Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I may be confused and maybe some others are to about feeding wild caught prey. I am banking it is no problem in almost every case...then of course you have some unique situations and maybe some can help me/us to understand this better.

I'll do my best to get the thought out in a nutshell. Picture a 5-line skink hatching out in a populated area where there are alot of pesticides,toxins,etc...being put into the environment. The skink as he grows eats all sorts of things. Most prey items are not contaminated and others only ever so slightly. Every so often the skink is a little under the weather due to eating an item that has a trace of chemical. Does'nt kill him though and over time he can handle it. As he grows so does his tolerance...and possibly these toxins are stored in reserves,fat,liver,where ever/who knows (why I am asking). Anyway by the time he's an adult his tolerance is high and maybe he is toxic or slightly toxic. Then some jerk (me hahaha) grabs him and throws him in with an animal that is from a very pristine environment and has never been exposed to any chemical. This "pristine" critter never had a chance to gear up. She eats the skink and in a sense O.D.'s. Is that possible?

Hope no one takes this as "Do not feed wild caught lizards" NOT AT ALL THE CASE. If the above is possible (skinks build tolerance in some cases) then I guess you would just use your best judement where to collect from.

One more thought. If that skink had been fed to a local Island corn snake I doubt it would have been a problem but that is again why I would like some help if anyone knows. Thanks for bearing through this post,zak.

t

I've fed wc lizards to herps for 40 years and never had a problem. I have bred Epicrates gracilis{an arboreal boa} to f-4 generations fed exclusively on wc anoles because that is all they will eat. Likewise I've bred and raised several species of Tropidophis on the same. Routinely I have fed lizards to monitors that were reluctant to eat anything else. There is always a slight chance of a problem but what about all other food items. Suppose someone sells you mice and their wife sprayed the room with lysol prior to the sale. There has been a lot of postings lately about this and I'm not sure why. Anyway good luck....Tom Crutchfield

Hey Tom
Hows those het iggy's any eggs yet?
I agree wild caught lizards have been used for food for lots and lots of years.Here in florida we are fortunate to have many varieties to catch.Personaly I would feed my tree monitors them instead of waiting for them to starve to death or get so far gone they can't digest .
Your also correct about other food items I know someone who got some bad rats frozen and lost some very nice animals.Not sure what the exact cause was but it can happen.
Talk to you soon
Mike

I too agree, I have fed lizards for 45 years without a second thought and no problems.

I think those that WANT to worry, will find anything to worry about. And they do. They worry about dirt(they bake it for gods sake) And they disinfect branches and more I am sure. One fella that does not appear to be all that bad, washes the water tub for one monitor, 20 times, twice a day. If I had to do that, I would quit, I would have quit 43 years ago.

Cheers

I, too, can testify that disinfecting branches, rocks, soil, etc.. is not necessary. Though not a long time, since about 1982, I have used "au naturale" items both at home and at the zoos I was at. I always wondered who washes and cleans everything for them in the wild? In fact, I have frequently wondered if keeping things TOO sterile makes your charge unable to cope with minor things like some bacteria.

AH

i learned in my natural history of infectious diseases that when switzerland went through their sterility craze there was a higher incidence of diseases that were not even affecting third world countries because the children never developed the necessary immunity. so yeah, i agree that an overly sterile environment is not only uncomfortable for the animal (so fake and unlike their habitat) but also makes them more succeptible to disease.
-jake
-----
"I live for the nights I'll never remember with the friends I will never forget"

I have baked branches.....but that was for two reasons. One, so that the bugs on the tree didn't end up in my house. (I hate ants and tent caterpillars)
Two, it makes the house smell good.

Otherwise there is the same phobias for fish tank stuff and I have had the best peices of wood in my tanks come from the back yard.
-----
Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

never had a problem with ants and tents, but, but, but, I did not about ten thousand wood wasps morph out of a log. hahahahahahahahahaha. Good thing it was in an indoor outdoor cage. Close door to the in part, open door to the out part and wave goodbye to them. Cheers

I have several gravid ones. One is going to lay any day!!! Tom Crutchfield

Put me down for a female.I'll call you this week
Mike

Is this Varanus S Cumingi pictured?

Question was more geared to if chemicals toxins build up...must not be much of an issue even S. FLA... I guess "Paranoia will destroy'a". Thanks for the answers,zak.

The only only problem I see is the lizards infecting your monitors with mites. I have caught a lot of fence lizards around here (we have a unique subspecies of western fence lizard in the valley over here if you wonder) and when I take a closer look at them, they were infested with mites. So I let them go afraid that it might spread mites to my other herps. Maybe it's just where I'm from, but take a closer look before introducing wild caught lizards to your monitor. They have a lot of ectoparasites.

Just out of curiousity, mites cant be transported internally, right?

So basically, if the monitor ate the lizard without too much struggle, most if not all the mites would prolly die in the monitors saliva/stomach acid.... yeah?

Im just asking.

I would imagine they will digest them, so their is no worry about passing it to other monitors via the feces.

what finally got my rudi to start eating when i first got him. he wouldnt touch anything else, but as soon as a lizard went in the cage he was lunch. after a few lizards he would eat almost anything at the end of my tongs. he's still healthy, so i can't imagine that caused him any problems.
-jake
-----
"I live for the nights I'll never remember with the friends I will never forget"