Live food

Live food is commonly used as feed for a variety of species of exotic pets and zoo animals, ranging from crocodilians (crocodiles and alligators) to various snakes, turtles, lizards and frogs, but also including other non-reptilian, non-amphibian species such as birds and mammals (for instance, pet skunks, which are omnivorous mammals, can technically be fed a limited amount of live food, though this is not known to be a common practice).

Common live food ranges from insects (e.g. crickets, used as an inexpensive form of feed for reptiles such as bearded dragons and commonly available in pet stores for this reason; other examples are cockroaches, locusts, waxworms and mealworms), worms (e.g. earthworms) and crustaceans, to small birds (e.g. chickens) and mammals (e.g. mice and rabbits).

[citation needed] Animals that are the most common choices for live foods, ranging from feeder mice to crickets and mealworms, generally are bred and raised in captivity themselves, and can often be found both through local pet stores and from wholesalers or "farms" that breed them specifically for live food sales.

[citation needed] Some other animals, such as guinea pigs or rabbits, are sometimes used to feed medium-sized carnivores such as pythons, small crocodilians or in rarer cases, large felids.

Animals that are commonly fed live food include bearded dragons,[2] leopard geckos and other lizards, various types of snake, turtles, and carnivorous fish.