Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone had luck with this diet?

What are the differences between this and regular turkey?

Can it be fed as a steady supplement(meaning, say a 50% SDZ Diet)?

Just wondering cause the way things are going I can just about afford to feed myself nowadays and large rats or large quantities of smaller rodents are getting very expensive.

Right now my girl is eating large rats and trimmed cooked chicken thighs with bone in. I try as much as I can to feed more rodents than chicken of course. Rats make up appox. 2/3 of her diet, chicken thighs being the rest.

I was just wondering if the SDZ diet would be more nutritious and over all better for her than the thighs, and why. Maybe I can cut back the rodents even more and feed a 50/50 SDZ and rodent diet.

Before anyone jumps to conclusions about her diet, I know it is not the 100% best thing for her, but that is all I can honestly afford at the moment. I am doing the best I can absolutely do right now.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Hey!
I don't have any personal experience or knowledge of the diet but there was a discussion about 2 months ago. I'm not taking any sides, just pointing you to previous discussions.

forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1555137,1555137

forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1557356,1557356

Catch ya later!
Mike
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

My advice, search the forum, the topic has long been debated. And those baby prasinus below had parents eating 50% turkey diet.

I tried it before, what I saw was no different than using zupreem monitor diet, but then again Ive never fed one food such as it alone because it seemed to me to be incomplete.
Ive always used whole rodents, chicken peeps, quail, and insects. Ive added in SDZ diet, Mazuri croc diet, Zupreem canned diet, Nebraska brand feline diet, and other things, but I always feed whole animals.
By reading the ingredients and seeing results many years ago from a keeper I knew, the Nebraska brand feline diet, or bird of prey diet from zoos seems to be more complete. Even one of the foods my cat and dogs eat seems to be far superior as far as being more complete, its ground raw beef, bones, 6 organs, green beef tripe, and a few other ingredients all raw.
Its so much easier and cheaper in the long run to feed whole animals really.
I have nothing against using it, just to me rounding the diet out with whole animals is the best idea.

I have tried a bunch of different things over the years and what seems to work best for me is a rodent diet..... I found a guy near me that sells rats for 70 cents each.... I'm sure you can find something ... rodent diet is the only way to go.. if you can't afford it you have the wrong hobby... sorry, but its true.

First off I did search this topic, obviously my skills aren't that great with searching, lol.

Just wanna say things are tough now and I have just lessened my load by getting rid of a ton of stuff so things will be easier. I am not giving up a hobby I love because of a little financial trouble that will pass eventually in the near future.

Like anyone I was just wondering if there was an alternative that may be cheaper. Im sure a lot of people thought the same thing at one time (San Diego Zoo), that could be why they tried it, to see if there was a more efficient way of feeding.

Nowadays who isn't trying to cut back on things? It seems everyone is trying to save a penny here and there. I like to buy in bulk, and the shipping kills me. I don't have the extra cash for that at the time, and rats around here are like $4 a piece and thats a half hour away for the cheapest around. I can get them closer for about 5.50.

Im going to a show in a couple weeks and plan on stocking up on rats. Now that I got rid of 7 bearded dragons and 2 snakes it is a lot easier, and more affordable. I struck it good last night and sold everything to one person, not too bad.

Enough rambling. Thanks guys. I'll just stick with rodents and I'm gonna see if I can even split some shipping costs around here to buy in bulk online. Thanks again.

I dont think there is anything wrong with finding cheaper methods of taking care of you animals. It can get very expensive to enjoy your hobby. I for instance cant afford to go out and buy rodents so I breed them. I have developed an allergy to them that causes me breathin problems but it is cheaper to breed my rats than to buy them. There is nothing wrong with finding something else for them to eat. Would you like to eat the same thing everyday for the rest of your life?? I dont think so.

My monitor diet consists of

Beef Heart
Catfish Nuggetts
Rats/mice
Rabbit pinkies
Rabbits
Ground Turkey

My monitors get a variety of things. Just cause its not found in their habitat that does not mean it is not good for them. Any one with experience will tell you variety is good.

I cant believe so many people use this generic diet for monitors period. Especially potential breeding monitors. Monitors will eat many things as do people. Try feeding your kids chips ahoy cookies for a long period of time and see what happens? About how I feel about this diet. Just because monitors will eat it does not mean it is good for a staple diet. The whole bodied rodents are what I call a choc full of nuts, equal and all naturally balanced diet, calcium from the bones, Vitamin D3 from the liver of the rodent and protien, minerals,ect. Why try something so unatural? Of course I have never been to Australia so maybe the turkey Gods are laying out chunks of turkey somewhere in the outback? With all due respect to SD zoo they are looking for a cheap means of keeping there display monitors alive and thats about it. I talked to one argus breeder who claims turkey diet gives a bloaty look to the argus? Enough said, the only time my dwarfs get turkey is once a year on Novemeber 25th. They get the slim pickins left over from our home made turkey for the heck of it. Keep it simple, rodents rule as food for my monitors!
Robert Sutton
Maxians Collection

Very good point, well put.

Thats funny. We did not make the diet as a cheap source for food. We made it to find another item to add to the rotation and to try and find a rodent substitute. If you had read the paper you would see that the diet is almost identical to a mouse. Just putting in my 2 cents. The diet works great for my personal animals and those at the zoo. My prasinus don't lie, lol.

Jeff, Congrats on your prasinus and your turkey diet, I dont believe any manmade vitamin substitute works nearly as effective as natural D-3 from the liver of another animal. Im sure if you rotate the diet with some common sense and dont lean on it as the staple diet because it is so cheap to use it maybe fine. Now I dont know how many generations of prasinus you have produced like from egg to breeding adult but maybe it will surface down the road? I like the natural things I know they eat in the wild less other reptiles. Diversity is the key to balance a diet in any living thing period. My comment was aimed at turkey abuse in monitors:} Cheers,Bob