Porterfield Exotics

Herp Health Diet

Just because your animal eats it does not mean it is a good diet for your animal.  Always know the diet requirements for your individual species.

Insect Eating Herps:  Do not feed your Herps wild caught insects you find in your house or yard.  They are a possible source of exposure to parasites, diseases, & toxins.  Most wild insects found near homes will come into contact with pesticides.  Sometimes the pesticide may not harm that particular insect but may still be carried in its system.  A diet of toxic insects can kill your Herps or have long term effects on them and cause health problems down the line.  There are many safe commercially available insect choices.  Always Feed healthy safe gut loaded insects.

Mammal Or Bird Eating Herps:  Do Not feed wild caught mammals or birds to your herps.  Wild animals carry a variety of parasites and diseases.  If you raise your own feeder animals take pride in your feeders.  keep them healthy, clean, watered & fed on a good healthy diet suitable for the species you raise.  do not feed sick feeders to your herps.  Remember the old saying you are what you eat (See Gut loading).   If you purchase your feeders be sure to get them from a good reputable source.  Cheaper is seldom better.  Most meat eaters  can be taught to eat prekilled frozen thawed or even processed foods.  This even further reduces the chance of parasite or disease exposure as most will be killed by freezing or cooking processes.  I always recommend prekilled prey over live prey.  Prekilled is not only more humane for the prey but also much safer for the predator.  If you do have to feed live prey Never leave the prey with the herp unattended.

Plant Eating Herps:  I recommend a commercially available balanced diet food for your particular species as the main stay of their diet whenever one is available.  There is an increasing number of commercial foods available for most commonly kept species.  If you choose to feed fresh fruits and or vegetables be sure to research your species balanced feeding requirements & provide adequate supplements.  Be sure to thoroughly clean all fruits and vegetables of any possible pesticides before feeding it to them.  always feed fresh food don't give them that half rotted old junk you found in the bottom of the fridge.

Herp Eating Herps:  These are probably the most difficult and expensive herps to feed.  Obtaining snakes or lizards to use as feeders can be a difficult task, especially if such feeders are out of season.  It is best not to use wild caught feeders but if necessary to do so one must be careful to treat them for parasites and quarantine them for a time before using them as feeders.   I recommend one leave herp eaters to only the most dedicated and experienced of herpetoculturists. 

Supplements:  There are many reptile vitamin and mineral supplements available on the market.  Some are better than others for particular species.  Always research the needs for your species.  A good way to do this is to consult a reputable experienced dealer or breeder of your species.  Always use supplements as directed by the Manufacture.  A good way to administer a powdered supplement is a method called dusting.