Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey peeps,

k i was wondering if it would be possible/safe/healthy to take the usual diet of a uromastyx, (ie: dandiline, carrots, calcium powder), pu tit all in a blender, and mash it up into a paste like substance, and feed that in a dish to a uro.
just curious on what your takes are on this.

please no NO BAD IDEA answers or YEAH AMAZING
elaborate please if possible.

thanks!

also, what do you think about freezing unused portions then warming them up/dethawing for feding time?

I don't really have any thoughts on blending the food...

However, I've tried freezing excess veggies like cut-up squash and such and they alway turn to mush when they thaw. My little guy does NOT like frozen/thawed veggies.

Blending is ok into little pieces but not a much! It will be like a paste and get stuck in them and give them water poops and such, could make them end up very lethargic. Good luck! I have 2 uro and about to have 3 beardies i have 2 beardies now, and i just hand cut up everything that way i know what's exactally going into them, and something you have to remove the seeds!

My take on this is that I can't imagine why you would want to try such a completely un-natural serving of food, essentially a form of baby food. Do they find such a mush in the wild? You'll do best by staying with the tried & provens, a diet as closely linked to it's normal diet in the wild as possible. There's simply no need or rationale to veer off course to try that route.
And, no, freezing leftover greens won't work. Are they that expensive where you live?
Stay within the care sheets & you'll be best served.
Good Luck!

Hi!

I have used blender to make salad for my Uromastyx's and it works fine as long as it doesn't get paste. My lizards won't eat it.
Usually I just cut all the ingredients with scissors.

I also freeze most of the prepared salad for longer storage. I think it is better to freeze the ingredients separately and then prepare the salad as much as needed, when it is needed.

And yes, the veggies are too expensive (at least where I live) to mold in a fridge.

-Vic

They do loose all nutrtional value when freezing, You are just feeding a bunch of water and no calcuim or vitamins. It's better to make fresh salad so they have all there essential vitamins from the greens. Blender is fine, it should not be to fine (the veggies). Like said before should be like natural habitat and they usually just rip stuff off the trees. So it's usually whole.

"They do loose all nutrtional value when freezing"

I don't think so.
I have used frozen veggies for years with no problems for my Uro's and tortoises (don't have tortoises anymore).
Some of the plants do get all watery when melted, so I froze only those which can handle it (of course).

Where did you get this information about loosing all nutritional value?
I have used freezer to store my own food for all my life. At this point I guess I'm more concerned about the nutritional values of my own food, than all my lizards food. o_O

-Vic

The only nutritional concern I know of with freezing (and I don't know much ) is thiamine. Some lizards fed mostly frozen food can suffer from hypothiaminosis and the symptoms can look similar to MBD - twitching, etc. If you feed heavy amounts of frozen veggies, you can add vitamin B1 as a supplement, or you can switch to more fresh foods.

-----
Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, and Tank)
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)

Thiamin is the biggest one, there is also vitamins and minerals and all the calcuim, that is in the veggies is lost when freezing. It makes a mushy mess and is all water based when thawed anf feed to the herps. They are only getting ver low nutrition and high water content! I've read this on several ocassions on sites about uros and beardies when i was doin research on them. I also know this because i have tried freezing salads and it's not a good result. It comes out mushy and some foods are not good after freezing and the un freezing!

This is not true. Freezing will break down some vitamins but calcium is not one of them. You read incorrectly. A few of the B vitamins are the ones most susceptible to being lost during freezing. You are correct about it turning into a mushy mess. That has very little to nothing to do with vitamin and mineral content.

Which it still isn't a good idea and shouldn't freeze! Simple!

When I owned Iguanas I would weigh out their food cut it up and freeze it. I added Brewer's Yeast to replace the lost vitamin B1 (Thiamin). You can freeze food as long as you replace the lost B vitamins.