Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone watch the show Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel? If you do, have you seen the episode in which Mike goes to Hollister, CA and helps the people at Green Tripe make dog food? The dog food consists of ground "guts" from livestock. Anyway, I'm not to far from Hollister, so I've been getting this food and feeding it to my monitors and they have been thriving on it. I know everyone here frowns upon dog food, but this isn't ordinary dog food, it's ground up hearts, livers, intestines, kidneys, etc.

Any thoughts? Anyone feed anything similar? I've been feeding this to my monitors (Blackthroats and Water) for about 6 months now and they have maintained healthy weights (solid, not fat), have been very active, and have been growing rapidly.

This food seems very similar to what carrion would be like, except it's not rotting and is actually of a grade that could be consumed by humans. Another plus is that you get a whole lot more per dollar than you would with a mouse (a WHOLE lot more).

So what do you all think?

http://www.greentripe.com/

That is their website in case you are interested in what it is or nutritional information

Wow I checked the website out and this stuff seems great!

I have seen this episode...I love the show!

I'm not a monitor expert, but I know that the food is top quality (if you consider innards quality).

I think it would probably be good...unless it's loaded with preservatives and anti-bacterial chemicals. Do you know the ingredients?

Luc Cauthorn

I think that since most reading this post do not know the exact nutritional requirements of their monitors,and I'm willing to bet they are much different than those of dogs, they should ignore this post and stick to what has been proven to work; WHOLE FOOD ITEMS.

Recently I also found a brand of dogffood made from 100% beef. I usually feed whole rodents but for variety I serve other items during the week. Whole fish, whole shrimp, eggs with shells, turkey burger and few chicken hearts dusted with calcium. So I tried this canned beef food as a treat and it was a great hit. Since it has no bones I did put reptical on it.I would not feed this more than every 2 weeks or so.

I am just a beginner of a couple of years experience really and don't know what I am doing. In nature they eat whole animals but they would also gladly consume offal I am fairly certain. Please advise.

I am feeding BT, Nile, Sav, Water and Crocs

Well, the stuff I feed consists of green tripe, muscle meat, heart, tongue, trachea/gullet, and ground bone which is pretty darn close to a whole food if you ask me. I get 5lbs of that mixture for about $2, which makes it so cost effective I can feed the monitors as much of it as they want, ever day. Mice might be the best food for them, but then again, eating salmon and steak every day might be best for me but I just couldn't afford it. Given the way this economy is this food allows me to keep the animals very full, and it has worked for me.

Sounds good but what is the protien percentage of that food?

This all beef dog canned dogfod is 10% protien and 4.5% fat. Whole creatures are about 20% protien. Meat itself is 20% protien. Thats why I would not feed very much of this canned food to my lizards. Besides it has no bones.

But I hear you. I think there are other cheap and healthy additives to the rodent diet for the less fastidious ground dwelling monitors. Would a foraging monitor walking around find and rob nests? Yes he would. Would he find where someone slaughtered an animal and eat the offal? Gladly, I'll bet. Would he find and eat dead fish along a water course, or even catch them himself? Chomp on down!

Chicken hearts and gizzards are 80 cents a pound and 21% protien and 2.7% fat. Grocery stores will give away whole fish that they can no longer sell because the eyes aren't clear. Bait shrimp is very cheap and stinky and they smell and smell their plates a long time afterward. Eggs are still incredibly cheap for the nutritional deal you get. I enjoy foraging for my lizards. This is what women do. We forage.

If I am wrong about this, and I am new so don't know much, you all just kill me now

Running a rescue, I do keep canned wysong beef and turkey on hand here. It does have a far better nutritional value as it is organ meat and water and nothing else. It makes the ability to transition the animal on to a healthier diet easier as the food is more "normal" to the guys.
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Cindy
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