Okay it may be silly to ask but here goes.
Will it hurt the Chinese Water Dragon if I just boycott the idea of feeding the Pinkie Mice?
I can do alot of things but I dont think I want to be feeding the Dragon Pinkie mice and I know that the kids or the wife are'nt going to. I have studied and researched everything I can think of for this dragon and can honestly take care of every other aspect of the Chinese Water Dragon with this one exception. Can anyone let me off of the hook here and say that if I fed him/her every other balance of the diet ie: crickets, mealworms, earthworms and veggies etc. with the appropriate calcium and vitamin supplements, that Our Chinese Water Dragon would thrive just as well without that one aspect of the pinkie mice?
I have an introductory thread I am about to post, You may have seen it at HerpHabitats because I dont feel like typing it all over and I am going to Copy and Paste it here at HC.
Thanks,
Chris

Chris,
Welcome to HC. I read your introductory post and I know what you feel like with being suckered into a lizard for the kids. I did the same thing for my son for Christmas. lol I am not an expert on Chinese Water Dragon; infact I know very little. I have read other posts where some have said they feed thier lizards frozen thawed pinkies. I don't know if that will make it any easier for everyone else in the family. Also, I don't think they have to have them every day, maybe a couple of times per week. I am sure that someone else with more knowledge will respond to your post very soon. Hang in there!
Angel

__________________
Hard to notice, gleaming from the sky
When you're staring at the cracks
Hard to notice what is passing by
With eyes lowered

"The Leaving Song"- AFI

0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx (Spike)
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons (Hercules, Megora & Eeyore)
1.0.0 Bi-color Flame Point Himalayan (Koda)
1.2.0 Children (Dimitri, Mercedes, and Mariah)

From what I understand, whole prey is a very important part of a water dragon's diet. Are you willing to give it fish as well? I don't know if cutting pinkies out is a good idea, I really can't give solid advice in this catagory yet, but I'm wondering why you want to cut them out. Is there any specific reason why you don't want to feed them to your dragon?

__________________
http://dragcave.net/user/manhirwen

Yes, manhirwen is correct, whole prey is a very important part of a Chinese Water Dragon diet...you can hold off on feeding pinks until he is an adult...or 24 inches..but Id start feedign them sooner..whole prey is supposed to make up 50% of their diet, insects 40% and veggies 10% if he will take them, if not increase the % of insects...also, when they get to be adults Ive noticed that they want somethign more then insects...and pinkeys are the thing...obviously as your dragon grows he will be eatign more hard shelled insects such as crix and mealies..when consumed in large amounts it increases their risk of impactation...its just a thought..its whats best for your Chinese Water Dragon and will be easier on your wallet if u know what I mean

Yes the fish would not be as bad to me, I just hate mice, rats and roaches, I dont like them in my house and they are just nasty to me. I am not scared of them or anything, if I were to see one in my house (and the little suckers have gotten in on ocassion) I try to stomp the fire out of um or suck them up in the shop vac or whatever. Now my wife on the other hand is scared of them (as alot of females I have met are). The idea of feeding the Dragon pinkie mice is bad enough then add in that they are frozen together to have to be seperated or cut in half and that just multiplies it. Now I have Deer hunted and skinnned a Deer (for food not sport) that didnt bother me too much and I dont do it anymore, I just love animals too much and cant personaly kill them anymore. I dont knock those that still hunt either, but these mice are going to take some gritting my teeth and making a few unpleasent faces to be able to do this.

Thanks,
Chris

Ohk, you can buy frozen pinks and thaw them out..which is honestly the best way to go..as for feeding roaches mine wont touch them for some reason..heh..go figure lucky me :P the pinks dont have to be cut in half or pulled apart or anyhting like that you get them fully seperated from eachother..meaning none frozen together...the dragon will eat them whole, very rarely eating just half...I dont feed fish anymore, now that they take pinks...u can use any type of feeder guppies....hope ive helped

If feeding pinkies I would only ever feed f/t pinkies - live is very unnecessary.
The best and most wholesome diet for a water dragon is that made up of insects, some whole prey and a little veg if they will eat it, as mentioned by mshrmheadcharge.
The Trimpro - with frozen rodents I really don't see the problem, (people often think we are disgusting when we say we have a freezer full of rodents for our snakes, but I always tell them it is just like that frozen chicken or beef that we are eating for our dinner), but I have to say I find your reaction to live rodents in your house quite disturbing, a life is a life afterall. This site does not advocate cruelty to any animals, and that includes even feeder animals.

__________________
"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Thank You for your post "mshrmheadcharge" I wasnt talking about feeding roaches hehe I just stated that it was about the only other pest that I dint like to fool with. I checked at a place on Google and came up with a resource for the pinkies (about 25.00 us per 100 frozen) , I didnt realize that they were just like .5-1 inch ....that wont be so bad. And putting them in the freezer doesnt bother me, Sounds like (uh I forget his name) up there furthur in the thread has a problem with the people he comes in contact with that question him about what he puts in his freezer.

Thanks to all who have TRULY helped me and not tried to find a sentence in all of my post collectively to condemn me with.

Chris

I guess I'mnot seeing the post your referring too..... *shrug*

Anyhow, back the important matter, your dragon I just recently swicthed from live pinkies to frozen and must say they are easy, convienient and not messy at all. I just grab 2 of them out of the bag (I have only had 2 frozen together 1 time) and thenput them in a sandwhich/ziplock bag. I squish all the air out of the bag and drop it in a cup that I fill with hot water from the tap. 5 minutes later I dump the cup and refill to keep the water hot. I let the pinkies thaw in the hot water for about 20-30 minutes then pull them out. They are a little moist from the thawing process but not water logged becase the bag protects them. Dip there butts in calcium powder and drop them in front of Skittle or hold them in front of him, he rarely hesitates, pinkies are his favorite. Best of luck, when I started with Pooka (my first dragon) I hated the tought of mice, crickets, worms, all of it. I have long since become quite comfy with them and would even raise roaches at this point if the could get the girl friend to let me.

Ohh, Trimpro, if only you were in our shoes! We feed our geckos live pinkies because they won't even LOOK at the frozen ones -- and not only that, we breed our own mice for feeders! It took a lot of getting used to at first, I just kept telling myself it's a natural thing for the geckos; if they were in the wild, they'd seek out nests and get them that way. However, I'm totally agreed with Pooka -- your Chinese Water Dragon should have no problem with f/t pinkies. You might have to hold it in front of him and move it a little to get his interest, but he should take them.

Don't feel bad about not wanting live rodents in your home either, lots of people feel the same way. The thought is always there that they might get out, and they do have a tendency to destroy everything in sight! With the live pinkies, though, they're not developed enough to get anywhere, and if you like, you can just drop them in the enclosure and walk away. You probably wouldn't see a thing. Try to keep that in mind just in case your Chinese Water Dragon doesn't take to the f/t. Good luck!

__________________
I give up! I've officially lost count of the critters...