Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I HAVE A FOUR FOOT CAIMAN AND FEED IT MOSTLY RATS FROM RODENT PRO, I WAS TOLD THAT FROZEN RATS LACK MOST OF THE VITAMINS THAT CROCS NEED. DOES FREEZING DO THIS? IF SO HOW SHOULD I SUPPLEMENT HIS DIET. HE DOES HAVE A ZOO MED UVB LIGHT, AND IS IN OTHER WISE PERFECT HEALTH. JUST WONDERING, JASON

Jason,

In my personal opinion, feeding frozen rodents are fine. I personally feed frozen. Most pet stores and whatnot (atleast in Ohio) will not sell live animals to people as food items. Specialty stores as far as I know will often sell live food that is usually bred for that purpose. I only feed live rodents to my burmese, and that is basically because she refuses pre-killed. Otherwise she would be eating them frozen too. Frozen rodents are easier to keep in stock without having to run out to the nearest specialty store every time you need a rat for your caiman. I am certainly not a reptile health expert, but in my opinion, your frozen rodents are fine. If you would like to help out with vitamins or anything, you might want to try a vitamin supplement, like "miner-all.

I hope this helps in some sort of way or fashion.

Chris

thanks for the reply, what crocs do you keep? what and how often do you feed. jason

Hi,

I keep 2 american alligators. Both are a little over 3 feet. I feed mine 2-3 times weekly. Depending on how much they ate last time. If I feed them a heft amount then it will usually be 2 times that week. If I only fed them a decent amount but could have been more, I feed 3 times a week. I alter between mice, rats, and chicken and beef slices. If I feed chicken breast or beef slices, I throw in a little miner-all. They seem to be doing pretty well on that.

Chris

Whole foods carry the most nutrition. Rats pups (newborns) are not a good nutrition source because the bones are not yet calcified, therefore not a good source of calcium which your animal needs to grow.