Feeding Practices Discussion

[monitorlizard]

What do we base our feeding practices off of?

-Do we try to mimic their natural diet or do we feed artificially made products manufactured to fit the animals needs, or a compromise of both?

-If you feed their natural diet, would the ratio of different food items fed have to mimic that of the stomach contents of wild animals and/or animal observations?

-If an animal eats arthropods such as crickets in the wild, is it suitable to feed it shrimp, organisms that are very different from crickets though still arthropods?

-Do we have to feed what they find in nature regardless of the nutrition facts, or do we feed food items that have the best nutrition regardless of it being natural, artificial, or part of their natural diet.

-How frequently/what volume of food should you feed? As much as the animal can eat in one sitting, or frequent and few feedings?

-What are the difference between feeding live and frozen?

-Does it matter if prey items are gutloaded prior to feeding?

-Should the animals be fed on/in a plate or bowl, or should the prey be left in the cage sporadically placed for the animal to forage for?