Food Prep

[Jelot92707]

Hey everyone i finally found some completly organic chicken(i had to ask for it and to store cuz they didn't have it) and i was just wondering on some of your opinions on how to prepare it and/orcook it for my IJ Izzy he's 21 inches long so also i was wondering how big of chunks can he have???Oh and what size mouse can i use for a treat????Thanks every one i hope to get a camera for some pics real soon to!!!Please any one just throw out some ideas please thanks!!

[Zach]

Crock pot works for me....and/or broil it. The size of chunks can be whatever you want, just not enormous, although if you through a big piece in there, he would just take bites off it....but moderate pieces is easier to eat.

Hoppers are generally the standard size. If someone says an "adult" mouse, well, that could mean anything, and you could wind up with a mouse way too big. Hoppers are small fully fured wide-eyed mice that can run, but they are not big.

[Leigh]

I zap my chicken, if feeding mice do frozen as live can damage your skink{teeth and claws}

[Jelot92707]

ok thank guys i think ill try all three waysand se which way izzy likes best so i can try hoppers ok that sounds good but i think ill go for the natural benifit of live food ie the natural act of hunting and chasing the food down out weighs the risks.

[Steve]

I don't like organic free range chicken... it's cruel.

[Jelot92707]

how is it cruel???and i just wan organic so theres no ther add stuff etting into izzy like antibotics or growth hormones ya know!!but really why is it cruel??

[Steve]

Google it and come to your own conclusions... it's highly debated.

Basically chickens are cannablistic... they will attack eachother in commercial farming conditions.
For that reason, traditional farms debeak chickens.

Farms that are organic/free range don't. They usually will make a big deal, touting the fact that they don't engage in this practice.

But what does that actually mean for the chickens? It means they are free to attack eachother. Now you take a bunch of animals that attack eachother and deny them antibiotics... leaving them free to get infections that go untreated by medicine.

I understand you don't want to pass anything on to your skink, but human grade foods are under strict regulations. There is nothing to worry about.

All you are getting from organic food is animals that are not provided with the advantages of modern medicine. You are getting scrawny animals that are not nearly as healthy.

[NomadOfTheHills]

Eh, properly raised chickens will not attack each other if given enough room, hence the free ranged part, meaning they have a lot of room available to them.

Granted, I don't know if I would spend the money on organic free ranged chicken on a lizard, as I can't afford to eat that way myself lol...


I'm waiting for deer season so my roomate can get us some free meat lol

Mouse Sizes:

Pinkie
Fuzzy
Hopper
Crawler/Weanling
Adult

[russman]

I can't wait until my guys can eat mice. I love watching my Ball Python, Jinx, eat em.. its fascinating.

[Jelot92707]

where in the world did you hear that traditional farms debeak chickens? Because and now forgive me if i'm wrong but how would the chicken eat with out a beak? just a simple question. also chicken will resort to cannabalism if they are under fed as with most animals will if there is not enough food around. now when you get down to it which you use is a personal choice but for me the growth hormones they feed animals issomething i wouldn't put in my own body and if i wouldn't eat it then i will not give it to any of my pets ya know.
-Russ i know what you mean i love feeding my ball python Duke small rats!

[NomadOfTheHills]

I think he is right about the debeaking part. In large commercial factory/farms that is.

[Steve]

Properly raised... key phrase. Doesn't happen often, in practice.



My pink tongue skinks just eat snails 24/7 That's fine by me, but I'd love it if they'd have a more aggressive feeding response to some of the alternatives I offer.

[LittleFoot]

Also, I have read that free-range doesn't nessecarily mean living outside to wander about, it just means that they get a larger space then most chickens in traditional commercial farms. I have also heard that most commercial chicken farms do debeak. Also, most farms tend to destroy male chicks in massive numbers since they arent as profitable as females since they can lay eggs, make more chicks, and then be used as dinner.

[Jelot92707]

hey non of them actually full debeak the chickens they just cut off about half of the beak when there still young and the beak is soft.jus some info!

[Leigh]

All this debeaking cunjours up pictures of Daffy Duck, getting smashed in the face and seeing his beak bounce on the floor ha haaa

On that note, we have barn raised chicken eggs and there is a noticable size,colour and taste difference, all for the better,even the shells are slightly thicker and mottled

[Steve]

Jelot, notice that I never said debeaking was cruel. Glad you did some research and can draw your own conclusions.

I'd say if you can find a local source for organic food, that's fine.
But my whole point is that an organic commercial farm could be even less humane than a traditional farm. Mass production while denying animals modern medicine is a recipe for disaster, but people buy into the organic craze.

[Jelot92707]

No you never did say that.But pumping the chicken full of medication is because of the stressed cramped conditons that traditional farms that supply for golden plump and other companies like them.The birds are kept with 2 birds per square foot and since they have had there beaks half cut off they have to be feed intraveniously (sp) and also they are pumped so full of growth hormones that there bodies grow at such a fast rate that there feet cant support them thus they break. Thats why they use meds the birds immune system is shot from the stressed and cramped living conditions.
Now in my opinion that is opposed to organic which is free range grain feed(so they don't attack eachother) but the tearm free rang is used lightly as most of the time they are held in very large barns with at least 6 square feet per bird. And with have the "free range" bird the bird is "happier" and healthier letting there own natural immune system deal with any infections.
Sorry for such a long reply i called so old friends that still do farming!
Ya we hit a subject i'm a little passionate about!

[SailleSkinklover]

Jeez I'd much rather eat whole-beaked free range organic chicken thats not pumped full of hormones that'll give me extra breasts, than eat the anitbiotic-fed meat-fed crapola that is commercial. I'd rather pay the extra now for organic than pay for the cancer treatments down the road, thanx!
(And it literally tastes better anyway!) I just give my Bluey a few chunks off my plate, he loves it! And I don't have to worry about him growing a pair of boobs because of whatever weirdness is pumped into the meat!

After all, its the over-use of antibiotics that is helping cause all the weird super bacteria to mutate and be resistant! Yuk!

[Steve]

back up your claim that debeaking chickens and pumping them full of antibiotics is helping to cause "all the weird super bacteria to mutate and be resistant"

I remain strongly against commercial organic farms. Look at my choice of words. Commercial organic farms.
Small local farms that work with animals they enjoy working with will of course provide adequate living conditions.
Commercial organic farms don't. They cash in on the organic craze while providing subpar living conditions and deny medical treatments. That's cruel.


Otherwise... let's get back on track.

[SailleSkinklover]

Back atcha, Steve, I want to know where you are getting your info as well, and who is putting that information out? (solely for my education purposes, not to debunk what you have said, mind! Lets not turn this into some hideous arguement, Hmmmm? Because I bet we actually all agree.
I'm thinking that Commercial Anything is crap these days. . . )