Ok very long comment I’m sorry. I want to study exotic animal nutrition in college. It wasn’t just the gutloading picture on the forum but also some threads that made me really really want to post scientific evidence on gutloading diets. I used to follow the gutloading guidelines from this forum but then I began reading studies on the subject and found that there could be improvement on the gutloading advice. Currently I gutload dubia roaches, crickets, mealworms, superworms, and hornworms. I want to add other feeders such as Cuban roaches, spike maggots, and lesser mealworms which all may have different gutloading diets that they prefer.
I use a maintenance diet then a gutloading diet. The maintenance diet is for increasing vitamins A,D,and E while the gutloading diet is for calcium. I use Mazuri timothy based guinea pig diet mixed with some D- alpha tocopheryl for maintenance. I use this as a substrate for the meal/superworms and for the dubia roaches and crickets I mix in a little bit of bee pollen for palatability. Carrots, sweet potatoes, and wet paper towels are used for moisture and helping with creating a strong feeder body. I then put a few insects into a separate bin for gutloading, I like to use Mazuri Better Bug for the crickets, roaches, and superworms. Then for the hornworms I like to use Repashy Superload in gel form. No fresh produce is served to the feeders in the gutloading phase as I believe it is said in one of the many gutloading studies that the feeders will eat this instead of the gutload.
This is all for a leopard gecko. Just one reptile ?. and a tarantula.
I think gutloading is a fun subject to talk about and maybe the word criticize is too strong of a word lol. I guess provide my opinion on the subject would be a better way to explain why I wanted to join. I’m so sorry if I’m making any of you uncomfortable with me coming here without a chameleon just to talk about one but important subject. I could perhaps learn more about this and other subjects through being on this forum though.
