Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if it was ok to feed my adult beardie a pinky every now and then..if not what are the reasons against feeding them pinky mice?

Thanks
greg

Occasional pinky ok. I feed them to my breeder females pretty often, it helps them gain weight.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

I tried feeding my dragon a pinkie last week and should looked at me as if to say 'what do you want me to do with that?' How do you get them to eat a pinkie???

I bought 12" tweezers. I pick up the pinky by the back and make it look like it is crawling around. Not all dragons will eat them. Be careful they are viscous (the dragons). 5 dragons of mine like them the others will have nothing to do with them. The tweezers helped out on a few of them. Oh if you didn't realize I use Frozen thawed pinkies.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

The first time I fed a pinky to my dragon he looked at it for a few minutes trying to figure out what the heck it was I was offering him. I think the movement decided the issue. It was a live pinky so it would move on it's own.

Feeding pinkies to dragons is fine if it is once in awhile (one or two a month or less), great weight boost to females who just layed eggs and for recovering dragons after a sickness.

The one I tried to feed my female dragon (she just laid eggs last week) was alive and I put it about 5 inches in front of her. It crawled right up under her nose and my dragon just looked at it. She never moved except to tilt her head to one side and look up at me like 'what is this??' I finally gave up and fed it to one of the snakes!!!

Occasional pinky ok. I feed them to my breeder females pretty often, it helps them gain weight. Oh the reason to not over do it is fatty liver disease.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

when you say occasional how often does that mean?..

thanks

I will feed pregnant females that have just layed one a day for 3-4 days after laying. They need all the food they can get. After that I don't feed pinkies more than once weekly.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

Well, you can, but there's no real reason to unless it's for a gravid female. Otherwise, I don't think it's worth the risks. Fatty liver disease, and if you don't have a good source, the mice can carry parasites.

I have fed live pinkie's and occasionally fuzzies and hoppers to my male. I don't do it more than once or twice a month, but my beardie really likes them. My husband likes me keeping his mouse numbers down on occasion as well since he breeds them to feed to his snakes, and tends to have more mice than he needs. My dragon wouldn't eat them pre-killed though.

GemTwist

Reasons not to: baby mouse abuse?
Ok, so I'm a wimp. I'm just really glad it isn't a required food.
On the reasonable side. A dragons nature is to eat bugs, worms and greens.
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TheClassyLizard

I do believe in the wild they do eat rodents when the chance does arise. Think in the wild the eat anything that move including baby dragons, anoles, and anything they can fit into their mouth.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

That may very well be true
I'm still thankful it's not a requirement..
Blood sqirting and guts just isn't my idea of a good time.
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TheClassyLizard

Understandable, my wife doesn't let me do live. They sound too pitiful and it is unecesary. I like them because in my opinion they do plumping up the girls after laying quicker then crickets. I have never seen blood squirt or guts spill out. The dragons gulp them down almost whole. I don't like to feed too many because I am afraid of overloading their digestive track.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

There's no reason to feed a pinky to a dragon. Their systems are incapable of absorbing all the the fat that even a pinky holds. Waxworms are generally a bad idea for the same reasons.

Basically, if you've got a dragon that's losing weight, or is underweight, there is no "quick fix" even for gravid females.

If they can't get their weight back up no bugs & veggies, then there's a bigger issue going on that you're not aware of.

For a good healthy dragon that's at a good weight, there's no need to consume something like a pinky even if they could cope with all the fat.
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Axe
The Reptile Rooms

I give my beardies a pinky mouse once a month as a treat. They are really fattening so I try to limit it because if I didn't they would probably eat one every day. My guys seem to do fine with them. They are usually in their mouths before the pinkies can land on the plate.