Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I raise both B. Dubia and N Cinera as feeders for our beardies. I have been feeding them a food mix I was buying from an on-line source. This source has since became non-reliable and I was looking for a recipe for food. The food mix was a gut load and the ads said you didn't have to dust prior to feeding. We still used dust to be sure. For being a diet designed for the reptile in mind the roaches thrived on it. It was a white powder.

With that being said what have you used for gut load and food? I have read ground dog food, and have used, and also a chicken laying mash? Could someone clarify what this is? Is there a mixture that I need to have made at our local feed store to make the correct roach feed? I found the N. Cinera did better with the premixed food and dog food mixed in. This keep down the eating of others wings. I used the same mix with the B. Dubia and they seemed fine. We have thousands of the N. Cinerea and a good thousand of the B. Dubia.

Thanks,

Aztlano

Some of the best vegetable items to use for gutloading are collard, mustard, dandelion, turnip greens, cholla (cactus) pads, etc.--which are high in calcium. Other vegetables & fruits should also be used as part of the "regular diet".

Chicken laying mash is high in protein and calcium; it's a mixture of grains that are fortified with calcium & vitamins. If used for insects, it should be NON-medicated.

All insects should be dusted with calcium, mineral &/or vitamin supplements just prior to feeding to herps. There has been scientific evidence to support that "dusting" is more effective at providing calcium & other minerals than just gut-loading only.

A well-rounded regular diet is important to the health of insects, such as feeder crickets, roaches, etc. Gutloading with products high in calcium/vitamins is typically fed 48 to 72 hours prior to being used as prey.

There are multitudes of gutload formulas on the internet that can be searched easily. You can purchase them or make your own just as effectively.

Thanks! I thought that giving the roaches the same greens as I give the beardies was a good idea. I plan on using a mix of dog food and laying mash with fresh veggies and fruit as a regular diet. Then dust before feeding. This way the bugs should be happy and have a good bit of gutload in them at all times. With the Cinerea we feed what ever we catch out of the colony so seperating them to gutload isn't as fesible.

Aztlano