Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw this stuff and copied down the ingredient list. It's a moist food that comes in a ziploc bag.

The ingredients are: water, timothy hay, bermuda grass, big blue stem, dandelion, prickly pear cactus, hibiscus flower, cactus fruit, carrageenan, potassium sorbate, calcium propionate, sodium benzoate, citric acid.

Guaranteed analysis: crude protein, 6% min.; crude fat, 2.35% min.; crude fiber, 25% max., moisture, 72% max.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this (I think it's a new product) and what everybody thinks.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

I asked my local pet shop if they could order the stuff and they never got back to me. I would really like to try it.

Let us know if you end up trying it.

Tortuga

I did get some and tried them out on my Hermann's--he loved them, so much so that I probably wouldn't use them on a regular basis. I suspect that they're addicting, and if you tried to feed them too often, you might run into trouble. I think they would make a great treat once in a while, and would also work well if you were trying to entice a sick tortoise to eat, or had to give oral meds.

One thing the package doesn't tell you is how long the stuff will keep in the refrigerator, or if you can freeze it. I'm going to experiment and freeze some, because I can't possibly use it all up any time soon.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

At least the ingredients seem to be safe enough. Certainly better than the soy-based junk. It sounds good for sulcatas especially, since they are mainly grass grazers. Then again, it is undoubtedly cooked, so it is still questionable, in my opinion.

Why not just give them natural grass? Anyone who keeps their tortoises (especially sulcatas) outside should throw out a good grass seed mixture in the spring with clover, pasture grass, fescue, bermuda, rye, etc onto their yard and water it well. It is so much easier when they can just graze on their own without having to provide everything for them.

It would be far too expensive to give a sulcata as the primary diet, or even on a regular basis, with their appetites. The main reason I was asking about it is that it sounds like something that would work well to get a fasting tort to eat, or for giving meds. The pieces look like they would mash up easily, so you could mix it with greens to encourage feeding.

I think I'll get some and try it out, so I'll report back.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Both of our Middle Eastern Greek species eat it as does one of our Russian females. I feed one disk chopped up into small pieces with my salad mix every two weeks.

Our Redfoot's love the Forest tortoise product, but they only get it the same way and frequency as our arid species.

Ernie

I bought a huge container of these "Yummies" about two months ago and have been shredding them with a cheese grater and mixing them with other greens and/or veggies and fruit (as appropriate). I've feed them to my Pancake, Leopard and Desert Tortoises, as well as Uromastyx, Chuckwallas, Blue Tongue Skinks and Bearded Dragons. So far, not a single creature has refused to eat them. I'm just hoping the list of ingredients is accurate.

I'm trying to figure out how they make these yummies. Do they grind up the ingredients and then mix them into non-flavored gelatin? If not gelatin, what holds the mix together? I can't get any info on what gives them their consistency or what holds them together from their website.
Best wishes,
Mike N.

That's a good question. I don't think it's gelatin, though, because they don't have that bouncy, "Jello" feel to them. Might be pectin?
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko