mice?

[camguy]

my beardie is about a foot to a foot and a half long from nose to tail and was wondering if i could feed her like smaller mice that aren't pinkys cuz my mom is against the pinkys cuz she says that its not fair because they are defenseless and so wont let me feed her pinkies but maybe is there a kind of mouse that can give em a run that they could take though?

 

[dawnki]

Just say no to feeding mice. They are only recommended for pregnant females but even then there are better alternatives.

 

[Mistyck]

No. They can't digest the bone in mice and will become impacted. The only reason pinkies are ok (Sometimes and this is debatable) is because their bones haven't hardened and are more like cartilage than bone.

Pinkies are not recommended unless your dragon is pregnant, or underweight and needs to gain some weight. Also if you feed them a pinkie then you have to cut down on their protein, and only feed one pinkie every 2 weeks. But if your dragon doesn't need to gain weight or is not pregnant then there is no reason to give them a pinkie in the first place.

 

[camguy]

ok cool thanks for the advice ppl i will just keep em with the crikets and meal worms of which they love so much

 

[dawnki]

ok cool thanks for the advice ppl i will just keep em with the crikets and meal worms of which they love so much

Better yet, why not start a colony of cockroaches for your beardie? Folks are getting further and further away from feeding mealworms and crickets. Check out some of the past threads here and you'll find PLENTY of info on healthy feeders for your dragon.

 

[camguy]

are you talking about those one uhhh hissing cockroaches? iv heard of em before and almost tried em the other day.

 

[patrickb]

are you talking about those one uhhh hissing cockroaches? iv heard of em before and almost tried em the other day.

While hisser nymphs could be used, they grow a bit slow and reproduce too slow to be a truely viable feeder for most people. Dubia roaches are the most popular nowadays as feeders. Do a search for "dubia" here in the forums and you will find all kinds of info about them. Two other really popular feeder roaches are Lobsters and Turkestans, but Dubia seem to be the best roach overall.

 

[camguy]

meh there is no more use my mom and grandma dont want cokroaches in the house they think that if one escapes it will reproduce everywhere

 

[carmallarm]

meh there is no more use my mom and grandma dont want cokroaches in the house they think that if one escapes it will reproduce everywhere

lol. Read up a bit about Dubias, and you'll find out what a fantastic feeder they are. Not only do they have a soft exoskeleton, low phosphorus/calcium ratio, high meat content, etc., but they need tropical-level heat and humidity to breed. Unless you live in Florida or thereabouts, you should be fine even if one does get loose in the house. Not that they run all that fast, though, and the nymphs like to play dead, so they're really easy to catch. Check out bestroach.com or theroachguy.com for more info.

PS. Dubia nymphs kinda look like roly-poly bugs, which even roach-haters think are cute.