spliting rodents

[Lrptls]

today i was feeding some of my herps which eat rodents but i didn't have enough to feed my water draon or my little savannah monitor. so i thought to just take one of my frozen mice, cut it in half and give each one a peice, so i did. an hour later when all my rodents were dethawd i took the mouse that was in 2 out, the head end was very small, just the head and arms. the other end was alot bigger and the guts were trying to spill out. i gave my monitor the bigger end and my dragon the head. my dragon gobbled it up right away. i had to leave the mouse end in my savs cage and leave the room. when i came back it was gone and he was basking. does any one think this is a bad/good idea to do again?

[jjnnbns]

ive heard people say to split them lengthwise instead.

[Auskan]

I don't know about for lizards. I have split them for my corn snakes when they were able to take two pinkies but were not yet big enough to handle a fuzzy (and yes, I tried, but it was too big and they reguritated). But I split it lengthwise, and that way each half is roughly "equal" in terms of nutrition. Also, I gave the same corn the second half of the same fuzzy for the next meal so over the course of the two meals it got one whole fuzzy.

[Lrptls]

well i might as well not do it again. i dont think the dragon could take that much mouse. plus when i cut it in half, how will all the guts and things stay in the rodent while dethawing and then feeding to the animal?

[ChristinaM]

I have split a mouse before. I did it lengthwise while it was frozen. Surprisingly as it thawed, the organs and such stayed pretty much in place. I didn't find it that messy or anything.

[Big_V]

Its probably fine for the monitor but the water dragon shouldnt really eat those things until its a little bigger. He/She looks pretty small to be eating stuff like that. Its hard on the digestive system. But once is okay ;)

[mykee]

The only problem I can see is that you didn't have enough food for your pets.

[Lrptls]

exactly the problem mykee. iv been so sick, i was bairly able to feed my animals while i was sick let alone go out and get rodents. i figured trying to split a rodent for them would be better than leave them hungry, i just have to start geting more rodents from now on.

[Lisa]

I always cut afterthaw, with SHARP scissors