After reading many blogs and threads on the importance of nutrition and gutloading, I have decided to change my gutloading methods by creating my own premium/cheap gutload. My current ingredients are yams, potatoes, carrots, oranges and dry healthy cereal. Here are the steps in making the gutload...
1) Dice the yams, potatoes and carrots in a bowl and place them in the microwave for 5-10 minutes (this is to soften the vegetables so they are easier to mix/mash).
2) Pull the vegetables out of the microwave and thouroughly mash them.
3) Cut some orange slices and add them to the mix of vegetables.
4) Throw all of the ingredients into a blender, add water and blend until there are fine chunks of vegetable/fruit matter.
5) Use dry cereal (make sure it is a lean/healthy cereal) and stir it into the mix. This helps add more vitamins/nutrients and helps thicken the mixture. The final texture should be sticky/pastey; it should not crumble. If the mixture does crumble, simply add more water and stir it in.
Things to consider...
You are not limited to the vegetables/fruits/cereals I have chosen, in fact I plan on adding much more to the next batch of gutload. I am still testing to see which method of storing last the longest, currently I am storing the products in the refrigerator. I have found some very useful links that support my use of the microwave and refrigerator (http://www.thedietchannel.com/Microwave-Cooking-And-Food-Vitamins.htm, http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/CFS/CFS-424-W.pdf, http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5403.html, http://www.eufic.org/article/en/foo...ood-handling/artid/food-storage-refrigerator/), from the links you will see that vitamins and essential nutrients are not lost in the microwave or refrigerator.
Overall I am very pleased with this gutload. My crickets love it and are always feasting on it and I know it has a good amount of nutrients for my chameleon. Pictures coming soon...
1) Dice the yams, potatoes and carrots in a bowl and place them in the microwave for 5-10 minutes (this is to soften the vegetables so they are easier to mix/mash).
2) Pull the vegetables out of the microwave and thouroughly mash them.
3) Cut some orange slices and add them to the mix of vegetables.
4) Throw all of the ingredients into a blender, add water and blend until there are fine chunks of vegetable/fruit matter.
5) Use dry cereal (make sure it is a lean/healthy cereal) and stir it into the mix. This helps add more vitamins/nutrients and helps thicken the mixture. The final texture should be sticky/pastey; it should not crumble. If the mixture does crumble, simply add more water and stir it in.
Things to consider...
You are not limited to the vegetables/fruits/cereals I have chosen, in fact I plan on adding much more to the next batch of gutload. I am still testing to see which method of storing last the longest, currently I am storing the products in the refrigerator. I have found some very useful links that support my use of the microwave and refrigerator (http://www.thedietchannel.com/Microwave-Cooking-And-Food-Vitamins.htm, http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/CFS/CFS-424-W.pdf, http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5403.html, http://www.eufic.org/article/en/foo...ood-handling/artid/food-storage-refrigerator/), from the links you will see that vitamins and essential nutrients are not lost in the microwave or refrigerator.
Overall I am very pleased with this gutload. My crickets love it and are always feasting on it and I know it has a good amount of nutrients for my chameleon. Pictures coming soon...
