Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry i posted this in the feeder forum but im about to go crazy, I was recently reading some posts about how red dye in dog food can be fed to rodents and not have ill effects but can be dangerous to snakes health. Well I got curious and I checked my cat food that I sometimes mix with dogfood and rodent block. The cat food has Red 40(im assuming dye?)yellow5,Blue 2. Is that bad or good or does it matter??? Ive never fed these mice specifically to my snakes but I've fed many pinky babies to my baby kings (12 of them!) and corns, I hope nothing bad will happen to my snakes because of this. I would serriously kill myself if anything happened to them over this.

Oh yeah and if anyone wants to know specifics, the cat food I supplement is meowmix indoor formula.

I've also heard that some of the dyes in dog and cat food were harmful to reptiles if fed in large doses or over long time periods. I don't think 12 feedings is going to have a terrible affect on the baby snakes. But just for reference, I buy large bags of bird seed at Wal-Mart for my rodents(much cheaper than rodent feed at the pet store), and you can mix wholegrain cereal with it if you wish. It's much healthier than dog and cat food.

Thanks for the reply. I was also thinking about buying a 20 pound sun flower mix for my rodents. I was just worried about the protein not being enough so I never got around to it. Thanks for the reply, I apreciate it.

>> I would serriously kill myself if anything happened to them over this.

that would probably be an overreaction.

cat and dog food is probably safe. it can be a great food for box turtles, for example.

peace
terry