Cricket gutload question

[GavinSTAN13]

Is it ok to include a small amount of dog food in the crickets gut load, while still including leafy greens and some fruit. Just curious, because it seems that the crickets eat alot of it, even though they eat almost anything. But would dog food crickets be harmful to my chams health?

 

[warpdrive]

Dig food contains animal proteins that are harmful to most insectivors.
For about the same cost you could buy some cricket crack for use as a dry gutload.

Harry

 

[Elizadolots]

If you use it, I'd say you should remove the intended feeders to a different keeper at least 24 hours in advance and give them access to only the good stuff. I know what you mean though. Toss a couple of pieces of dog food into the bin and they're all over it!

You might check into the formulations of the more "organic" dog foods to see if they better fit the desired profile. I don't really believe that insects in the wild never eat meat. While I understand that the purpose of gutloading is to put the food you want your chameleon eating in the insect, when one is maintaining crickets, it's probably good to feed them things that sustain them well.

I've priced Cricket Crack..it's considerably more expensive than dog food per pound and, as I have dogs, it would be practically free for me to toss dog food into the cricket keeper (I used to do it). If you're just going to purge it out of their systems before feeding them off, is there a benefit to spending more money?

 

[warpdrive]

A dollars worth of dog food still costs a dollar regardless that you might have tons of it in the house.
For a dollar you can get a sample of cricket crack...
If all you did was gutload with cricket crack and a slice of orange 500 pinheads each day, you can grow them up to 6 week olds on just that one sample bottle.
That's a good long time for a dollar...and a far better product then some crappy dog food.

Harry

 

[GavinSTAN13]

okay, thanks for all the info but would it be harmful to my chams health if some crickets still had it in there circulation?

 

[Monkeykungphu]

okay, thanks for all the info but would it be harmful to my chams health if some crickets still had it in there circulation?

I've read that all of the extra protein in the dog (or cat) food can cause gout in chameleons. I believe some other problems as well. Probably best not to roll the dice.

Many people feed the majority of their crickets dog/cat food & just gutload the feeders 24 hrs prior to being fed. The theory is that they'll "flush" all of the dog/cat food out of their systems & only have the gutload in their system.

To me, it seems like even crickets raised on dog/cat food, then gutloaded a day before they're fed off, would still have a higher protein content than crickets who are strictly raised on gutload their whole lives... just my thoughts though. This may or may not be true.

Commercial gutload is definately more than dog/cat food, but unless you're feeding 3000+ crickets at a time, it's not too bad. I can get a jar of Fluker's cricket gutload from my local petco for under $4. It last a little over a week for 1000 adult crickets. (they're also fed veggies)

 

[dparks87]

I got my self some cricket crack from steve and I must say that they crickets have no problem eating it and it does not take much of this stuff to sustain a container full of crickets I gut load the crickets on the stuff 2 days or so before feeding and I feed the crickets leafy greens prior to the dry gutlaod. Really its cheap as could be and from what i read its the tried and true method.

 

[Clifford]

okay, thanks for all the info but would it be harmful to my chams health if some crickets still had it in there circulation?

I give my roaches a handful of dog kibbles twice a year, every May longweekend in Spring and at Thanks Giving (Fall). This is my way of adding preformed vitamin A to their diet, both the roaches and my chameleon. The rest of the year, there is only beta carotene. My chameleon is middle-aged and this practice has not done him any harm.

But I would not consider using dog food (or fish food or cat food or chicken food) any more than what I do now, due to the potential for gout, digestion issues, and overdoing Vitamin A.

 

[Elizadolots]

A dollars worth of dog food still costs a dollar regardless that you might have tons of it in the house.

Not to belabor the point, but a dollar's worth of food is substantially more food when bought in large bags than it is when bought in smaller bags. Cricket Crack is being sold for $12 per pound. But I pay about a dollar a pound for dog food. People with larger dogs than I can pay substantially less because they buy in even larger quantities than I do.

I'm not advocating feeding dog food, but suggesting that it's no more costly to feed cricket crack is not realistic.

 

[warpdrive]

I totally understand that one dollars worth of dog food is a lot more in total food...
My point is that if the dog food is that cheap, it not only might not be healthy enough for a dog,
but for crickets its beyond bad.

I'm not telling anyone what to do, but you can buy in bulk for crickets as well to cut down on costs and if your not using a wet gut load too, then there is no point in feeding off your feeders.
In other words, dog food is for dogs, real cricket food is for crickets...your chams will thank you for the extra care.
Gout is only one reason not to use dog food...its bad folks, real bad.

Harry