As with environmental management of cases, nutritional knowledge and the ability to provide reptiles and amphibians an adequate diet will promote good health, an excellent quality of life and longevity. Comparable to the environmental information many new herptile owners receive when first purchasing their animals, uneducated pet store personnel trying to sell their livestock often provide inappropriate nutritional information. Of course there are reputable stores and very knowledgeable sales people who would not dream of recommending raw chicken wings as the main diet for captive ball pythons. One of the major problems that owners have to face when feeding a reptile/amphibian is the need for live food. Often there are not many sources for a varied diet, leading to malnutrition because only crickets were available for a bearded dragon. More varied food sources are becoming available for herptile owners and it does help if the veterinarian can give advice on where the best products can be purchased. It is impossible to provide the varied natural diet of most herptile species maintained in captivity, but with a little variation and nutritional supplementation an adequate level of health can be achieved.
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