Many people are squeamish at the idea of feeding live food to their pets. However, with many pet reptiles, live food is necessary for their health. If you follow these steps, you can easily feed your reptiles the live food that they need.
- Determine what type of food your pet requires. Many small reptiles, such as geckos, live primarily on crickets. Additional types of insects used to feed reptiles include mealworms, giant mealworms, waxworms, locusts, and silkworms, among others. Larger reptiles, including many types of snakes, may eat "pinkie" (newborn) mice, mice, rats, rabbits or chicks. Many reptiles have one particular kind of food that is their staple food, while others can be used to supplement or as occasional "treats."
- Find a reputable store that carries live food. Your best bet is usually a store specializing in reptiles, as its employees will probably be knowledgeable about which food is best for particular pets. In addition, there are different levels of quality for live food. It might sound funny, but what the live food is fed actually matters! Some big chain pet stores may not take good care of their live food, causing it to be a less than perfect food source for your reptile. When in doubt as to where to buy live food, ask a reptile veterinarian for a recommendation.
- Take care of the live food before it becomes food. It may be counterintuitive, but live food needs to eat if it is not going to be eaten immediately! Crickets can be housed in a small plastic terrarium or bug box, and they will eat almost anything. Add some soft fruit or vegetable pieces to their box, or use special cricket food which makes the crickets more nutritious for your reptile. Rodents obviously also need to be housed and fed until they become live food. If you are not able to do this, see number 8 on this list....
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Author: Bronwyn Harris