If I remember from the studies I've read correctly, vitamins have nothing to do with the gut content and more to do with how the diet alters the tissues of the feeders.
The group rules says " 11. Do not post full articles or hotlinked images on this website without permission from the content owner." I'm wondering if that means I can't just post the study that I want?
Please feel free to post it
I’m not sure I know what you mean about vitamins have nothing to do with gut contents. While it’s unclear whether what an insect actually has in its gi tract at the time of consumption passes straight on to the consumer, many vitamins are stored in other tissue such as the eyes, the fat, etc. So regardless of what’s in the guts, feeding vitamins to bugs might make a difference. At any rate, calcium is a mineral, and feeding it to bugs can change their ca/p ratio significantly...at least according to many sources including Finke.
Exactly the vitamins are stored into the body rather than the gut. The calcium of the diet is stored in the gut for when the reptile is being fed. If I remember the studies correctly lol.
That’s a good question. My limited understanding is that it’s pretty hard to overdose on plain calcium, but I stand to be corrected. As I understand it, too much calcium PLUS too much d3 can be an issue, but not just too much calcium. Again, that is my Uber-layman understanding, and my guess is that we don’t actually have a “full-stop” answer here. Of course, drinking too much water can be dangerous, but when it comes to dusting/gutloading with calcium (without d3), I’m not sure overdose is a concern. Perhaps @ferretinmyshoes can weigh in here?
I find this interesting... You just made an account. You do not have a chameleon. But you have been thinking about signing in just to criticize the gutload image we have within the forum...I don't even own a chameleon but I would like to join in and see if a gutloading study I have read would help. There is a study where Repashy Superload was tested against Mazuri Better Bug, Timberline, Mazuri Hi calcium Cricket Diet, and a control of crickets fed fresh produce and then dusted with a supplement. I'll need to double check the rules and make sure I can post the link to this study. I have been thinking about signing in and criticizing the gutload sheet that this forum has based off of the studies that I have read. I saw how proven gutloading diets were disregarded simply for not having a good looking top ingredient list or not being "fresh" but you seem to have read pretty much everything that I have and I'd be happy to share my opinion on this subject.
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.
The calcium and multi vitamin dust. Dusting supplements are known to increase nutrients higher than gutloading diets. I personally believe that both a gutloading diet with a proven ability to improve the calcium to phosphorus ratio in insects and dusting should be done. I'm not trying to say that my way is better I'm sorry if I made it seem that way.
