When to feed mice

[cla6665]

Hello everyboby, what a great forum this is. I have learned a lot from you guys, and I keep learning, thank you. I got my first dragon Lucky about 6 months ago and absolutely love him. Last Sunday me and my son drove to New Hampshire to a reptile show, and guess what happened???, we came back with two more guys. One is a cross tiger they told me and the other one is a red orange peach color. Oh my good they are awesome, both about 2 months old. I have a question for you, Lucky now is about 6 months old and about 13 inches long, the body only is about 7 inches. Lucky eats very well, from fruit to veggies, crickets wax worms etc. I fed him a pink mouse a few times and I was wondering when I can start to feed him bigger mice. And also, they told me not to feed him live mice because it might bite him, I don't know if it is true because ,Lucky really likes to hunt for crickets and things.
i would really appreciate the help, I just want to make sure not to hurt my frieng.
Thank you very much everybody

 

[ScooterBlenny]

Mice are generally not recommended as feeders for beardies - most experienced keepers only feed them to pregnant females. Just too much risk for impaction. Sure, maybe you've done it a few times without a problem, but I wouldn't want to take the risk just to watch them eat a mouse.

 

[dawnki]

Pinky mice are ONLY recommended for pregnant females.

 

[clear]

Also waxworms shouldnt be feed for the same reasons mice shouldnt be, very very fatty.

 

[lizardgrrl]

Feeding pinkies increases the risk of liver disease, as they are much higher in fat than the normal beardie diet, and I have not ever heard of beardies eating adult mice before your question here. Read the Beautiful Dragons nutrition page for better ideas on what to feed your beardies. It is color coded to let you know what to consider staples, treats, rarely fed and never, http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I've been feeding my babies silkworms and phoenix worms, at two months old they are 7-10 inches long, and I have used silkworms along with random butter worms, superworms and hornworms as additional treats for my adults, along with their staple veggies. I have been moving away from crickets for fear of parasites, and the babies tested parasite free at their vet check. :laughing6: Others here on the site love the roaches as feeder, but I have housemates that would lose it if I brought in roaches. :roll:

 

[kirby]

adult mice have bones, thus aren't suitable. they are also too large. feeding live, lets the prey fight back...

one day old, hairless, pinkie mice are excellent for breeding females or an occasional treat for adults. they DONT have bones, rather soft cartilidge (you could cut it with a spoon) and they are bite-size. ONE twice a month TOPS. and you would adjust their protein feeders apropriately. not recomended for very hefty dragons with suitable fat stores.

give them a basking spot of around 115F for at least 3-4 hours afterwards.

waxworms are fine, tops three a day for young dragons... and they would be unnecessary in a healthy dragons diet, except the occasional treat (because we love spoiling them)

 

[Paradon]

Dragons in the wild do eat variety of protein including inverterbrates and verterbrates, so it makes sense to offer variety in captivity also. My vet and a few other reputable vets told me you can offer pinkies and fuzzies as long as you watch and make sure your dragon don't get fat. To tell you the truth my dragon has eaten nothing, but crickets and other inverts, she doesn't want to eat pinkies for some reason, and she still is kindda chubby, but she is not fully grown yet. Here is an article about fatty liver disease and misconception about it: http://www.anapsid.org/heplipidosis.html

 

[cla6665]

Thanks for the replies. I feed Lucky just one pinkie once. He seems not to like veggies at all. He ate some blueberries and peach, but nothing much. He loves crickets, superworms and once a while a waxworm or two. He is not eating much. Somebody suggested me to try to give him a supplement called Caloric Supplement & Appetite stimulant made by Zilla, what do you guys think. All the temperatures are good. In the past few days he is not very active, he is about 6 months old. I am just a little worried.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks

 

[Chubz]

ya pinkies and wax worms make great treats... chubz just loves em !!!

 

[kirby]

if he is a year old, and on to an adult diet i would stop feeding protein feeders for a few days, and only try get him to eat greens and other veggies. its very important to get him onto the 80% vegetation/20% feeders diet.

Thanks for the replies. I feed Lucky just one pinkie once. He seems not to like veggies at all. He ate some blueberries and peach, but nothing much. He loves crickets, superworms and once a while a waxworm or two. He is not eating much. Somebody suggested me to try to give him a supplement called Caloric Supplement & Appetite stimulant made by Zilla, what do you guys think. All the temperatures are good. In the past few days he is not very active, he is about 6 months old. I am just a little worried.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks

 

[tothegrave]

I would NEVER feed pinkies, but I don't have a problem feeding waxworms.

 

[cla6665]

Thank you to all of you for the kind answers, I will stay away from all that, I'll concentrate his diet on veggies rather than crickets, etc.