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Live food islivinganimals used asfood forfeeding othercarnivorous oromnivorous animals kept incaptivity; in other words, smallpreys that are artificially presented to largerpredators kept asexotic pets,livestocks, or display animals inzoo oraquaria. The idea behind using live food is to provide lively feeds that stimulate the proactivehunting instinct in the captive animals, thus retaining their "wildness" state that are often lost in prolonged captivity.
Live food is used to feed a variety of captive animals, typically those are naturallyinsectivorous,piscivorous orvermivorous, such asspiders,ornamental fish,songbirds andlandfowls, smallfrogs andlizards. Those that are fed larger, tougher and more mobile live prey such ascrustaceans,bivalves androdents are typicallyhypercarnivorous predators such asmantis shrimps,octopuses,predatory fish,bullfrogs, largereptiles (e.g.crocodiles andalligators,snakes, largevaranids such asKomodo dragon andmonitor lizards, andsnapping turtles),predatory birds and variouscarnivoranmammals such asgreat cats,canines andmustelids. Occasionallymesocarnivorous/hypocarnivorous animals such asbears andfoxes, who are moregeneralist and less dietarily dependent on freshmeat, are also fed live food. For instance,pet skunks, who are omnivorous, can technically be fed a limited amount of live food, although this is not known to be a common practice.
Common live food are typicallyinvertebrates, ranging frominsects (bothadult andlarvae, for example,crickets are used as an inexpensive feed for reptiles such asbearded dragons and commonly available inpet stores for this reason; other examples arecockroaches,locusts,waxworms andmealworms),crustaceans (e.g.crabs andcrawfish),gastropodmolluscs (typicallyland snails andslugs) andworms (e.g.earthworms andleeches). Sometimes smallvertebrates are also used, such as variousfeeder fish, small frogs (rare), birds (e.g.chickens) and mammals (e.g.mice andrabbits), although these are more controversial in regarding toanimal ethics.
Inhunting andfishing, the use of live food asbait is an archaic practice that is considered unnecessary andcruel in modern times, as luringgames with deadcarcasses orcutlets typically works just as well. The only exception isangling, where live food such asearthworms,bait fish and crawfish are frequently presented as a livebait attached to thefishing hook to better attractgame fish, although the use of imitativelures such asswimbaits,flies andplastic worms asfake live baits are gaining popularity inrecreational fishing. Live worms such asTubifex are also used as commonfish food foraquaria andfish ponds.
Live foods are most commonlyinvertebrates, such ascrickets (Gryllus assimilis,Gryllus bimaculatus,Gryllodes sigillatus andAcheta domesticus commonly),waxworms (Galleria mellonella),mealworms (Tenebrio molitor),superworms (Zophobas morio) andlocusts (a number of species are seen commonly). There are however many more species used such asbutter worms,calci worms (Hermetia illucens),buffalo worms,bean weevils,sun beetle grubs (Pachnoda marginata),earthworms,silkworms and more.Insect species are most commonly used to feed smallreptiles andamphibians.[citation needed]Dubia cockroaches can be used to feed pet reptiles.[1]
Another common form of live food, most commonly used to feedsnakes, is smallrodents. The most commonly known small rodent used for live food is likely themouse; many pet stores which carry snakes or cater to snake owners also carry "feeder mice" for this reason (seeFancy mouse). It is also common to feed reptiles freshly killed or frozen/thawed rodents as most reptiles will readily accept them.[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 fromwholesalers or "farms" that breed them specifically for live food sales.[citation needed] Some other animals, such asguinea pigs orrabbits, are sometimes used to feed medium-sized carnivores such aspythons, smallcrocodilians or in rarer cases, largefelids.
Animals that are commonly fed live food includebearded dragons,[2]leopard geckos and other lizards, various types ofsnake, turtles, and carnivorous fish. Other animals, such asskunks (which are sometimes keptas pets), being omnivorous, can also eat some live food, though it is unknown how common this is in practice.[citation needed]
