Rate my gutload!

[MantisFTW]

Hello all, I am changing things up a bit from my usual gutload. I went to my local drug store and picked up a bunch of powders to mix into one big dry cricket gutload. I just ordered some water crystals too for hydration. I got the idea from someone in another cham group thats been doing this. Here is a picture of what Im about to mix:

From left to right:
-Bee Pollen caps
-Spirulina Powder
-"Perfect Food Raw" (lots of superfoods)
-Alfalfa
-Acai Berry
-Beet
-Repashy Bug Burger
-Bee Pollen granules
-Wheat Bran
-Flaxseed Meal
-Hemp Powder
-Wheat Germ (not pictured)

I wanted to get apple fiber, and hibiscus, carrot, sweet potato, and kale powders, but I couldnt find them. I also couldnt find bee pollen in a regular powder form but they had the granules and capsules which I plan on opening. Before I was only using Bug Burger, now im going to mix the bug burger powder in with the new dry gutload. Also the jar of 'Perfect Food Raw' in the back contains apple, beet, carrot, spinach, tomato, kale, and lots of other "superfoods" in powder form.

I thought the idea was genius. Granted, its a bit more expensive, but it has a forever shelf-life, and wont attract fruit flies and other pests and wont sit and rot and ferment. A lot easier than having to chop a bunch of veggies and may save money in the long run since it wont go bad.
My only concern is that is this just as good as a wet gutload? Should I add in anything else? I dont want to substitute quality for being lazy lol.

 

[Mike Fisher]

That's better than 99.9% of humans eat.

I've moved away from dry gutloads and just give them pulp from my juicer. Because it is pulp, it dries up long before it molds.

 

[nightanole]

1) this is not "gut load", this is food. Gut loads are stuff you feed 24-48 hours before feeding off, because it will kill the bugs if fed daily, due to calcium or just plugging up their digestive track.

2) Why the DR OZ -Spirulina Powder and Acai Berry?

3) be careful of the fortification of the "Perfect Food Raw". I cant use guinnee pig or chicken feed because off the added vitamins and minerals, I assume that green powder as them added too.

4) Other than that you might want to look into "brewers yeast".

5) Kudos for finding pre powdered alfalfa, i have to grind it myself from the goat feed.

 

[MantisFTW]

1) this is not "gut load", this is food. Gut loads are stuff you feed 24-48 hours before feeding off, because it will kill the bugs if fed daily, due to calcium or just plugging up their digestive track.

2) Why the DR OZ -Spirulina Powder and Acai Berry?

3) be careful of the fortification of the "Perfect Food Raw". I cant use guinnee pig or chicken feed because off the added vitamins and minerals, I assume that green powder as them added too.

4) Other than that you might want to look into "brewers yeast".

5) Kudos for finding pre powdered alfalfa, i have to grind it myself from the goat feed.

What exactly do you mean by its not a gut load? I know you elaborated, but Im still a bit confused. Is it not good enough to be considered a nutritional diet to the cham? I definitely dont want to be spending this much money on plain cricket feed, if this isnt good enough to be considered a gut load then I could just be putting oatmeal down for them to eat until they get the real gut load. The crickets seem fine on it, I only just fed it to them last night and so far so good. Nothings dead yet but I guess I will keep an eye out. I have a lot of this stuff made so im not really worried about feeding them anything thats not the gut load diet (basically this is all they will be eating.)

I heard Spirulina and Acai are both good gut load additives vitamin-wise particularly the spirulina. I see it on almost every gut load list at least, no I really dont know a whole lot about nutrition so everything I got is from several lists that Ive compared.
The "Perfect Food Raw" is just a compilation of all kinds of fruit/vegetable powders, no added vitamins or minerals. I will look into the brewers yeast as well as maybe the hibiscus, carrot, and apple powders.

 

[Bush baby]

That gutload looks absolutey SUPER, as a dry gut load; very similar to mine. minUs the Alfalfa and Beet.

 

[nightanole]

What exactly do you mean by its not a gut load? I know you elaborated, but Im still a bit confused. Is it not good enough to be considered a nutritional diet to the cham? I definitely dont want to be spending this much money on plain cricket feed, if this isnt good enough to be considered a gut load then I could just be putting oatmeal down for them to eat until they get the real gut load. The crickets seem fine on it, I only just fed it to them last night and so far so good. Nothings dead yet but I guess I will keep an eye out. I have a lot of this stuff made so im not really worried about feeding them anything thats not the gut load diet (basically this is all they will be eating.)

I heard Spirulina and Acai are both good gut load additives vitamin-wise particularly the spirulina. I see it on almost every gut load list at least, no I really dont know a whole lot about nutrition so everything I got is from several lists that Ive compared.
The "Perfect Food Raw" is just a compilation of all kinds of fruit/vegetable powders, no added vitamins or minerals. I will look into the brewers yeast as well as maybe the hibiscus, carrot, and apple powders.

A true gut load will kill feeder insects. A gut load is just that, fill the feeder with calcium etc before feeding off. calcium and other vit/minerals will kill feeders in a few days, that is why you feed them the gut load the night before.

What you make is a very very good "feeder diet". Much better than the store bought stuff. There several lists of home made feeder diets and the explanation of each ingredient and how to make it well balanced.

If nothing in your diet is fortified i think you are good. I would still watch out for the Dr OZ type ingredients that are meant to catch the owners eye vs doing anything to help nutrition wise. No the crickets will not be helped with gluten free soy free non gmo free range ingredients.

On a lighter note you may want to figure out the protein ratio/percent of your diet. If it gets too high it might cause gout in the lizard due to feeder storing the extra protein as uric acid. I know dubia roaches do this. Hell way to high of protein and you will get die offs.

PS: here is my dubia diet.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/i-think-i-invented-dubia-crack-95938/

 

[Andee]

Spirulina is a vegetable super food. I use it in my gutload, and use it to feed to my hermit crabs. It's really good for feeder recipes. I don't see why Acai would be any worse. Plus it adds sweetness which causes the bugs to eat the diet/gutload better.

I thought only animal protein caused gout?

 

[nightanole]

Spirulina algae is over 50% protein by weight, and a huge source of vitamin B. This needs to be balanced out with the rest of the diet.

Mammals/reptiles cant store protein. Bugs on the other hand can store any protein in the form of uric acid. When dietary protein is low they can turn that uric acid back into usable protein. If the mammal/reptile gets too much uric acid in their diet, the bodies last ditch defense mechanism is to crystallize it around the bones/joints. Unfortunately is is semi permanent and we call it gout.

Dubias will start storing uric acid around a 20%-25% protein diet, and start dieing off around 35%. This is why fish food type diets are never recommended. I dont have the data infront of me for crickets and meal worms but i know the threshhold is much higher than dubias.

If you want a good read on the subject, look up the development of the cricket crack formula.