Hi, I would like to give you some advice regarding diet. First dog and cat food is actually a very poor food choice, even low fat ones are way to much for any lizard to handle and you risk hepatic, renal and cardiac problems in our lizard. On the other end of the spectrum you are rigth in incluing the widest variety of vegetables and fruits that you can find. Try fruits and vegetables that you would feed to a green iguana and put in a blender, thats how I got my specimens to eat them in a regular basis. The remainder of the diet should include the widest variety possible of guttloaded insects. I feed mine locusts, dubia roaches and superworms mainly. Try to aim a 60% animal, 40% vegetable diet. As for breeding your friend is wrong, yes it is unusual mainly because wild imports are so cheap, but every now and then people and zoos in Europe report captive breeding sucess. A large enclosure, preferably with the oportunity to go outside if the climate is suitable, seazonal changes and a large group of animals allongside general good husbandry are the keys.
$20 pickup
- Thread starter mshill90
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I feed him a tube packaged dog food, which gives him the proper amount of all nutrients.. It's ground chicken and vegetables. (Fresh Pet Selects Brand) I feed my other plateds this as well. The breeder I mentioned feeds this as their staple diet, and has been using this since the food came out a few years back. I do not use CHEAP dog food, and I would NEVER use cat food. Nor did I mention cat food.
I do not need care advice on this lizard, as he's got the best care available. But thanks for the concern. I have a smaller bottegoi that has MBD from a careless owner, to the point he had to have calcium injections because he couldn't move, and he's made a great recovery so far.
As for the breeder.. He is the ONLY on is the UNITED STATES who has captively bred them. If they do it in europe, great.. but I am talking this exact sub species as well.
And I've already got the blueprints on his cage ready to go.
I can assure you even high quality dog food is way to much for any lizard to handle, specially on a regular basis. I hardly think any kind of dog food is the best diet available, even low fat ones are full of hard to metabolise protein, full of phosphorus, too high in liposoluble vitamins, etc, you name it. I mencioned cat food just to make shure. Anyway these guys are mainly generalist insect/invertebrate eaters in the wild with some adition of vegetable foods and stuff like fallen baby birds for big lizards, however vertebrade foods is a VERY SMALL part of the diet. Dubia roach colonies are very easy to establish and give allot of inexpensive, all year available food. Same thing for mealworms. With a bit of other insect foods you have a nicely round diet.
As for the breeder Im talking species and subspecies level as well, as I told you is rare simply because there are so many of these guys wild cauth, they are cheap and people are focussed in breeding investiment quality reptiles. As for the states I really dont know, however this species has been present in the pet trade for a good 2 decades or more now, I find hard to beleave that a reptile that actually is fairly easy to breed given the rigth conditions (hell I am the only person that I know of that has more then 2 animals, I know several but all have just one, there is even a guy here that houses he´s with bearded dragons in a large terrarium) has only been bred once and by only one person. I mean...Draco spp. are extremely hard to even keep alive in captivity, let alone bred, however there is one person in Florida (aside from a very few in Europe) that I know for shure has accomplished it. And could be more that I dont know of. If your friend is true that would put this sub species of plated lizard at the same level (or even lower) of flying dragons in captivity, as far as breeding is concerned. That I find VERY hard to beleave. Plated lizards are hardy, adapt readly to captivity and are available in large numbers. The only reason their breeding is rare is because people dont care enough for them to go behond the simple keeping and try breeding seriously.
As for the breeder Im talking species and subspecies level as well, as I told you is rare simply because there are so many of these guys wild cauth, they are cheap and people are focussed in breeding investiment quality reptiles. As for the states I really dont know, however this species has been present in the pet trade for a good 2 decades or more now, I find hard to beleave that a reptile that actually is fairly easy to breed given the rigth conditions (hell I am the only person that I know of that has more then 2 animals, I know several but all have just one, there is even a guy here that houses he´s with bearded dragons in a large terrarium) has only been bred once and by only one person. I mean...Draco spp. are extremely hard to even keep alive in captivity, let alone bred, however there is one person in Florida (aside from a very few in Europe) that I know for shure has accomplished it. And could be more that I dont know of. If your friend is true that would put this sub species of plated lizard at the same level (or even lower) of flying dragons in captivity, as far as breeding is concerned. That I find VERY hard to beleave. Plated lizards are hardy, adapt readly to captivity and are available in large numbers. The only reason their breeding is rare is because people dont care enough for them to go behond the simple keeping and try breeding seriously.
Look, I'm feeding what I'm feeding it.. the person who I get my info from, the breeder, has worked with multiple zoos, and does rehabbing for a few reptile species as well. He knows his stuff. He would NEVER harm his animals or feed them something that would be harmful. I trust him.
I'm not going to sit here and go back and forth about what I should feed and shouldn't feed.
Plateds are common, however, this subspecies isn't. They are brought in once a year in the states, and even those numbers can be limited sometimes. And it's not very common to find them at this size for sale.
The ingredients for the food I feed is the following.. just so you know..
Again, I'm not going to bicker back and forth as to what I should be feeding it.
Ingredients:
Chicken, Eggs, Chicken Liver, Chicken Broth, Carrots, Brown Rice, Peas, Rice Bran, Carrageenan, Salt, Natural Flavors.
Vitamins:
Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride,Folic Acid.
Minerals:
Calcium Carbonate, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Niacin, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.
Yep, Yep, your breeder is the god of plated lizards I'm sure. His words are absolute, just as yours should be. I'd admit I don't know nuts about this lizard, but I'm just going to rephrase what I mentioned on the other thread. A single trend of information has never been sufficient. A simple google search shows that many institutions don't recommended high quality dog food as a staple, but instead only as a occasional snack. Your lizard certainly is under good care, but does not have the BEST care. Still, this does not mean your lizard will end in bad health. End of story.
Fine by me, I however feal sorry for your plated and for your keeping attempts as you would be so much sucessfull if you just TRYED the husbandry Im sugesting. And I wish I could show some of the stuff I get in the vets I give advice to related to feeding stuff like dog food to reptiles. Maybe you wouldnt be so shure of your words after extracting a ping-pong ball size stone from a turtle´s bladder. I simply isnt worth the risk and I dont even feed as suplementary food to any of my many omnivorus species. The only prob I have with that is people comming here and regarding that as good husbandry. As for your friend being a zoo keeper that actually doesant surprise me at all and actually giving such thing as dog food to reptiles is really a "Zookeepers style of keeping". Like the guys here in zoos, the ones I just CANT STAND on front of me and that insist of doing such things as feeding clean meat to komodo dragons, gila monsters and basiliscs, and then wonder why their animals dont breed, are obese and are full of all sorts of metabolic disorders. However if you try to help them they regard themselfes as experts, dont lissen and dont care.
And sorry but yes your lizard is VERY comon, I see them for sale on kingsnake (US imports and dealers) at the shovel full. That might change in a few years as I alredy herd that their import will probably be suspended, but they are and have been for a long time comon and cheap.
And sorry but yes your lizard is VERY comon, I see them for sale on kingsnake (US imports and dealers) at the shovel full. That might change in a few years as I alredy herd that their import will probably be suspended, but they are and have been for a long time comon and cheap.
Really, why are you all jumping on me? We all have our own ways of keeping our pets. Let's leave it at that.
This thread was to show what I purchased, not to have all of you school me on how horrible of a keeper I am.
It's unnecessary by far.
This thread was to show what I purchased, not to have all of you school me on how horrible of a keeper I am.
It's unnecessary by far.
Sigh....once again you're overreacting and unopened to the possibility of change. Coura is one of our most knowledgeable members on this site when it comes to reptiles. He would never steer someone in the wrong direction. Their are many extremely intelligent reptile keepers in Europe. They've been doing this kind of thing a lot longer then we have in the US so please show them some respect. No one is telling you you're a bad keeper, just a few things need to be addressed, that's all. This whole hobby is constantly evolving and nothing is ever set in stone. Also this is the internet and if you post information up, be prepared for the outcome of people commenting on your method.
If we don't comment, did you simply expect us to praise you?I'm sure the plated will do fine, coura was just suggesting a better alternative which would guarantee a higher chance of having a thriving lizard.
