Would that not be the same thing people are talking about right now with crickets and dragons? Why not feed your kitten as many mice as it will eat in 10 minutes, 3 times a day. After all, they are still wild animals, living in captivity, just like dragons. Do you feed your dog out of a can or a bag? Why not let a rabbit go so he can chase/kill/feed himself, kind of like a dragon would do with crickets.

I have nothing against feeding live prey to dragons, even if a silkworm will not move and run like a cricket. I just do not like crickets and the diseases that they carry. I currently feed live mealworms, super worms and also silkworms. My adult females also get thawed 3-day-old mice every other week, unless they are gravid, then they get a little more dusted with cuttlebone.

I am a person who prefers pellets to crickets any day of the week. I think one of the problems when people hear the word “pellets” is that they tend to think that is all the dragons are fed. If you read most care sheets of people who feed pellets instead of crickets, they say they still feed a mix of salads and also some other sort of live/dead prey, not just pellets alone.

I feed all my babies very small mealworms, every other day with their salad and pellets. They jam off their basking rock and dive at the food dish whether the worms are there or not at feeding time. The dragons have access to fresh food all day long and eat when they want and when they think they need to. Dragons are attracted to movement and will attempt to eat anything that moves. Drop some pellets/crickets in front of them and they will gobble them up.

I think of the whole “How many crickets can my dragon eat in a day” to kind of like a trip to a Krispy Kreme doughnut store. If you have never been to one, when you walk in, they give you a fresh made doughnut that is still warm and just melts in your mouth, for FREE! Now, I could stand there for 10 minutes, 3 times a day eating as many of them doughnuts as I could, just like a dragon would do with crickets. Do you think I would have any room left over after a day of that, for a dinner salad? Neither would he…IMO

I have nothing against people who want to feed their dragons crickets, but everyone has to realize that there are other ways to keep a dragon healthy AND happy. If people think their dragons need more exercise/excitement, then drag a string around and let them chase that. People do it all the time with their cats.

Good luck in whatever way you decide to keep your dragon...
Steve

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