:

Only reason I asked is because my Fiance suggested it would work out far cheaper than feeding live food, so he told me to enquire about it. :study:

I kinda thought it would be a no no, but I just wanted to make sure so I can give him an informed answer, if I just say no, with no evidence to support it, he'll constantly go on about it. :roll: :lol:

 

[midmichicer]

This is my food bible when it comes to what I can and Can not do.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

 

[Paradon]

You should be feeding whole preys to them since they are nutritionally more balanced. Whole insects or baby mice once or twice a month is what they need. You can't really avoid that with bearded. Whole prey like baby mice once a week for blue tongue skinks are way better than chicken meat and canned dog and cat food IMO since it nutritionally balanced. You can't beat that.

 

[DNADragons]

There are a trillion animal species on earth, and only one eats cooked foods, only one has heart disease, cancer, and blah blah blah as leading causes of death. I don't think cooked food is fit for human consumption any more than I do our reptiles. Too many nutrients and enzymes are lost in the heat involved in cooking that every body (as in organism) needs to operate properly.

 

[CaptainVimes]

This is my food bible when it comes to what I can and Can not do.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Yeah, I use that too, but chicken is "questionable", which is why I asked.

 

[CaptainVimes]

I would never feed my beardie a baby mouse!

 

[Paradon]

I am not saying feed it everday or very often. A baby mouse once or twice a month is OK...better than feeding it chicken meat. The muscle meat alone is not nutritionally balanced like a whole animal. Of course, bearded dragons should be fed more insects than vertebrates; you can't avoid that.

 

[diamc]

I am not saying feed it everday or very often. A baby mouse once or twice a month is OK...better than feeding it chicken meat. The muscle meat alone is not nutritionally balanced like a whole animal. Of course, bearded dragons should be fed more insects than vertebrates; you can't avoid that.

This is a matter of opinion as far as feeding a baby mouse, everyone is entitled to their opinion but mice are hard for them to digest and can cause impaction and mice are also high in fat. I am making this post because I wouldn't want a child to read that it was "ok" to feed a mouse to a beardie ESPECIALLY if the beardie is NOT an adult, that is just asking for all sorts of health problems.

 

[Paradon]

Mice are a little high in fat...that why I said to feed once a month or twice a month. :wink: And as far as digestion is concern, I think they are a little easier to digest than invertebrates since they have no chitin and their bone is tiny. I don't know about feeding adult mice, which have huge bones, though. Chitin is not digestable and most invertebrates have this...some more than others. I guess it couldn't hur to feed it as part of a varied diet. Vertebrate preys are more nutritious than invertebrate preys anyway, besides being high in fat, so they do benefit from it. And of course, I'm talking feeding adult bearded...not babies or juveniles.

 

[BeardedAaliyah]

I know this isn't a thread to discuss the fact that cooked foods doesn't cause cancer, etc. it's the crap that manufactures put in out food. Not cooking. Heat is beneficial as it kills bacteria. As a vegetarian, I can understand the raw food diet, but I don't see how it pertains to a Bearded Dragon.

Now, for the Beardie... I would stick with what works (veggies and dubia/crickets/reptiworms). I have snakes, but if I can avoid feeding a mouse to an animal, I will. Bearded Dragons don't need it, so there really is no point buying them. If you're concerned your Beardie isn't getting enough fat (obesity is a problem with Beardies), then try waxworms for weight gain.

Otherwise, I'd stick with what isn't questionable. Insects are much better nutritionally than mammals. High protein, low fat.

It's good you asked, as it is a very curious thing to consider.

 

[Paradon]

Protein is protein; it's the same chain of amino acid whether you get it from a bug or mouse. Animal protein is called purine and plant protein is called paramadine (sp). the only problem when you feed a lot of mice to the bearded is: it contain a lot more protein and fat than invertebrates, so it will make them obese that's for sure. Stick with bugs and salad as the primary food source and you'll be fine; and only give a mouse or two per month as a treat and you should be fine. :wink:

and if you must know, I don't hardly ever feed my bearded mice either. I fed mice to them a couple time and that's it. They seem to do fine on bugs and salad with supplements.

 

[CaptainVimes]

Protein is protein; it's the same chain of amino acid whether you get it from a bug or mouse. Animal protein is called purine and plant protein is called paramadine (sp). the only problem when you feed a lot of mice to the bearded is: it contain a lot more protein and fat than invertebrates, so it will make them obese that's for sure. Stick with bugs and salad as the primary food source and you'll be fine; and only give a mouse or two per month as a treat and you should be fine. :wink:

and if you must know, I don't hardly ever feed my bearded mice either. I fed mice to them a couple time and that's it. They seem to do fine on bugs and salad with supplements.

Yes, I completely understand, I also know that you only mentioned a mouse to give an example, that it was better to feed than chicken. I knew that you were certainly NOT saying "feed your beardie mice instead".

Personally, I will stick with insects and veg. After he had a problem with a mistaken feeding of adult locusts "going through", I wouldn't even risk feeding a pinky.

Thankyou every one for your feedback. As I said previously, I only asked because "beautiful dragons" said it was "questionable", I basically wanted to know why.

I will tell my fiancé that you have suggested that a mouse maybe more nutritional and healthy compared to cooked chicken breast.

However, on the skink forum that he frequents, it does say that chicken breast is totally fine to feed regularly with veg. (skinks only eat every 3-4 days apparently, not on a daily basis)