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My Beardie is almost a year old. He's never had a mouse before today. He eats greens, crix, and mealies. My BP is housed next to him and will only eat live (I'm working to switch him to fresh killed and then f/t). Whenever I put a live hopper in the BP enclosure my Beardie goes absolutely nuts trying to get at it. My curiosity got the best of me today so I gave him one of his own. It was a hopper, eyes still closed. He grabbed it immediately and crushed it's skull. Then he bit off it's head and ate just the head. Then he lost interest and went nuts again trying to get to the live mouse in the BP enclosure. Don't know if he'll finish his mouse or if I'll end up tossing it. I think it was good stimulation for him, he gets pretty bored. I wasn't planning on making it a regular occurance, it just made me wonder about the diet of Beardies in the wild. Does it include baby rodents/birds? Or do they stick strickly to insects and greens? I'm also curious if he views the mice as a threat and the killing/beheading is a defensive thing more than a feeding thing? Or if he does view the mice as a food source.
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Lyns Lair
WNY Herpetological Society

0.1 Cat (Mia)
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Good Question!

I will guess that if they get a chance they will from time to time... and as you observe it's motion that gets a dragon to want to grab prey.

I'd love for someone to do a 1 or 2 hour documentary of wild dragons....
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Yes, they will definitely eat mice, but I wouldn't put a live hopper in with your dragon.

They do eat rodents, termites, fish and other aquatic animals and plants in the wild (a researcher I know there observed one eating a turtle). But tropical fish in the US is not healthy for them, they carry a bacteria that can harm them.

But.... you have to remember in the wild there are times of lean feedings and starvation, which is what has adapted them to such a varied diet. During those times, their bodies use the fat it consumes. In captivity we do not let them experience the starvation times and this is one of the reason so many older dragons die of fatty liver disease.

Since they do not go through cycles like that in captivity and also do not have the roaming/exercise areas they do in the wild, we need to adjust their diets for less fat intake.
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