gut load

[Agentspades]

I purchased sone cricket gut load made by Repashy for my crested geckos, I was wondering if the ingridients would be suitable for a chameleon cricket gut load.

Alfalfa leaf meal, defatted wheat germ, hempseed meal, brewers yeast, bee pollen, whey protein, calcium carbonate, fig powder, dicalcium phosphate, yeast culture, spirulina, rosehips, kelp meal, haemotococcus algae, marigold extract, rosemary extract, yucca extract, tocopherols, vitamin a, d-activated animal sterol.

 

[Agentspades]

Anyone? Someone must have some idea

 

[Brian S]

Yes it would. Please don't up non-B/S/T threads.

 

[marxous]

i was told by the guy at the pet store that fish food works wonderfully! And it does!!!

does anyone else have any thoughts on fish flakes for gutloading?

 

[Heika]

Please don't up non-B/S/T threads.

What is a non-B/S/T thread, Brian?

Hey Agentspade,

It looks really good. The reason I did not reply is because I don't know what a couple of the ingrediants are, and they have sort of ominous tones to them. With these exceptions (because I don't know what they are), I would say it sounds excellent.

d-activated animal sterol
tocopherols
haemotococcus algae

 

[Heika]

i was told by the guy at the pet store that fish food works wonderfully! And it does!!!

does anyone else have any thoughts on fish flakes for gutloading?

Pet store guys..

Fish food really doesn't help to supply a chameleon with the complex nutritional needs you are trying to fill. The stuff is full of food coloring, really high in protein, and most have a high concentration of vit. A.

The purpose of gutloading is to increase the healthy intake of your chameleon. It isn't to feed the crickets. What makes a good gutload doesn't necessarily make a good cricket food. The cricket is simply the vessel that delivers all those good things into your chameleon, and fish food really isn't on the top of the list of things I want my chameleon to be eating.

In the wild, the chameleon would eat a variety of insects that eat a variety of different foods with a whole variety of different nutritional components. In captivity, you limit your chameleon's diet to a few feeders, and those feeders have access to only a limited type of food. For that reason, using a high quality, nutritious gutload is really in the best interest of your chameleon. This is one of those aspects that some inexperienced keepers tend to ignore, but it is very important for the health of your animal. Here is a good recipe.. here is a good commercially available gutload.

Heika

 

[Jewel]

Here is a good recipe..
Heika

Heika I have looked at that recipe so many times and I have no idea where to buy the following items:
chaff from loose alfalfa or 3/4 cup alfalfa powder
bee pollen
powdered spirulina or Klamath Lake algae http://www.algae-world.com I don't really like ordering from outside of Canada only because last time I did it ended up costing me over $130.00 for a couple of item that were less than $40.00 in total, Canada customs can really be expensive sometimes.
monkey chow (not Purina)
dried sea kelp
dried egg yolk (or add freshly cooked egg yolk to wet mix (see right)
dried dandelion flowers (optional)

 

[Brian S]

What is a non-B/S/T thread, Brian?

Non Buy/ Sell/Trade thread. Like when your trying to get rid of something and you up your thread so people see it first. And, if you had an item, say a cage, and you would take trade or cash it would be Cage F/S/T (Cage for sale/ trade)

 

[DLAC]

Hard to find ingredients

I started formulating this gutload and found most of the ingredients in various places. The bee pollen, spirulina and brewer's yeast were in a local health food store. The alfalfa can be obtained at a feed store or in small quantities in the rabbit/guinnea pig section of any pet store. I haven't been able to locate any monkey chow but I haven't looked that hard yet. Kelp is a little too nonspecific a term (genus please) and I'm thinking of substituting the dried seaweed found in the oriental sections of the larger grocers. My biggest complaint is that the health food prices are high and I had to buy much larger quantities than I needed. I had to buy a pound of brewer's yeast when I only needed 2 tablespoons. The wet gutload was much easier but I live in the boonies of Texas so finding prickly pear pads was no problem.

 

[marxous]

how do these recipies compare to the cricket food that has been pointed out here online??? How does Flukers brand of cricket food compare to the online available mixes and the recipies here??

thanks!

 

[Kazza]

Heika I have looked at that recipe so many times and I have no idea where to buy the following items:
chaff from loose alfalfa or 3/4 cup alfalfa powder
bee pollen
powdered spirulina or Klamath Lake algae

Hi Julie, chaff is easy if you have horses - there's a few varieties available but you can get just plain alfalfa chaff.
Bee pollen can be bought in granules from health food stores, it's very expensive over here so i get mine off e-bay which is half the price of the shops.
Not sure about the algae though.

Karen

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Marxous,

Most cricket food available (like Flukers) is for raising crickets. In other words it is a diet for maintaining your cricket population not for gutloading.
A gutloaded insect is one that has been offered (as Heika said) food that you want to go into your cham several hours before offering the insects. Essentially the cricket becomes a vessel that delivers the sweet potato, egg yolk and bee pollen....etc. to your pet's stomach.
So to add yet another complexity to this hobby: Maintain your bug colonies on Flukers or rolled oats and moisture, and give special banquets to the ones you are going to feed off tomorrow.
I find the clear plastic containers that pre-washed salad come in to be a great enclosure for the last supper. Feed it before bed and have a fat breakfast for your cham in the morning.

-Brad

 

[Heika]

Heika I have looked at that recipe so many times and I have no idea where to buy the following items:
chaff from loose alfalfa or 3/4 cup alfalfa powder
bee pollen
powdered spirulina or Klamath Lake algae http://www.algae-world.com I don't really like ordering from outside of Canada only because last time I did it ended up costing me over $130.00 for a couple of item that were less than $40.00 in total, Canada customs can really be expensive sometimes.
monkey chow (not Purina)
dried sea kelp
dried egg yolk (or add freshly cooked egg yolk to wet mix (see right)
dried dandelion flowers (optional)

Hi Julie,

The alfalfa powder is easy. I use alfalfa pellets made for rabbits and grind them up in the coffee grinder. Or, like Kazza mentioned, chaff works really well. You can even ask your local feed store if they mind if you sweep up around their alfalfa hay. You would get plenty of chaff to make gutload.

I enlisted the aid of my sister for kelp. She went to the coast a few months ago and brought me back a trashbag of the stinky stuff. After cleaning it really well with water, I happily made the house smell like rotten fish by drying it in the food dehydrator. I have enough to last for quite some time.

The rest of it.. well.. Ebay is a good source. I am not familiar with the Canadian market, but Brandy, Will and Kinyonga are all from Canada and may be able to help you out.

Heika

 

[Jewel]

Thanks everyone for the help on where to purchase these item. A few weeks ago I bought some Roach Coach (Cricket gutload) from Brandy, I assume it is a gutload and not a cricket food which would be great, it would save me the trouble of making it and it was not expensive either. Brandy if you are around, is this a gutload, I am not sure as it doesn't say the ingredients?

 

[DLAC]

gutload ingredients

I finally found dried kelp in an oriental market specializing in vietnamese and thai foods. The dandelions were easy. Just pick them out of your yard as long as you haven't spread pesticides on your property. Use the greens in the wet formula and the flowers in the dry. Press the blossoms in a couple of layers of papertowels and microwave on the defrost cycle for about 5 min. to dry them.

By the way, tocopherol is vitamin E.