can Vietnamese cent. be fed live mice?

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
can mau chau kill and eat a live mouse?
good grief... obviously no one in here took much debate in school, eh?


the topic to be "debated" is CAN THEY EAT A LIVE MOUSE.

anyone who is responding to anything except that is thread jacking... if you want to debate ethics there are tons of threads for that... this thread is about CAN a centipede kill and eat a live mouse. sheesh.

also, dictating ethics to someone is the height of arrogance... but, i rather doubt that will bother most of the posters in this thread
 

konrad16660

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Messages
87
I have not found it to be detrimental to their health at all. exessive feeding of mice though is not recommended. I feel they gain a lot of nutrition from the occassional mouse.


Like I said, its not a question of nutrition but a question of safety and ethics. You are still not getting this point.
 

ragnew

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
525
I can see Konrad's point now (I think). I presonally don't think that theres anything wrong with feeding a large enough pede an occasional Fuzzy Mouse or Pinkie. Though I think it's a pretty bad idea to feed even the largest of Pedes a full grown adult mouse. Full growns have some pretty serious teeth, and if they have the chance could do some serious damage to the Pede attacking it. Think of some of the wounds they can cause to snakes and varanids.

So in my eyes, yes, I think it's okay to feed a full grown adult Subspinipes a fuzzy mouse, but I won't recommend an adult.
 

Nich

Curator of glass boxes
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2004
Messages
836
Yes

I fed my hatians a variety of vertebrates. A mixture of food is healthy, but you have to oversee the feeding, even an uneaten pinky could mutilate a pede.
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
we should probably make sure we are all using the same operational definitions here.

to me, mice means any of a certain rodent species characterized by small (>= 3" body length,not counting tail) adult size. mice does not necessarily indicate a particular life stage to me.

to me, pinky means the VERY early life stage of said mouse, characterized by a distinct lack of visible hair. at this stage mice are very nearly, if not completely, defenseless. pinkies can not lift their own body off the ground and walk as a "traditional" adult mouse. i am not even sure if they have opened eyes or not. i have seen pinkies at or just under 1/2" BL.

i believe fuzzy means the next stage when the mouse is mobile and furry. i have never used these or any larger of the life stages to feed any of my bugs, live or dead or f/t. i would consider prekilled or f/t if i thought i bug could benefit from the meal.

hopper i believe traditionally refers to full or near-full grown mice that are very quick and have teeth that bite and claws that scratch.

i believe the largest danger posed by pinkies would be to be incompletely or not consumed and make a rot funk. this could easily lead directly or indirectly to the death of a pet bug.

fuzzies and most especially hoppers (or full adult if that is another category) can get a fatal bite in a very small percentage of cases and can get a wounding bite in a larger but still small percentage of the time (when the predator bug outmasses them by at least 5x. if you put equal mass bug vs. rodent you are just asking to lose your bug).

i have fed pinkies to largish S. supspinipes and it took 15 minutes for the wretched thing to stop squeaking... and adult would be tougher and possibly go into a death frenzy. granted, i have seen and heard/read of subspinipes dropping larger than pinky sized mice or rats much quicker and with no damage to themselves... but given enough tests the bug is destined to fail one
 

Scott C.

Arachnofloater
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
936
I use pinkies, and fuzzies, but the fuzzies I am referring to are as incapable of damaging anything as a pinkie. Eyes are still closed. Jaws still quite weak. Only difference is that they are a bit more mobile, and the fur is just starting to grow in..... I think terminology regarding the scale of development varies store to store.
 

nickbachman

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
140
when the fuzzies open their eyes, they're classified as hoppers, at my local shop anyway.
 

Dr. Octopus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
16
I dont see why its shocking? i'd be shocked if the law was changed here to allow the feeding of live vertebrates, feeding live mammals to predatory animals in a confined space is immoral in my opinion.

Good grief! How is it 'immoral'? Are you applying human standards to your centipedes?That's the same line of silly thinking as some vegans I know who will not feed thier dogs or cats animal products....
I have a large pet frog, and feed him live mice and incects all the time- He's perfectly happy and healthy....
I'd NEVER give my frog a stale frozen dead mouse or dead insects...

Same goes for feeding centipedes , spiders, scorpions and snakes- I would only give them live prey-
If a person doesnt have the stomach to feed these creatures live prey, I have to wonder if they should even have them as pets in the first place...
 

Bayushi

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
1,236
Okay i just read this entire thread and for the most part it's exactly like every other thread ever started about feeding mice to your inverts.

To answer the original question: We've all, or at least most of us have, seen the videos of cents eating a mouse. So the obvious answer is yes, they can.


as for the legality of using live mice as feeders in the UK. if you don't live there or understand the laws, don't argue about them being stupid.

Finally cus it was stated that if animals didn't want to be eaten they shouldn't be made out if meat. keep in mind people are animals made out of meat, but it doesn't mean i'm gonna go kill my neighbours kid and have a barbeque or feed one of them to my pets. it's just a stupid thing say in an attempt to try and make your argument the winning side.
 

Bigboy

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
1,234
well, if the pedes not hungry, then ill just throw the mouse in with my redtail... teeth are already out, no need to worry about it biting the snake. usually when i get mice, i put 'em in the freezer to let them freeze (most humane way to kill a mouse IMO). but i just wanted to experiment that one time...
Humane!!!!! Freezing a higher organism that is endothermic is nowhere near being humane, that is downright wrong and there is no argument otherwise. You do realize what would happen to you if you were to freeze to death? Same thing for a mouse, buy prekilled frozen rather than that!
Pedes can eat mice, they can overpower and take lots of small vertebrates for that matter depending on species. Should yours, that is for you to decide, not any bleeding heart opinionated anonymous poster here.
 
Last edited:

Nich

Curator of glass boxes
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2004
Messages
836
?!? :? ?!?
I'm not seeing how thats confusing...lol. Not necesarrily an newborn pinky, but any mouse that can move under its own power can certainly hurt or kill a pede....calcerous teeth vs. venom.....venom does not always win.
 

Bigboy

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
1,234
I'm not seeing how thats confusing...lol. Not necesarrily an newborn pinky, but any mouse that can move under its own power can certainly hurt or kill a pede....calcerous teeth vs. venom.....venom does not always win.
It was confusing because your original post said that even a newborn pinky could mutilate a pede.
 
Top