Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was first interested in the idea of a larger dry pellet food for my adult iguanas when I saw the riddlebox post, so I looked up mazuri to see what it was all about. I decided to compare ingredients with Zoo Med which I currently use and see what kind of feed back you have.
First 6 ingredients

Mazuri Tortoise: Comes in a 25 lbs bag
ground soybean hulls,ground corn,ground oats,dehulled soybean meal, wheat middlings, cane molasses

Zoo Med Iguana: Comes in a 25 lbs bucket or 50 lbs sack
Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Dried Lima Beans, Rice Bran, Escarole, Endive

Mazuri Iguana: Comes only in a 1.3 lbs bag (I called mazuri)
Dehulled soybean meal, alfalfa meal, ground soybean hulls, wheat middlings, ground corn, dicalcium phosphate

First thoughts: a 1.3 lbs bag is a joke. That is 2 to 3 feeding for some iguanas.

>>I was first interested in the idea of a larger dry pellet food for my adult iguanas when I saw the riddlebox post, so I looked up mazuri to see what it was all about. I decided to compare ingredients with Zoo Med which I currently use and see what kind of feed back you have.
>>First 6 ingredients
>>
>>Mazuri Tortoise: Comes in a 25 lbs bag
>>ground soybean hulls,ground corn,ground oats,dehulled soybean meal, wheat middlings, cane molasses
>>
>>Zoo Med Iguana: Comes in a 25 lbs bucket or 50 lbs sack
>>Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Dried Lima Beans, Rice Bran, Escarole, Endive
>>
>>Mazuri Iguana: Comes only in a 1.3 lbs bag (I called mazuri)
>>Dehulled soybean meal, alfalfa meal, ground soybean hulls, wheat middlings, ground corn, dicalcium phosphate
>>
>>First thoughts: a 1.3 lbs bag is a joke. That is 2 to 3 feeding for some iguanas.

looks like zoo med appears to be better. What's your census Mark?

I would have to agree with Yakob and say that Zoo-Med appears to have the better ingredients based on the ones you listed. Zoo-Med seems to be more greens-based rather than grain-based. Alfalfa is supposed to be a supreme source off nutrients for iguanas.
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Bri

Here is all the information on the Mazuri and it looks pretty close to me. About a $25 per bag difference on the 25lb in favor of the Mazuri from the sources I have seen. It looks like it is left to personal preference to me from the great condition of all the Cyclura's kept on either of these food sources.
Link

Sorry, bad link try this one.
Link

Mazuri has been around for a long time and have a long and very good track records. Animals that eat Mazuri food seems to thrive. Zoos usually is the major buyers and users... They have only recently made the food available to the average herp-enthusiasts. I talked to someone who do tortoise rescue and he would get in these illegally imported baby and juvenile Indian star tortoises all the time from Fish and Wildlife. First he would feed them what is recommended for these guys... The usual high-fiber-low-protein stuff, I think. But they kept dying no matter what. He said they developed some kind of stone in the excrement. So he came across the Mazuri Tortoise Pellets and thought why not gave it a try. He's got nothing to loose. Well these juvenile and baby Indian star tortoises actually thrive on this stuff and grow pretty fast without pyramiding, or at least not a lot. They also started breeding. The Mazuri tortoise pellets have been around for 30 years. It was first developed to give the Galopogos tortoise hacthlings a head start.

What I think is this, Mazuri is a good diet, but the the Zoo Med is better because it has better ingredients in it. I think the Mazuri is easier to get, because its a Purina product, most pet food places can just have it brought in with its dog food. I just ordered a 25 lbs sack from my local pet feed store (which is coming in with its Purina order)to try out. The only way the zoo med is cost effective for me is when I actually drive three hours down to San Luis Obispo and pick up 50 lbs sacks from them direct (I travel there once or twice a year to wheel the sand dunes at Pismo). The iguana diet is higher in protein which it good for the ctenosaura, but the 1.3 lbs packaging (the only size they sell) is ridiculous. So it will still be zoo med juvie formula for the spineys.

What I think is this, Mazuri is a good diet, but the the Zoo Med is better because it has better ingredients in it. I think the Mazuri is easier to get, because its a Purina product, most pet food places can just have it brought in with its dog food. I just ordered a 25 lbs sack from my local pet feed store (which is coming in with its Purina order)to try out. The only way the zoo med is cost effective for me is when I actually drive three hours down to San Luis Obispo and pick up 50 lbs sacks from them direct (I travel there once or twice a year to wheel the sand dunes at Pismo). The iguana diet is higher in protein which it good for the ctenosaura, but the 1.3 lbs packaging (the only size they sell) is ridiculous. So it will still be zoo med juvie formula for the spineys.

Mazuri do sell larger bags of herbivore diet...they just don't call them iguana diet.

does anybody no if you can get mazuri tortoise food in the uk

Checked it out, and I think that herbivore #16 diet is actually better for cyclura than their iguana diet.

Whats funny is if you check out Purina rabbit diets, they have the same ingredients in various order depending on what type of rabbit food.

When you say that the #16 is better for the cyclura would you include hatchlings up to adult size also or just the adults? I guess I am asking if the juvies need more protien than the adults. Right now I use only fresh foods for my yearling and never include any animal protien. If I were to try to mix in some of the #16 would that be sufficient or would you go with the higher protien iguana food until they are a few years old? Thanks, Tom Greb

The protein content is a little low for juvies but that can be easily fixed by adding protein or mabey they have a higher protein diet for some other animal that may work. The zoo med juvie has 24% protein which comes from fish meal, and I use this for juvies and adult ctenosaura.

Since it's animal protein, is that still okay, Mark?

Recently found this at a local birdstore, Not for use as "food" but a great treat. She seems to enjoy them. My parrots wont even look at them. They were a fortune

Check out these ingredients:Ingredients: *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Evaporated Sugar Cane Juice, *Tapioca Maltodextrin, *Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hulled Grey Proso Millet, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Hulless Barley, *Ground Split Green Peas, *Brazilian Palm Fruit Oil, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Brown Rice, Ground Chia Seed, *Ground Alfalfa, Montmorillonite Clay, Calcium Carbonate,
*Ground Sun-Dried Sea Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Natural Trace Mineral Salt, Spirulina, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, d-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.
*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT

That's a great food for bird! I was gonna get some for my cockateil awhile back, but gave it away to an old lady, who I thought could spend more time with him.

Anyhow, Mazuri is a great food. It works! That all that matters. We have evidence as shown by all the healthy animals. I guess if you could some how formulate the food from the common stuff you find growing, then it would work. Plus it's more economical if you can use common ingredients. They must spend some fortune on researches before they made the food. That's why it's kindda pricey.

So, how long as anyone been using this food? Has anyone raised an iggy from start to old age on these foods? I know that Tom's iggies look great using this food, for example, but for how long has it been used? I'm a firm believer that the test of time is the most important test..

Well apparently from what I've heard Mazuri used to only manufacture and supply their herp food for use by zoos. I guess they have only recently offered their food to be used by personal pet owners. I don't know too much though so anyone with more info please chime in! I picked up a small amount of the chow a couple weeks ago for my igs and they LOVE it. I soak it with enough warm water to moisten the pellets and then put a few of them on top of their normal greens. For the nitpicks that only eat the pellets and leave the greens I will feed them pellets one day, then offer greens only the next. My thinking is that if it turns out the pellets aren't as good as they claim to be, then at least they're still getting a good amount of fresh food.
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Bri

That's a good idea, Bri. I do think Kismet would like them. She does love parrot pellets. She waits for the birds to toss out what they don't want and snatches it! The vet said I could give her some of her own so I sometimes do give her soaked Zupreme parrot pellets. She loves it, though she seems to prefer them dry. I worry that she won't get enough fluids if she eats too many dry ones though.

Of course, she also loves dog food. I have to be really careful that she is locked up when I feed the dogs because she will chase the 75 pound greyhound away from her food dish to steal a morsel or two! So that does show they can really like foods that are not at all good for them!