Gutload has made a huge difference

mattcast1214

mattcast1214

Member
I finally decided to stop being lazy and make my own gut load with blended apples/oranges/collard and mustard greens/ kale/ and carrots and freeze them in an ice cube tray for veggie-siccles. The crickets went CRAZY for the cubes and it was almost devoured in one night. I noticed a huge difference in the crickets behavior- how high they jumped and how active they were in the feeder cup, and the difference was night and day. The feeders even look fat and juicy! lol

Also, not one cricket has died yet after 2 days of using this and with the crickets being more active and running around the cages my chams have become more active in hunting them. After getting the idea from Sandra's blog and a few other posts, this was much easier to make then I had previously thought. Btw, I also use bug burger and other vegetables solo, but nothing has made as much a difference as this, if you haven't tried this I suggest you make some asap! :D
 

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please share the recipe! I struggle with varying gutload & your cubes look like a great solution :D

Is it literally as you describe- not specific amounts?
 
I'm not surprised that you say your crickets are now "fat and juicy"...

I've tried to tell peeps here for years that feeding high calcium greens and other veggies and fruit adds liquid to our feeders that are beneficial to our chams.

Btw, your superworms should like this mix too. As well as your roaches, if you dare have them.

Harry
 
Very nice.

If you want to do a large batch instead of the small one.. Do what you did but in a much larger scale obviously, but then put it in a cookie sheet and spread it out. Put it in the freezer for awhile till its a little solid. THen cut the squares like you would baked goods. spread those out on two cookie sheets and freeze till solid. THen you can stick them all in a big freezer bag.
 
So do you just blend the aforementioned ingredients in the blender and then freeze in ice cube tray? Do you then just put the frozen cube into the feeders enclosure? wont it melt and go every where?
 
Djturna4thakidz said:
So do you just blend the aforementioned ingredients in the blender and then freeze in ice cube tray? Do you then just put the frozen cube into the feeders enclosure? wont it melt and go every where?
Click to expand...

ding. ding. ding. This was my concern... Do tell! :)
 
Djturna4thakidz said:
So do you just blend the aforementioned ingredients in the blender and then freeze in ice cube tray? Do you then just put the frozen cube into the feeders enclosure? wont it melt and go every where?
Click to expand...

You would indeed think it would melt all over...

BUT!!! it does not. It just gets soft and stays in a clump. Spreads a little bit but hardly at all. And by that time, its all ate.
 
I'm so glad to see many people interested/have done this themselves!

lysinlight87 said:
please share the recipe! I struggle with varying gutload & your cubes look like a great solution :D

I just used 1 peeled orange, 1 apple, 4 baby carrots, handful of mustard/collard greens and kale and slowly blended into a smoothie. Used a spoon to fill out 2 ice cube trays to freeze and I still have about an unfrozen cup that I put a small amount at the same time.

Is it literally as you describe- not specific amounts?
Click to expand...

Yup, I didn't really measure exact ingredients. I just figured these foods are all beneficial with whatever amount. I did add more greens then apples/oranges.

Sticktongue said:
Very nice.

If you want to do a large batch instead of the small one.. Do what you did but in a much larger scale obviously, but then put it in a cookie sheet and spread it out. Put it in the freezer for awhile till its a little solid. THen cut the squares like you would baked goods. spread those out on two cookie sheets and freeze till solid. THen you can stick them all in a big freezer bag.
Click to expand...

That's also a very good way to go about it! Though there's a pet store right by my house so I only get about 6 dozen crickets at a time since that lasts about a week and the store never seem to run out.

Djturna4thakidz said:
So do you just blend the aforementioned ingredients in the blender and then freeze in ice cube tray? Do you then just put the frozen cube into the feeders enclosure? wont it melt and go every where?
Click to expand...


maxttu said:
ding. ding. ding. This was my concern... Do tell! :)
Click to expand...

Yes, I just blend everything little by little. The cubes are not that big so one only lasts about 2-3 days. And before freezing them I used a strainer to get excess water out and it has not gotten mushy at all inside the cricket cage. If this is a problem, you can just put it in a short dish so that it doesn't get every where, but I haven't experienced this.
 
natureboy86 said:
So is one cube sufficient for a day, or do you use multiple/day? Sounds really convenient
Click to expand...

One cube lasts me about 2-3 days for about 70 crickets at a time, but I also put unfrozen paste and bug burger at the same time, so they have a lot of foods to choose from lol. It is veeeery convenient and has made a huge difference in the crickets so far.
 
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