By Justin Smith
Every aspect of animal husbandry is important. Whether it is caging, lighting, temperature control, or supplementation, it all adds up! One aspect of this that I believe is widely overlooked is feeder quality and health. The age old saying of “you are what you eat” isn’t just applicable to us humans, it spans to all pets and animals in captivity. Ask yourself this. Do you know what your feeder rodents are fed or how they are kept?
The husbandry practices in herpetoculture seem to lag far behind the more traditional pet market like one would see with dogs and cats. In recent years there has been a very serious push for high quality foods for people’s furry pets and a serious shift in the level of care those pets are receiving. Cheap foods or kibbles that contained questionable ingredients are now taking a backseat to the high quality, more expensive brands. The question I ask myself is, why aren’t we thinking of feeder rodents in a similar manner?
I understand that a large majority of people don’t have the space and/or time to dedicate to even a small breeding group of rodents. I consider myself very fortunate to have the resources to maintain a small operation for myself but it has continually made me think about the current state of bulk feeder rodents. For those of you who are either breeding your own feeders already or if you are thinking about getting a colony together, this article will hopefully give you some ideas of what you can do to get the best quality feeders possible!
To start I should mention that I was at one point feeding a standard grade dog food to my feeders. I regularly noticed that some mice would get these fatty tumorous knots on their bodies. My friends Pia and Cody Bartolini of the Reptile Preservation Institute breed their own feeders and use Flint River Mills 18-5 Rodent Pellet with no issues so I managed to track some down at a feed and seed about an hour away from me. This has been a great rodent diet for me and it doesn’t break the bank.
With feeding that I also drew inspiration from Kyle Vargas who was a guest on The Herpetoculture Podcast (episode #83) in 2020. He takes his feeder diet very seriously offering his natural grasses, seeds, and nuts. With that I went to my local Tractor Supply Company and did some shopping. TSC has been a great source for a lot of my herp room needs with the convenience of being nearby when I need something in a pinch. Rather than spend a ton of money on bedding from the bigger pet store chains, TSC has large bales of pine shavings for at least half the price of what I would pay elsewhere.
This is also where I get my bird seed blend which is the Royal Wing Total Care Fruit & Nut Blend. I like this blend because it has a nice variety of options for my feeders to snack on like cherries, raisins and papaya. I do like to occasionally change it up and get the Trail Mix with Mealworms blend. The ingredients listed are Black Oil Sunflower Seed, Dehulled Sunflower Seed, Peanuts, Striped Mixed Feed Nuts, Raisins, Dehydrated Papaya, Dehydrated Cherries, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin A Supplement,vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin, D-calcium Pantothenate.
The third portion of the diet that I offer my feeders is either Dumor brand timothy, alfalfa, or orchard grass. This not only offers another source of fiber and other nutrients but my breeders love to use it for nesting. Twice a week all my groups get a new clump in a corner of the tub as well as some more seed blend. A single bag of one of these hays lasts me a few weeks and usually only costs around nine dollars.
So with the FRM, Royal Wing, and grass offerings, I believe my feeders are getting a nice varied diet that isn’t too reliant on one over the others. Since I’ve kept my feeders on this sort of diet, those mystery lumps that I was getting before with dog food have disappeared. The litters the adult groups are dropping are high volume and healthy!
If you have the ability, space, and time to start your own colony of feeder rodents I can’t suggest it enough! The peace of mind in knowing what is going into your feeders (thus into your animals) is well worth breeding them alone. For years we’ve blindly trusted the bulk sellers with our feeders without any idea of the diet and conditions they’re kept in. We all spend a lot of money to give our animals the best level of care possible, why isn’t the quality of the feeders we offer them a top priority?
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