Confused about gutloading

[Lovereps]

I've seen it stated that crickets should be gutloaded approx 4 hours prior to feeding them to your chams.
Wouldn't it be just as beneficial--or even better-- to use the gutload foods as the only diet for your crickets?
Is the wet gutload a replacement for a water source, as well as being nutritious?
Please enlighten me.

 

[beeze]

I feed my feeders fruits and veggies but the night before I'm going to feed them I pull the ones that's going to be fed and put them in a special container all night with a pre-mixed gutload like this: https://www.chameleonforums.com/gutload-sale-26342/

 

[kinyonga]

This is exactly what I do...use the same foods for gutloading and feeding!

 

[DJnSoCal]

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=Gut+loading+Crickets

All joking aside, I feed crickets fresh vegetables and cricket Crack all the time. They are always ready to be fed off to a hungry mouth. A wet gut load would definately help with hydration of the crickets and the chameleons.

Hope all is well!

 

[jojackson]

Wet gutload is not a replacement for the water source, Always provide water, however good moist gutload certainly contributes nicely to the hydration of your animal.
I dont know about this 4 hr thing you heard of, makes no sense to me since crickets, infact most insects, are opportunistic grazers eating pretty much 24/7, and crapping just as often.
So its logical to assume that if you gutload all the tme as a matter of course, then the insects will always have nutritional stomach contents.

 

[HairyScaryMark]

I have wondered the same thing myself. The advice tends to state 'gut loading' as something which should be done 24 hours in advance or even 4 hours in advance, as supposed to all the time?

I don't understand why this sort of food should only be fed shortly in advance. It is also potentially more wasteful and less convienant to source a different type of food the crickets the rest of the time. (I never actually saw this directly stated but by putting a timescale on gutloading it was implied)... For example, if I only chop up 1 strawberry, 1 grape, smallest quantity of oats, 1 blueberry, 1 pea etc. It's still going to be too much for my insects to eat in one day. I can put it in the fridge to use the next day but I don't understand the basis for the 4 hour or 24 hour advice. Perhaps there are reasons or maybe we just misunderstand the instructions?

 

[jannb]

I feed squash, orange, carrots, kale and collard greens to my feeders on a daily basis. Then the night before (only the feeders I'm going to feed off) I gutload with the bought, premixed gutload just to make sure when my chams eat they are getting everything that they need. The bought premixed gutload is sort of expensive so that's why I only use it the night before.

 

[nick barta]

The logic is that a quality gutload will cost a lot more than "survival food." For most keepers, that is not a big issue, as the amount of insects being fed is minimal. For someone with thousands of various feeders, it has a greater impact.

Adding another better food source, having a second feeding container, is not necessary, and takes more time than to feed the feeders quality food all the time.

Nick

I have wondered the same thing myself. The advice tends to state 'gut loading' as something which should be done 24 hours in advance or even 4 hours in advance, as supposed to all the time?

I don't understand why this sort of food should only be fed shortly in advance. It is also potentially more wasteful and less convienant to source a different type of food the crickets the rest of the time. (I never actually saw this directly stated but by putting a timescale on gutloading it was implied)... For example, if I only chop up 1 strawberry, 1 grape, smallest quantity of oats, 1 blueberry, 1 pea etc. It's still going to be too much for my insects to eat in one day. I can put it in the fridge to use the next day but I don't understand the basis for the 4 hour or 24 hour advice. Perhaps there are reasons or maybe we just misunderstand the instructions?

 

[rmhawk]

I feed mine carrots, oranges, collard greens, and cricket crack all day long. I use to seperate them the night before and feed them cricket crack, but i learned that even with 150-200 crickets, they dont go through that much cricket crack. I'm guessing a pound of cricket crack is going to last me about 3 months.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I've seen it stated that crickets should be gutloaded approx 4 hours prior to feeding them to your chams.
Wouldn't it be just as beneficial--or even better-- to use the gutload foods as the only diet for your crickets?
Is the wet gutload a replacement for a water source, as well as being nutritious? Please enlighten me.

Id say the advice to gutload for 4 hours prior is the MINIMUM. read it as AT LEAST x hours prior.
Yes I do think its better and easier (if perhaps a bit more expensive) to use a good gutload as the only food for the crickets. And I dont use water, or gell, only fruits and vegs as a hydration source. I agree this is more nutritious, and I think its easier too.

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

I feed squash, orange, carrots, kale and collard greens to my feeders on a daily basis. Then the night before (only the feeders I'm going to feed off) I gutload with the bought, premixed gutload just to make sure when my chams eat they are getting everything that they need. The bought premixed gutload is sort of expensive so that's why I only use it the night before.

I took Jann's idea. The pre mixed gutload she introduced me to is expensive but we put it in with the feeders the night before we feed them off so in the morning our chams have big old gutloaded feeders

 

[lisa h]

For those of you who put veggies in for gutload, how do you do it? Do you put it in a bowl, on the bottom of the container, or ...? Chopped up big, or small? I'm going to start doing this in addition to using the pre mixed gutload. I never have more than 500 at a time anyways.

 

[jannb]

I use a paper plate and just throw it away and replace it each day with fresh veggies.

 

[Lovereps]

Thanks for all the replies

The advice makes more sense now that I realize some folks are keeping breeding colonies vs having a thousand or two in a tank.
Thanks again everyone!