Food that Feeder Insects Love

[kenya]

Just curious... If the feeders prefer one food over another, is it possible that they're eating that more and avoiding other parts of their gutload, thus making them less nutrient-rich for your chameleon? Or do you control this somehow like make sure they get at least a little bit of everything before they're fed off?

When I actually gutload my bugs for feeding off, I remove the amount I need the night before I want to feed them off and give them my homemade gutload blends. I have two gutloads I put in- a wet mix and a dry mix. The wet mix is a blend of a whole bunch of different veggies, fruits and anything juicy or spoilable. The dry mix is pulsed to a medium fineness to be properly mixed but not terribly dusty...it has just enough moisture to be kind of "chunky" and cohesiv ein texture. This has mixed nuts, bee pollen, spirulina, alfalfa powder, kelp, irish moss, lecithin, dry milk, wheat germ, wheat bran, brewer's yeast, nutritional yeast, powdered oyster shell and all sorts of other dry goodies in it. I keep the wet mix in ice cube trays in the freezer (covered with freezer bags) and the dry mix in a jar in the fridge to keep it all fresh. I have never had a problem with the bugs not eating the gutloads and they seem to like it. I can post my actual recipes for gutload here if anyone wants them.

When I put whole veggies and ingredients in, I am putting them into my main colonies more as a little boost and something for them to eat and get moisture from.

 

[Zen Reptiles]

Yeah let's hear your recipe kenya!! Sounds like you've got a good mix going on.

Also, for your wet mix. What I do for my crested geckos is mix up a fruit cocktail and water it down a bit until it's fairly liquidy, then stick a funnel in one of these babies

and pour away. This keeps the mixture from getting any 'freezer burn' and they are really really simple to pop out of the bag.

Of course, the drawback is that you have this plastic bag left to dispose of...but it is convenient and keeps your mixture fresher WAY longer than in ice cube trays!

 

[kenya]

Yeah let's hear your recipe kenya!! Sounds like you've got a good mix going on.

Also, for your wet mix. What I do for my crested geckos is mix up a fruit cocktail and water it down a bit until it's fairly liquidy, then stick a funnel in one of these babies

and pour away. This keeps the mixture from getting any 'freezer burn' and they are really really simple to pop out of the bag.

Of course, the drawback is that you have this plastic bag left to dispose of...but it is convenient and keeps your mixture fresher WAY longer than in ice cube trays!

Okay, I will actually have to think about what all I put into my gutload and write it down. I will get back to you on that.

As far as my freezing method, I usually freeze bulk wet mix in large freezer bags flat and load up a couple of ice cube trays with portioned mix. I put the trays into freezer bags to keep it fresh and once the cubes are solidly frozen (after a few days), I pop them out into a bag and refill the tray. I end up with a bunch of cubes of wet gutload in a bag and can just pop them out one at a time as needed. It works well!

 

[kenya]

Okay, here is my sort-of-recipe for gutload. I change this around a bit every time, especially since you can't always find the ingredients. Follow your instincts and don't over-do any one ingredient. If I say "whole", I mean skin and all. Just chuck it in.

You will be finely blending the ingredients together to make a mush of sorts. It takes a lot of time and is easier if you have a food processor rather than a blender. Chunk stuff up into rough cubes first and that will help. Add juice from the last blended batch to the next group of chunks to help it along. Put all of the mush into one big bowl and mix it up really well until it is uniform when you are done.

Use organic ingredients if you can. If you cannot, wash everything really, really well with soap and warm water to help rid it of as much pesticide and insecticide residue as possible.

All of my listed amounts are approximate...I go by feel and each batch is always a bit different. Do what feels right to you and tweak it how you want. You may not be able to find some of the stuff listed at a regular grocery store. Check natural stores around you and food co-ops. If you use a frozen version of something (berries is a good one), read the label and make sure there is nothing in the ingredients other than the fruit or veggie. Avoid preservatives (other than vitamin C), high fructose corn syrups, and anything else that may be listed.

PM me if you have any questions.

Blend the wet ingredients in a food processor until they are a fine pulp. Freeze in sturdy freezer bags. Pulse the dry ingredients in a coffee bean grinder until smoothly blended and resembling a "chunky" coarse powder. Store the dry gutload in the fridge in a jar, bag, or tupperware. Offer a 1:2 ratio of dry mix to wet mix and only as much as the insects you are gutloading can eat in 24 hours. Again, if I say "whole" in the ingredient listed, I mean the whole thing- skin and all.

Wet mix:
1 container of wheatgrass (just the grass, not the stuff in the bottom)
1 frozen bag or medium sized fresh container of blueberries
1 frozen bag or medium sized fresh container of strawberries
2 whole medium zucchini
2 large whole yams
1 medium whole sweet potato
1 bunch watercress
1 bunch endive
1 bunch escarole
1 bunch moss parsley,
1 bunch dandelion leaves (or go pick about ¼ to ½ lb yourself and include flowers if you want)
1/4 of a medium eggplant (do not include leaves or stem, but the skin is fine)
½ to 1 whole pineapple (without top but with skin)
2 large whole (de-spined if you can be arsed to do it) prickly pear leaves
2 whole apples (any variety)
2 whole plantains
4 whole kiwis
2 whole oranges
5 whole key limes
1 bunch whole (with tops!) carrots
1 bunch beet greens
1 bunch turnip greens
1 small beet
1 frozen bag of green beans
½ frozen bag of Brussels sprouts (don’t over do this one)
¼ frozen bag of broccoli florets (don’t over do this one)
2 cups chopped spinach leaves (don’t over do this one)
1 whole mango
1 whole small butternut squash
1 whole small acorn squash
1 whole small kambocha squash
1 bunch of kale (any variety is fine)
1 bunch of collard greens
1 bunch of mustard greens
1 large whole yucca root

Dry Mix:
½ lb bee pollen
1 cups wheat germ
1 cups wheat bran
1.5 cups 10 grain cereal
½ cup raw sunflower seed kernels
1 ounce kelp powder
1 ounce spirulina
3 tablespoons of dry egg yolk (or use 5 whole fresh cooked yolks in the wet mix)
1 cup hemp seed nuts
1 ounce Irish moss powder
1 ounce alfalfa leaf powder
1 ounce powdered yucca root
1 cup mixed nuts (without peanuts preferred)
1 cup lecithin
1 ounce powdered oyster shell
1 cup dry nonfat milk
6 opened capsules of probiotics (pick a nice well rounded one with the most different varieties of live cultures you can find)
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
4 packets of brewer’s yeast
½ cup dry coconut meat

 

[Mesnik]

Nice stuff Kenya!!

I will give it a try (well, I should say I will ask my wife...)!


So, is that how we are supposed to gutload, say, the crickets? Like, separate the amount to feed the next day, and gutload those over night?

I just keep adding the dry mix I purchase along with veggies to the big bin where they all are, and they eat whenever (which I can see why doing the other way seems more efficient...)

I am sure there are different ways of doing and I hope to hear your comments!

Thanks,
Roberto

 

[desultadox]

I think that's mostly an economic thing to do. There's no sense in giving your feeders the good stuff if you're not going to be immediately feeding them off. So instead you separate what you will be feeding off and just gutload them.

 

[new2me]

Wow you guys/girls really get detailed with the feeder feeding! I use a comercial dry and wet gut load. (Flukers I believe) I'll put in some potato, carrots & orange if I have them around. A friend of mine recomended to just use Enfamil Baby formula. It makes sence because it has everything you could possibly want to load the crickets with, and he says his crickets chow down on the stuff.

As for roaches that is something my cham will not see. I cant stand those lil creeps and wont let them in my house by choice.

 

[Mesnik]

So what do you feed the crickets that are not going to the death row?

 

[Howdyco]

This is a very informative post.
Thanks to all for the assorted recipes and suggestions.
Gives me alot to digest.
My feeders too!

 

[kenya]

Nice stuff Kenya!!

I will give it a try (well, I should say I will ask my wife...)!


So, is that how we are supposed to gutload, say, the crickets? Like, separate the amount to feed the next day, and gutload those over night?

I just keep adding the dry mix I purchase along with veggies to the big bin where they all are, and they eat whenever (which I can see why doing the other way seems more efficient...)

I am sure there are different ways of doing and I hope to hear your comments!

Thanks,
Roberto

It is good to not waste the gutload...the gutload is for the benefit of the chams and if they crickets were eating only it over a long period of time, they probably couldn't handle how rich it is. I separate the number of crickets or roaches I need for the next day into a different container and then provide the gutload for a day. This works out really well, granted you actually remember to take new feeders out every day

I put veggie scraps and generally whatever I scrounge from the produce cull bin at work into the main bins of bugs. It gives them moisture and something to eat...every rare once in a while, I will put some dog kibble in. That only happens about once every two months or so. If I am trying to boost numbers of a roach colony, I will stop feeding them off all together and provide dog food and water crystals at all times and let them do their thing for a few months. It works. Roaches like and need the higher protein. Crickets are more vegetarian as far as their scavenging preferences and actual nutritional requirements go.

I think that's mostly an economic thing to do. There's no sense in giving your feeders the good stuff if you're not going to be immediately feeding them off. So instead you separate what you will be feeding off and just gutload them.

Exactly! It also lets you monitor who is actually eating the gutload right before being fed off. I kind of like keeping the bugs a little on the hungry side before offering gutload...then they really devour it and are stuffed with good stuff.

So what do you feed the crickets that are not going to the death row?

Veggie scraps, water crystals, wilted heads of lettuce, unpretty apples and yams...whatever we would otherwise throw into the compost at work. Avoid anything moldy.

 

[Mesnik]

Wow, thanks Kenya! I have to change that all together!!!

I just got a new batch of crickets and will do "your" gutload technic...

Once more, thanks for sharing and taking the time!!!

Roberto.