I know I'm going to get yelled at for doing this...

[CleaTheChameleon]

So today one of my neighbors went to our local reptile shop and bought pinkies for her snake and Chinese water dragon. She offered to give me one to feed one of my chameleons. I have never fed pinkies or any large rodents to my animals before, so I took it and figured it would be a nice treat. My oldest and only female chameleon(Clea) loved it and had no problems eating it. I will never feed her anymore though.

I have read previous threads about pinky mice as an occasional treat...and like always, there were two different thoughts. Some say they are good for a treat once in a chameleons life...and some say to never feed them off. I honestly didnt know which thought to believe. I had nothing else to do with the little mouse and it was indeed dead. She ate it perfectly and I'm sure liked it. Bash on me all you want. It's to late for that nonsense....I'm never feeding them off again.


Ps- I have a video if you would like to see the feeding. I decided to ask you guys first before I post it because some of you many not wanna watch it.

 

[Thompson]

Like you said, it's only for a treat I wonder though, how hard would the little pinkie be to digest??

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

Like you said, it's only for a treat I wonder though, how hard would the little pinkie be to digest??

She took a nice big lovely poop after so Im assuming she had no problem

 

[Hoj]

hey ill try anything once LoL, i wouldnt mind seeing the video

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

Here's the video Hoj

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRq5ByFvjXM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[MATT2504]

We all deserve a treat once in a while, i don't see the harm! once a year is fine in my eyes, but you will get people that don't agree! (nice video/cham by the way)

 

[Hoj]

Here's the video Hoj

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRq5ByFvjXM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

very kool, at first i was like wow look how big that thing is but she sucked it down no prob, very kool vid..

 

[CBPanther]

Pretty cool! Only as a treat though lol. Beautiful veiled as well

 

[djfishygillz]

Chameleon 1 - Rodent 0

 

[DavidBuchan]

No one shouted at you yet so WELL DONE. Chameleons eat lots of different things in 'real life' - if anyone wants to show me a 5 year old wild Cham in Madagascan rainforest that never ate a vertebrate............
I will give as occasional treats to my Chams (no more than once a year, probably a bit less). I'll have them around when my baby monitor is weaned anyway.............
Don't turn it into a moral issue, 'cos you've done it now. What the hell - give her another!



P.s. That was a huge pinky - don't actually give her another........unless it's really small........

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

Ahahahahahha thanks everyone!
I thought it was big for her to....but she gobbled it down!

 

[Duke]

Holy Schnitzel, it must be "pinky" weekend or something. I think this is the 3rd pinky thread going simultaneously.

 

[ChameleonsInMyHouse]

if it is not neccesary to feed it to your chameleon than there isnt a need to feed them off IMHO. though seeing clea is a couple years old now, and she has never had one, i think your patience paid off by experimenting with it. i have fed my female 2 pinkies in her life. my decision was made careful and well. she was fed a pinky mouse after she laid her first clutch. she developed edema for months due to hypovitaminosis (the vitamin defficiency), this NATURALLY & safe-fully helped rebalance calcium to vitamin a & d and fat soluable vitamins in the mouse.

she was sensitive for some time, and as she mated for her 2nd but 1st fertile clutch, i gave her another pinky 2 days into gestation.

in clutch laying, and IMHO calcium is a crucial part of developing eggs, without sufficient calcium to be shared with both the chameleon and the egg development, more than enough is better and safer than not enough. yet the importance of balancing other vitamins and minerals is in and all just as critical. this is why gular edema is a common case with gravid females

IMHO a pinky as an occassional and i mean occasional treat, is perfectly fine if husbandry is correct and the chameleon can properly metabolize the high fat and protein food. I also think a pinky is very benificial in defficiencies, malnurioushment, etc.

but please do NOT feed RATS, MICE, OR FEEDER LIZARDS. not only is a baby rat or mouse, is too big for your chameleon, they can harm with a bite *as most snake owners are well aware of* and feeder lizards are RARELY bred for feeding purposes, let alone pet purpose. they are all Wild caught which is a huge risk of parasites to your animals.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Holy Schnitzel, it must be "pinky" weekend or something. I think this is the 3rd pinky thread going simultaneously.

Lol, does look like it - this is a post from another thread by member 'Digby Rigby' - I think it's genius, so I'm spreading the idea,

---------------------------------------------
Insect size rodents
We have found that nutritionally adult mammals are superior to pinkies. The nutrition comes from the bones and organs not the flesh and fat so much. What has worked for us are Pygmy Myce(I just like to spell mice as myce for pygmies) Here is a picture of a young adult female next to a ruler. Note the ruler is in centimeters. Adult as far as feeding is concerned is pretty much anything that has fur and open eyes so weaned are even smaller than adult



______________________

Digby Rigby [email protected]
Reptiles, green banana & other roaches and bulk dubia sales include telephone number

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here is the page if you want the picture- https://www.chameleonforums.com/mice-61234/index2.html

 

[reptimanny]

Wow she ate that like it was nothing.....looks like that pinky had some hair already

 

[Ekproject]

That is crazy. Never thought you could feed a chameleon a mouse.

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

Wow she ate that like it was nothing.....looks like that pinky had some hair already

Yeah it's an older pinky but I didn't know what to call it lol

The mouse was dead when being fed so it couldn't have bit her. Thanks for the information though

 

[sauer]

enlightening

Awesome, my friends were asking the other day if chameleons will eat rodents or fish, I had never heard of it. But like you said, in the wild, with nothing else to eat, i'm sure eating mice and fish are not rarely seen.

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

Awesome, my friends were asking the other day if chameleons will eat rodents or fish, I had never heard of it. But like you said, in the wild, with nothing else to eat, i'm sure eating mice and fish are not rarely seen.

Remember that rodents and fish should only be fed as treats. Really only one is recommended in the chameleons life. You should stick to crickets and worms as a staple diet

 

[sandrachameleon]

Bash on me all you want.

I dont know why you think people would bash on you. Offering one pinkie, though totally unnecessary, is certainly not the end of the world. Its only if one makes bad meals a regular occurance that would be troubling.