crocodile`s and mice

[reptilesrkool]

to tell ya the truth we alway got told with our other croc to get him eating rats he wouldn`t touch em so i thourght rats mice and fish would be the best thing for him i was going to start puting calcium and vitamin`s in the rodent`s

 

[richardsc]

if they can do it outside,why isnt it viable for indoors?

4 to 5 and still in an aquarium of 6 to 8 feet says its not being kept right to me,if anything,housing indoors with ideal conditions year round,and no shortage of food should see them far outgrow outdoors and wild ones

people jump on folk if there lil childrens python has only doubled its hatchy size in 4 to 5 years,whats different with crocs

to me thats like keeping a scrubby in a hatchling rack for 4 to 5 years and saying its ok,i rarely feed it ,its still alive so alls good

just because u keep something doesnt mean your an expert,ive never kept crocs,i couldnt supply them what they need,so im no expert,but common sense can answer alot of the questions

to the original poster,if fur concerns u,there is always the option of skinning them,pain in the butt i know but an option none the less if fur balls concern you

 

[JAS101]

fuzzy and even hopper mice should be ok for the croc , as the fur isnt as dence as say a wiener or sub adult . but if your worried then just feed it fuzzy mice . i have a platy breeding tank for my croc - once the small fish get 1-2 cm i put them in the croc tank , they keep growing in ther until he bumps them off .

 

[Kareeves]

I found that keeping crocodiles is much the same as keeping turtels. If it lives in water then feed it animals that also live in water and around water.

 

[reptilesrkool]

if they can do it outside,why isnt it viable for indoors?

4 to 5 and still in an aquarium of 6 to 8 feet says its not being kept right to me,if anything,housing indoors with ideal conditions year round,and no shortage of food should see them far outgrow outdoors and wild ones

people jump on folk if there lil childrens python has only doubled its hatchy size in 4 to 5 years,whats different with crocs

to me thats like keeping a scrubby in a hatchling rack for 4 to 5 years and saying its ok,i rarely feed it ,its still alive so alls good

just because u keep something doesnt mean your an expert,ive never kept crocs,i couldnt supply them what they need,so im no expert,but common sense can answer alot of the questions

to the original poster,if fur concerns u,there is always the option of skinning them,pain in the butt i know but an option none the less if fur balls concern you

yeah that what ill once he gets bigger but for the moment he`s only small so he can have feeder fish yabbies once i can find some small one`s and pick mice and rats

 

[Clarke.93]

.

 

[thomasssss]

i agree clarke.93 a . . . . . it is then

 

[Kam333]

Just like I pointed out in an earlier post, it appears that it is a prerequisite to flame, shoot and belittle the OP at the beginning of a post. . . then some sensible responses.

 

[chook11212]

they cant eat fish all the time fish dont have all the nutrients they need meat with supplement powder should help with nutrition you can get it from most pet shops for reptiles

 

[dozerman]

Is thiaminase an issue with crocs being fed mainly fish when in captivity?

 

[dadaman]

When can I feed my pet elephant peanuts.

Mine ate hay from the word go. Peanuts just for a treat. My elephant was going good until my Satly Croc ate it.

No, just stun the rats first by putting the tail in one side of a power point and its bottom teeth in the other side. Yes, force feeding is good..... suck the rat up into a bike pump then screw the pump into hatchies mouth and pump really hard. If you hear a loud popping noise... stop pumping

I am laughing that hard, I am crying. This has to be the best example of force feeding I have ever read on these forums

 

[slim6y]

I remember I asked a question once when I couldn't find the 'exact' answer from google, books or someone else local. So I decided to put it to the experts who actually owned the type of animal that was in question so they could, with experience, answer my question.

Seems ridiculous really - that in 4 pages of answers (not including mine) I only read a tiny handful of a) replies that are justified and b) that are on task.

Good luck with ya freshy mate - I can imagine you'd got it from a breeder - were they not all too happy to help?

 

[reptilesrkool]

i didn`t get him from a breeder just some one that was moving interstate and couldn`t take him i think the deal was and id say he didn`t no about the fur ball`s as well cause he said he wont touch mice with fur on

 

[crocodile_dan]

After reading through this thread debating whether to reply I thought I would reply with references from primary literature.

As found by Webb (1982) the most important prey of freshwater crocodiles was aquatic and terrestrial insects, fish and crustaceans. With an increase in crocodile body size an increase in the proportion of aquatic prey was consumed. Vegetation was found in 39.9% of crocodile stomachs, parasites were present in 43.8% and 88.2% of crocodiles had stones present in the stomach.

A study by Garnett (1986) on parameters affecting growth of saltwater crocodiles in captivity concluded that diets of pork and beef were superior to fish.

Webb (1991) found that the average juvenile diet of saltwater crocodiles is characterized by 70-71% water, low fat levels 3-4.5%, high protein content 12.7-14.7% and Ca from 7:1 in animals 300-599 mm TL declining to 2:1 in animals 900-1200 mm TL. Captive crocodiles mean food conversion rate is 17-40% as compared to wild counterparts of 82.4%. Wild crocodiles require food equivalent to 4% of its body weight per week while captive crocodiles require four times that amount (16% body weight).

Now to give my personal views. A varied diet is always best, for juvenile crocs I would feed twice a week on crickets, pinky mice, beef heart, beef liver, kangaroo mince (with vitamin and calcium supplement mixed in), chicken, yabbies, freshwater shrimp, small feeder fish (rainbow fish). If you want to get more technical about dietary components then use the above references. In regards to stones, crocs ingest stones to help in mechanical digestion in the stomach. In regards to vegetation present in stomach content I would assume the majority is ingested during prey acquisition, but I have known one juvenile salty to tear up and consequently swallow two water lilly plants over the space of 6 months, whether this is relevant to diet I don't know he was just a cranky boy.

Oh and yes I do have experience in crocs

References:
Webb, GJW, Manolis, SC and Buckworth, R (1982). Australian Journal of Zoology, 30, 6, pp. 877-899.
Garnett, ST and Murray, RM (1986). Australian Journal of Zoology, 34, 2, pp. 211-223.
Webb, GJW, Hollis, GJ and Manolis, SC (1991). Journal of Herpetology, 25, 4, pp. 462-473.

 

[reptilesrkool]

thanks crocodile_dan that is some really good info i new about the rock and digestion but didn`t ow about that in the wild there none to eat vegetation thank mate im bout to go shoping to get some some more tuker lol

 

[crocodile_dan]

I don't know whether they actively consume vegetation as a part of their intended diet, I would assume it is far more likely that when they strike at prey items they may inherently get a proportion of vegetation ingested. Being the study animals were juveniles and the majority of prey were invertebrates the majority would be found in and around plant matter. One issue with dietary analysis is the over representation of harder to digest items and the underrepresentation of easily digested items, all the items in the study would have relatively hard body parts (exoskeletons, scales, plant matter) when looking at the data objectively there is likely to be prey items included in the diet that would not have been detected in the study, from the date of the study we can know that modern techniques and technology were not available for this study.

Aside from the croc and water lily I observed my old manager told me a similar thing happened in an older exhibit where the croc destroyed the aquatic plants, there was no comment on whether they were ingested though.

 

[tweety2]

hey mate we have had our freshie for nearly 12 months now we feed him feeder fish chunks of chicken meat crushed up chicken necks and crushed up chicken wings as well as velvet rats as a treat we feed him some roo meat, but were told that if you dont want him to grow too quickly to only feed red meat every so often as red meat bulks them up quick hope that helps and enjoy ur croc mate they are great

 

[CaptainRatbag]

Breed hairless mice or rats? Ingie on here is a genetic ace.... she might be able to help you. She has a beautiful :shock: hairless rat called Fugly (for some reason) :lol: she might know where to get (or have) a hairless strain? My local (Beerwah qld) petshop sells hairless mice, I know, because some of my mice are bald as :shock: It is like they are 'pre-skinned (skun?)

Next problem?

gday guys just wondering at what age/size i can feed my my year old+ freshwater crocodile mice or rats with furr cheer`s

How big/small is he? I for one would love to see a pic of you feeding him

 

[Kam333]

To the OP this is the dribble you may have to wade through to get a sensible answer. I am amazed that the usual offenders havent started screaming "troll" with the typical limited intellect, you have toughed it out this far (congrats, seen many disappear from less) there are some good responses from some knowledgeable non egotistical people.
Just out of curiosity why mice ( more expensive per kg than chicken)? I asked a friend if he fed his crocs mice and his reply was that mice would be a less likely food source for freshies than fish, crustations and small water birds. He also mentioned that yes crocs (both sp) are known to eat vegetation. Good luck.

 

[Magpie]

After reading through this thread debating whether to reply I thought I would reply with references from primary literature.

As found by Webb (1982) the most important prey of freshwater crocodiles was aquatic and terrestrial insects, fish and crustaceans. With an increase in crocodile body size an increase in the proportion of aquatic prey was consumed. Vegetation was found in 39.9% of crocodile stomachs, parasites were present in 43.8% and 88.2% of crocodiles had stones present in the stomach.

A study by Garnett (1986) on parameters affecting growth of saltwater crocodiles in captivity concluded that diets of pork and beef were superior to fish.

Webb (1991) found that the average juvenile diet of saltwater crocodiles is characterized by 70-71% water, low fat levels 3-4.5%, high protein content 12.7-14.7% and Ca from 7:1 in animals 300-599 mm TL declining to 2:1 in animals 900-1200 mm TL. Captive crocodiles mean food conversion rate is 17-40% as compared to wild counterparts of 82.4%. Wild crocodiles require food equivalent to 4% of its body weight per week while captive crocodiles require four times that amount (16% body weight).

Now to give my personal views. A varied diet is always best, for juvenile crocs I would feed twice a week on crickets, pinky mice, beef heart, beef liver, kangaroo mince (with vitamin and calcium supplement mixed in), chicken, yabbies, freshwater shrimp, small feeder fish (rainbow fish). If you want to get more technical about dietary components then use the above references. In regards to stones, crocs ingest stones to help in mechanical digestion in the stomach. In regards to vegetation present in stomach content I would assume the majority is ingested during prey acquisition, but I have known one juvenile salty to tear up and consequently swallow two water lilly plants over the space of 6 months, whether this is relevant to diet I don't know he was just a cranky boy.

Oh and yes I do have experience in crocs

References:
Webb, GJW, Manolis, SC and Buckworth, R (1982). Australian Journal of Zoology, 30, 6, pp. 877-899.
Garnett, ST and Murray, RM (1986). Australian Journal of Zoology, 34, 2, pp. 211-223.
Webb, GJW, Hollis, GJ and Manolis, SC (1991). Journal of Herpetology, 25, 4, pp. 462-473.

I find the feed conversion rates between captive and wild crocs astounding. I have to wonder at the cause of this and whether any further research has been done.
In regards to the vegetative matter, one of the main feeding methods of freshies that I have observed it to sit in running water with their mouths open and snap at anything that enters their mouth. Obviously a lot of leaves, sticks and stems would be consumed this way.
In regards to the flaming of the OP, some things never change.