When are you NOT gut loading?

[suprdude]

I understand the need for gut loading, but when are you NOT gut loading? Do you you often leave the insects in a container with nothing? Why wouldn't you keep some veggies in the container at all times?
Thanks.

 

[MissSkittles]

I don’t specifically gut load. I keep my buggies well fed with fresh organic produce and some Repashy bug burger. Healthy bugs = more nutritious for my chams.

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah I just keep them fed with good foods.

 

[kinyonga]

I don't gutload either....I feed them the same things all the time so to me gutloading and feeding are the same thing.

 

[suprdude]

I don't gutload either....I feed them the same things all the time so to me gutloading and feeding are the same thing

I've been studying chams for a while now, and nobody has articulated this so well in one sentence...well done sir.

 

[kinyonga]

No sir...female!

 

[ERKleRose]

I feed my colonies carrots, water gel, and cheaper quality gutloads and pick out what I want to feed the night before. I put the picked out feeders in a separate container with high-quality gutload and let them chow down on it overnight before feeding them off.

 

[kinyonga]

I feed and gutload them the same because I want the insects to be healthy all their lives until they become healthy food for the chameleon.

 

[Ramrod]

I don't gutload either. Just keep the colonies well fed daily with quality foods

 

[suprdude]

No sir...female!

No sir...female!

Oops!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I consider it always gutloading because I always keep good foods in with the bugs. I guess it's semantics on which way you look at it. But there's no reason why you wouldn't want them to have access to the nutritious foods that will allow them to pass on those nutrients to what eats them.

 

[nightanole]

Mine gets treated like a compost heap. All peels and left over veg go in. No water crystals and no powder once a colony has a few hundred souls.

I do have an anti gutload. If im growing a tub, i feed them ground up dry dog food to get them going. I do not feed off the dog fooders.

 

[jamest0o0]

Mine gets treated like a compost heap. All peels and left over veg go in. No water crystals and no powder once a colony has a few hundred souls.

I do have an anti gutload. If im growing a tub, i feed them ground up dry dog food to get them going. I do not feed off the dog fooders.

Should try using horse chow instead of dog food. Can get all natural/whole food mixes and is probably better than dogfood while still being affordable.

 

[nightanole]

Should try using horse chow instead of dog food. Can get all natural/whole food mixes and is probably better than dogfood while still being affordable.

I had a source of non vitamined Guinee pig food, but that went away. All my "horse chows" are just "gut loads" or "weight gainers" with lots of vitamins. Might find a source of goat feed soon...

But to my defense, it is "high end" dog food. Right now its wiener dog food, since the wiener got adopted, and the family forgot about the unopened bag.

 

[jamest0o0]

I had a source of non vitamined Guinee pig food, but that went away. All my "horse chows" are just "gut loads" or "weight gainers" with lots of vitamins. Might find a source of goat feed soon...

But to my defense, it is "high end" dog food. Right now its wiener dog food, since the wiener got adopted, and the family forgot about the unopened bag.

I found a brand that has no added vitamins, everything is entirely foods. Oat, sunflower, alfalfa/timothy, flax, kelp, peas, rose hips, and a few other things I may be forgetting. The roaches love it and have been booming since I started using. I think a 25 lb bag is like $30 bucks, might be a little off on those numbers, but it lasts a long time. I've had it for a few months now and I have 30 something colonies to feed.

 

[Flick boy]

Yup same here i just continually feed my bugs every 2/3 days I remove my bugs wash their containers and replenish fresh food

 

[kinyonga]

Be careful using food for other animals for insect food....especially when you're getting close to feeding the insects to the chameleon. Various animal foods have other things in them that might be I quantities that are too high for the chameleon.

For instance...cats cannot make vitamin A or niacin so they are added to the food...how do we balance what the chameleon's get if this is going into the insects just before they are fed to the chameleon....is it too much? Enough to throw off the balance?

I'm not saying don't use any other animal food for the insects....just be aware of the nutrient differences and what the insects and chameleons require and what you are giving them when you do it.

I had a Guinea pig once and asked the pet store if I could feed it the leftover rabbit food...they said yes. I did...Guinea pig ended up with hind leg paralysis...it was caused by the lack of vitamin C in the rabbit food. Apparently there's not enough vitamin C in rabbit food.

 

[jamest0o0]

Be careful using food for other animals for insect food....especially when you're getting close to feeding the insects to the chameleon. Various animal foods have other things in them that might be I quantities that are too high for the chameleon.

For instance...cats cannot make vitamin A or niacin so they are added to the food...how do we balance what the chameleon's get if this is going into the insects just before they are fed to the chameleon....is it too much? Enough to throw off the balance?

I'm not saying don't use any other animal food for the insects....just be aware of the nutrient differences and what the insects and chameleons require and what you are giving them when you do it.

I had a Guinea pig once and asked the pet store if I could feed it the leftover rabbit food...they said yes. I did...Guinea pig ended up with hind leg paralysis...it was caused by the lack of vitamin C in the rabbit food. Apparently there's not enough vitamin C in rabbit food.

That's exactly why we were talking of using plant sources foods without added vitamins... other than that, everyone is just more or less guessing at what should go into an insect's food. The best we can do is keep our insects healthy and feed things that we'd think would be beneficial to our reptiles.

 

[ERKleRose]

I found a brand that has no added vitamins, everything is entirely foods. Oat, sunflower, alfalfa/timothy, flax, kelp, peas, rose hips, and a few other things I may be forgetting. The roaches love it and have been booming since I started using. I think a 25 lb bag is like $30 bucks, might be a little off on those numbers, but it lasts a long time. I've had it for a few months now and I have 30 something colonies to feed.

What brand is that?

 

[ERKleRose]

I feed my colonies carrots, water gel, and cheaper quality gutloads and pick out what I want to feed the night before. I put the picked out feeders in a separate container with high-quality gutload and let them chow down on it overnight before feeding them off.

I feel like I need to clarify: the cheaper quality gutload is Mazuri Better Bug Gutloading diet (nothing like dog or fish food or anything), along with excess food from the high-quality gutload cubes I make, like Repashy, Cricket Crack, fresh fruits and veggies, etc. (everything‘s in the correct ratios, don’t worry). All of my colonies grow and breed healthy with what I feed, and I also notice that the ones I pick out eat way more of the high-quality gutload, where as when I fed the colonies all high-quality gutload before and separated the feeders the night before so they all could eat without competition, they wouldn’t touch the gutload at all, meaning there was little to no gutload in the bugs when I fed them off, which is why I switched. My current method ensures every feeder is gorged with high-quality gutload. When I picked the bugs straight out of their colonies with everyone being fed the high-quality gutload, some never got the chance to eat enough because they were out-competed for the food, too.