Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone know ??

Are their any OTHER concerns with dog food as rodent feed besides RED DYE ?

I’ve met lots of people who feed their rodents exclusively dog food, and the rodents, breed well and live long lives.

The question becomes if feeding them to reptiles long term presents health problems or risks.

I’ve exclusively mazurri for 10 plus years, but the price hikes are tempting me to go to a 25% mazzuri, 75% dog food mix.

Thanks,
Jeff

I had a vet with over 50 years experience research the rodents' nutritional needs for me. He came back and told me that lab block does not have enough protein or fat content to be a good diet for rats, and mice need higher levels of both than the rats do. He recommended dog food as the best diet for them. I was breeding rats at that time and feeding a seed mixture that I was mixing myself. I switched to a cheap dog food, and the litter sizes and growth rate both increased drastically. Later, I switched to lab block since I found a good deal, and I saw no changes in my rat colony which consisted of 4,000 rats or my mouse colony which consisted of 1,000 mice. We have a Blain's farm & fleet local to us, and the food cost me appx. $15 per 50 lb bag and contains no red dye 40. This is what I feed as a regular diet to my rodents now. My rodents do great, and I've been feeding my rodents to my snakes for 6 years now with no ill effects. I would not recommend Ol'roy food for rodents though. I tried it years ago when I could not get my usually food, and I found out that rats would rather eat each other than eat that food...NOT GOOD!

I also don't understand all of the issues with red dye 40 in dog foods. I did not know about this issue until about 3 years ago. When I checked out the dog food I was feeding at that time, it contained red dye 40. I switched foods immediately. Then I realized that I had snakes that were eating these rodents for 2 solid years already and no health problems in the snakes. I don't know if it depends on the concentration of the dye or what the deal was. I have stayed away from it ever since then...just in case.

Appreciate everybody’s feedback

I’ve went back and forth on this philosophically for years.

On one hand, if you listen to the reps for the Harlan, mazzuri, Ziegler etc., or anyone affiliated with a zoo or lab. They insist it’s a no brainer.

On the other lots of people run rodent colonies and herp collections for decades on pig/dog feed and report no problems. They may also use a herp supplement added to the prey.

I wish their was research done on the blood work of older herps raised on both methods.

I use sow cube nuggets by southern states. been using it for about 2 years now. About $14.00 for 50 lbs. Got the tip from one of my buddies who breeds lots of rats. No issues.

Ed