Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

Someone told me that a good blend of bird seed for my mali should include lentils. The lentils seem to big for my 4 year old mali. Should I grind them into small pieces or can they eat them whole?

Thanks for your help,

Kim

I put dried split lentils in with the mix of dry food. It consists of bird seed (no sunflower seeds), the lentils, dried split peas, juvy iguana food (dry), and bee pollen granules. They both eat it regularly.

Jim

Thanks for your help. You recommended the bird seed to me a while back and my mali loves it. I just wasn't sure about the lentils. I did buy the bean soup mix and took out the kidney beans. I guess I'm not sure how strong their teeth can be so I'm not sure how much to grind up. Any suggestions?

I've watched mine occasionally have a difficult time cracking them, if you can call it difficult. After about 5 bite attempts, they usually break down, and you can hear it across the room. Their jaws are pretty strong. If they can break it, they generally don't try and eat it.

Jim

>>Thanks for your help. You recommended the bird seed to me a while back and my mali loves it. I just wasn't sure about the lentils. I did buy the bean soup mix and took out the kidney beans. I guess I'm not sure how strong their teeth can be so I'm not sure how much to grind up. Any suggestions?

there teeth are very strong so you don't have to worry about that, i'm sure if you give the lentils or split peas you will hear the crunching away.

I guess the size would really depend on the size of your mali.
I had my egyptian eat a whole dry pinto bean once....i was stressed out....talked to Lindsay Pike who's opinion was that if the size of your animals poops was larger than the size of the food item you were okay.-She is 22"- her poops are like a small cat's......

As a rule I do generally grind up all the dry items in a "Uro only" coffee grinder. In this I have: 16 bean soup mix,lentils, split peas,bee pollen, alfafa cubes, and bird seed. Generally I grind the beans and peas and lentils- then put in a little alfafa, and add the finch seed last(unground).
I have fed my uros whole dry lentils( with the exception of my Moroccan) but they are all 16"+.
It's kinda weird to hear them crunching them.....
Also as a guideline-do not feed dry foods to animals that are not already eating leafy greens.
Some breeders also like to wait a year before offering dry foods.

Ed

Hi there,
My three malis LOVE lentils. Out of everything they get, these are their favourites, so I use them to hand feed. I don't bother grinding them up because really, are they going to find ground up food in the wild? AND they seem to enjoy crunching them down as well My guys go NUTS for them! Now when I put my hand in, they all try to climb up to see what treat I have brought.
Anyways, I think the crunching of the lentils is something they enjoy...kinda like how we like crunchy food.
Hope this helps!
Allison

Hi,
i give, amongst other kinds, red lentils.
They are only 2-3 mm in length and are not to big for a 4 year old mali. Mine love it, especially the U. ocellata's.
Give it a try.

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