Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last year I've bred just about as much beardies as I bred Mice and Rats...

Pretty hard work just to sell them all..

I was wondering, are there any species of snake known for predation on bearded dragons? Might just be the answer to my overcrowded beardie population
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"No one likes us, we don't care"

I don't think to many if any snakes eat bearded dragons in the wild. The only real way to find out is do some research of common snakes of Australia. Keep in mind that bearded dragons do flatten themselves out to make them much larger and their spins can make it difficult for any snake to swollow or even constrict them.

That being said, most people would be against feeding bearded dragons to snakes. Heck, if any of the bearded dragon keepers read this form there is bound to be heated words. A better way to control your bearded dragon breeding is to keep the males separated from the females and freeze any eggs laid before they are incubated, then throw them away.

I think it is funny that someone would get upset about a honest question about using something as feeder food on a feeder food forum. That is like saying that someone from a fancy mouse forum will get upset if they read what is here, it the wrong place to get upset.

LdyPayne, I am not making fun of you I think you are prob right, I just think it is funny. Also thank you for responding to his question with pertinent information. I see a lot of the lecturing here and other forums without any good info.

Snakeskin, I like your use of the word "predation" not something that I have heard used in everyday conversation.
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""WHACK", THANK YOU SIR!! MAY I HAVE ANOTHER???"
0.0.1 Common Columbian Boa (Damian)
0.0.1 Amel Cornsnake (Kernal)
0.0.1 Okeetee Cornsnake (Guido)
1.1.0 Lhasa Apso's (Monkey, Tiffany)
1.0.0 Rat Terrier (Ricky)
1.3.0 Mice (nameless)
0.0.4 Goldfish (nameless)
0.1.0 Beta Fish (nameless)
0.0.1 Snail (Gary)"Meoow"

Also Canibal the Musical is just about the the most funny movie ever!!!

Mrbfrog I wasn't upset about the post. However I just don't think bearded dragons would make a good reptile food in a natural sense of the word. However, I do not really know if other reptiles regularly eat bearded dragons in the wild, it's not something I came across in my research on bearded dragons in the wild (not that I am doing any extensive research in this area, pretty much what the bearded dragon books I have bought stated on where each different species of dragon can be found in the wild).

If bearded dragons are a natural prey item for some reptiles, then feeding off excess baby dragons wouldn't be something I am aggainst or would get upset about. What would be more a problem is if a reptile who doesn't normally prey on bearded dragons in the wild, is feed one, it could be harmful to that reptile. I am quite positive bearded dragons do have natural predators, but what those predators are I am not sure. Certainly birds of prey could eat them, as well as larger lizards but what actual species do, I don't know. It certainly has me curious now..I will most likely wind up hunting down what eats bearded dragons in the wild..just to satisfy my curiousity.

Babbling aside, (sorry, I get that way sometimes), I can see why you found my earlier post humourous, Mrbfrog and I certainly don't take any offense at it. I have to say though that mentioning some people may take offense at learning somebody is asking if bearded dragons are good as feeders on the feeder forum may still offend some people but it certainly wouldn't be anywhere near as bad if that question was asked on the bearded dragon forum. Can you say flamewar? LOL

Anyway, I will post what information I find about predators of bearded dragons once I find something.

I am as much a beardie lover as I am a rodent lover, and I feed rodents to my snakes. So I am not here to preach about which animals should or should not be feeders (I feel all animals are equals anyways)

However, I think your approach is very strange, to say the least. I mean, who goes about aquiring a new pet because they have an abundance of food on hand?

"Dog food is on sale so I stocked up, and bought a St. Bernard while I was at it!"
"My mice are producing like crazy! Why separate them when I can get 5 more snakes to eat the excess?!"
"Our cattle and chickens are producing more than ever this year... what better reason to have a baby?!"

Keep in mind that a new pet - even a snake - is a very serious commitment. I hardly think having some extra "prey" animals on hand is reason enough to aquire a new pet.
JMO.

The point I am getting at is that you shouldn't breed more creatures than you actually NEED. If you aren't selling as many beardies as they are producing, then why not destroy your eggs, or (better for your female) separate them by sex? If you plan to breed bearded dragons as feeders, then so-be-it. But I would warn you that they are probably not the best thing for any animals' staple diet.

Beardies are so common now that there is little need to create more hatchlings. I would urge you to think with some logic for the wellbeing of these animals.
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Herps~
1.0 Ball Python (Squeeze)
1.0 Amel Corn (Ashbury)
1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milk (Diablito)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Nyoka)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Spike)
0.0.1 Treefrog (Keropi)
0.0.3 African Dwarf frogs
0.1 Red Eared Slider (Shelly)

Dogs~
1.0 6 y/o GSD/Mastiff/Shar-pei (Max)
0.1 7 y/o Pit bull/lab (Missy)
0.1 2 y/o Chow/ACD (Sierra)
1.0 6 y/o terrier x ??? (Tripper)

Cats~
1.0 6 y/o black DSH (Salem)
1.0 3 y/o Tuxedo DSH (Felix)
1.0 8 y/o Orange DLH (Benji)
0.1 10 y/o black tabby DSH (Peppermint)
0.1 3 y/o Calico DSH (Abby)
0.1 2 y/o W&B DSH (Bob)
0.1 2 y/o B&W DSH (Figaro)
0.1 2 y/o B&W DSH (Jasmine)
0.1 2 y/o Calico DSH (Raja)

Birds~
1.0 Alexandrine (Alex)
1.0 Yellow Collared Mini Macaw (Baby)
1.0 Indian Ringneck (Rosie)
1.0 Sun Conure (Tango)
1.0 Red Lored Amazon (Rocky)
0.3 Peachfaced Lovebirds; Lutino (Tweety), Dutch blue (Delilah), and Pied (Iago)

Rodents~
0.1 Syrian Hamster (Amelia)
0.2 Dumbo rats (Elizabeth & Cheddar)
0.1 Het Beige Chinchilla (Zion)
1.0 3-legged Black TOV Chin (Smokey)

Rabbits~
1.0 Tri colored Mini Rex (Buster)
0.1 chinchilla French Lop (Martha)

Fish~
29 Gallon tank with Neon tetras, a betta, a guppy, 3 frogs, 3 sand loaches, 2 platies, 1 dwarf gourami, and a cory cat.
Plus 3 5-gallon tanks with one betta each.

Most of what would prey on Beardies in the wild would be birds of prey.. dingos.. feral cats.. and their major predator, The goanna and other monitors. I've heard of quite a few people breeding beardies and feeding excess hatchlings off to their monitors without a problem. Baby ones might work for a snake who's a lizard eater thats been a pain to get on mice.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
2.2 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 1 het Blizzard (Lilith) and 1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
5 Gerbils
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Sahara and Hercules)

I suspected dingos, feral cats and foxes would prey on bearded dragons, not to mention the very hungry cars on the roads. I heard alot of bearded dragons get run over while minding their own business soaking some rays on a nice flat road. I guess all that hissing and beard displaying just isn't frightening enough to stop a car. If they only could breeth fire like a flame thrower, I bet that would stop cars from running them over *grin*.

Goannas and other monitors, I can see them eating bearded dragons, especially young dragons. Birds of prey, most deffinitely. Not sure if any Auzzy snakes eat dragons though..

I am breeding too many mice, I tend to get attached to them darn it but that could be a good thing cuz I could feed 10 more snakes! LOL! How often have we come up with dumb reasoning to justify the purchase of a new reptile! If this were posted on one of the snake forums people would be going nuts with new reasons to buy a snake!

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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html