pinkys

[PardalisGirl]

Pinkies........

I have written them off after cutting them open multiple times and seeing the big pockets of actually fat compared to their size. I've cut apart plenty of hoppers and older mice as well. You can see the difference in lean meat, fat and bone between the different ages. Pinkies are also mostly cartilage instead of calcified bone. Carnivorous reptiles babies become calcium deficient (MBD) if fed only pinkies. I rely on my common sense. I like the well marbled fatty rib-eye steak the best but I know a lean trimmed New York steak would be better for me. If you want to give your cham a pinkie once and a while, go ahead. I like to spend my money on food and treats that contribute towards breeding condition. If pinkie mice were shown to work towards that goal, we would all be feeding them to our chams. I'd rather spend the money on a nice big roach. Baby birds have more calcium than a pinkie does. You can find baby birds in trees, but not too many pinkies. I trust my own experience on this subject.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

I have fed pinkies to chams but just when a cham seems lighter than usually or needs a little fat boost. I learned from the amazing internet that hoppers are preet good for a protein, fat, and calcium boost for adult chams every once in a great while. I feed a hopper to just about every cham maybe every 3-6 months. Depends on how I'm feeling. I figure in nature they would encounter a small lizard or small bird/mouse about that often if not more often but don't want to overdo the protein and fat. The chams go nuts when they see those little things running around though. This last time I put each cham in a different tree of the free ranges and let the little hoppers out on each of the feeding deck(A plastic platform that has a 3 inch lip to keep bugs in and is placed below each chams favorite perch). I feel bad feeding them live mice but only my older adults would eat a dead mouse as they gave up on the food having to move to eat it thing awhile ago. to reiterate everyone's point, no they do not need to be feed pinky mice or any kind of mouse for that matter ever. People raise chams one strictly insect diets to live very healthy long lives. I just like to spoil them every once in awhile and like I said they just love the little mice.


justin

 

[jojackson]

Im sure you would find great varience in the analysis. Bare in mind domestic (lab/petstore) captive bred rodents will generally have a higher fat content than their wild counterparts.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=2c1f0b26dd6b8ca275164b766de759f3

http://rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf

 

[nateboston78]

I rely on my common sense. I like the well marbled fatty rib-eye steak the best but I know a lean trimmed New York steak would be better for me.

Unfortunately this suffers a from a misconception around fat. Perhaps this would be a good read as well and may widen your thought on fat in general. I'm in no way claiming that we have the same fat requirements as a reptile, but nutritional requirements of chameleons being such a mystery it doesn't hurt to be open minded.

http://www.cabpartners.com/news/press/GoodfatNR082008.pdf

 

[PardalisGirl]

Exactly......

Im sure you would find great varience in the analysis. Bare in mind domestic (lab/petstore) captive bred rodents will generally have a higher fat content than their wild counterparts.

That is an excellent point and one I think is totally valid. As far as my mind goes.....I think I have a pretty open mind. The fact that I tried pinkie mice in the first place shows that I'm open to trying new things. It's true that fat has a place in just about any diet I can think of. And reptiles in recovery that have suffered a weight loss may benefit from a pinkie mouse or two.

However, after all I've experience with reptiles in general (and this does include a great deal of reading) and chams in particular I see no benefit to a pinkie mouse other than the occasional thrill gotten by seeing your cham eat one if that is something you enjoy. Nothing at all wrong with that pleasure at all. We all like to spoil our chams with one thing or another.

Suggesting that they are fine as a regular food item when most people don't get wild caught pinkies and chams don't normally find them in nature anyway seems odd to me. I try to replicate the diet and habitat they get in nature to promote health and safe reproduction.

 

[nateboston78]

The good news is you can feel better about eating your marbled rib eye now. =)