Reptile & Amphibian Forums

does anyone use this and how do you like it? esu has millet bedding.

I've used white millet for a couple years now. It's fine. You can also get it from other sources - sometimes cheaper. Try feed stores or garden type stores that cater to bird watchers.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.1 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, Tank, and Lilly)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
0.1 Collared Lizard (Rorschach)
2.1 Green Anoles (Bowser, Sprocket, Leeloo)
1.1 Chubby Housecats (Roscolux and Jenny)

I use bird seed that's mostly red and white millet, with sunflower seeds and cracked corn. It's great!! Easy to maintain, use it for a while, then feed it to the birds. My Uros also like to snack on the millet (especially the red.) I think I only pay about $8.00 a 40 lb. bag at a feed store, and it lasts a long time.
When they defecate it gets dried up in no time and is easy to clean out. I highly recommend it!!!
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**Kenn**

i would highly recommend getting rid of the cracked corn and sunflower seeds. i think they are too hard and can hurt their insides. they sent off a "no-no" vibe but i can't find any liturature right now
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vonnie

***Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. Oscar Wilde ***

Not to worry Vonnie. My Uros don't eat anything but the millet. They dig through it and are very specific on what they eat. Actually they will even ignore the white millet, prefering the red millet exclusively. It's sometimes funny enough watching them trying to get only the red that sometimes I will pick out small piles for them. They are VERY picky so I don't worry about it. Thanks anyway. There could be some out there not as picky.
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**Kenn**

I have used millet for years and like it a lot. It is easy to maintain, easy to clean. I buy it from a feed mill, 50# of red for $13.

Pam
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1.1 varanus acanthurus brachyurus (Dorado & Dora)
1.1 u. macfadyeni (Amani & Abeba)
1.2 u. ornata (Husani, Zari, & Bintu)
1.1 u. maliensis (Njuru & Neo) Doug Dix
0.0.1 geochelone carbonaria (Rojo)
0.1 pogona vitticeps (Sunni)
1.1 hyla chrysoscelis (Pudge & Squirt)
Herps Are Awesome!

Is it digestable? My experience was that it didn't look any different in the poo than it did as substrate.

When I got my group of uros from Rare Earth in the spring their entire fecal pellet was seeds, millet from the looks of it and it was completely undigested. I don't use it at all. I use paper and playsand(yeah I know). I only use paper on animals under a year old and in quarantine. I have had impaction problems using play sand on hatchlings, especially ornates. Tom

My initial experience with millet was a moth infestation that took forever to control. Also, I began to notice the fecal pellets were full of undigested seed. They may love to eat the stuff but that's not good if it's taking the place of more nutritious offerings. My other reservation is that any substrate being used as a food source might have some health issues. They're crapping on what they eat.
Sand sucks too, but that's what's worked best for us with Uros over 6 months old.

That's odd Arredondo, mine have never had any noticable seed in their fecal matter. Mine chew it up rather than swallow it. You can hear them when they crunch on it from across the room. Sounds like they're eating rocks...to me anyway. As for nutrition they continue to steadile gain weight. They've grown about 100 grams in the last 5 months, I think that's pretty good. Not all Uros are the same though, so what works for some can't always apply across the board to all Uros. For the winter I built them a special enclosure with 6 inches of substrate. A mix of sand, peat, and bird seed (mostly millet) so they can burrow when they go into brumation. Mine were wild caught as opposed to captive bred (something I found out after I got them) and I can't seem to get them to read the caresheets that tell them what to do. Ha, ha. If everyone were the same wouldn't life be boring!?
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**Kenn**

Hmmmm, why do some Uros digest millet & other's don't? Doug, you keep your's on birdseed; what say you?
Kenn, please keep up your good posts!! Lots of good advice you're offering.