Adult JL-s (aswell as most other lacertids) will certainly eat dog and cat food, but I don't think it's good for them in the long run. I've been keeping various lacertid lizards for almost 15 years (mostly larger species), and from time to time I had trouble finding enough live insects to satisfy the needs of my collection. That was times I offered "alternative" foods to lizards - pinky to hopper mice, strips of lean meat (turkey and chicken breasts) and canned dog or cat food. On such foods all lizards were gaining weight rapidly, which must be because of the much higher fat-to-protein ratio than in insect food. I noticed very poor viability of eggs deposited by females that were fed predominantly such fatty foods during gestation period. Also, hatchlings were often weak and underdeveloped with yolk sacs only partialy absorbed at the time of hatching.
I gues that lacertas can survive on such food for some (short) time, but it's unnatural and I wouldn't recomend it.

Regards

Nino

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]