# HOME MADE GUT LOAD?



## *GREASER* (Apr 11, 2004)

I was wondering if anyone has ever made there own gutload mix for the crickets like the blends they sell at the pet store. I was thinking about taking a bunch of grains and greens and mixing them all up in the blender and making a batch of a healthy paste to later feed to crickets instead of buying commercial shit or just throwing a couple different whole pieces of food in with the crickets. What do you guys think? The only thing I was thinking is that freezing it would probably take a little of the nutrition out of the mix but other then that I think it should be a good idea.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Why not just use organic chicken feed? 

Ed


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## *GREASER* (Apr 11, 2004)

Ed said:


> Why not just use organic chicken feed?
> 
> Ed



I was hoped you were gonna reply to this. Sounds like im gonna be getting some organic chicken feed soon. Is this what you have used in the past?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I have used a number of products but organic chicken mashes have been used as a staple in Zoos for a number of years. The reason I suggest using organic mash is because disruptions in reproduction in parthnogenic lizards have been recorded due to the trace pesticides found in regular mash. (See the chapter on Parthnogenic Whiptails in Captive Mangenement and Conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles). 
At the mashes tend to be a balanced diet which home made blends may not be... 

Ed


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I see the term gutload to crickets being nearly synonymous w/ "Alternative/medicinal" foods to humans. Which are the things that SHOULD be eaten ALL the time, not as a "special treat". Not in spurts here or their in hopes of.

I wouldn't go to the trouble of preparing a paste or anything dry mix w/ wet greens. Crickets wouldn't do well on a paste if you compared feeding them w/ the same ingredients only kept seperate. If it's wet but mostly solid they will mostly feed off the fluids in it until it petrifies/molds then they disregard it as waste. Best thing I find to do is keep them completely seperate and feed greens as the sole water source (other than what canabalistic tendancies bring) and no worries about not being able to preserve it properly. Much of the grains I feed crickets can be left whole seed (extending perishability) like wheat, buck, oats, tritical, flax, millet, pumpkin, sorgum, alfalfa, barley (if I get them hungry enough). Somethings need ground if you give more choices like corn, kamut, rice, beans, another thinmg I like to feed is raw shelled sunflower which has no catagorical placement here and needs to be kept refrige. I have tried hemp seed which seems to be no more in favor than the sunflower/pump seed to the crickets. If you can find an organic source of cottonseed and that is about as 'good' of a food you can get as far as grains. From what I think I can remember it's roughly comparable to flax in omegas. Beet/radish seeds/seedling scan be feed while still tender/young. pea/bean sprouts wouldn't be a 'bad' option. Nearly infinate food options when it comes to seed. Look into specialty farming and you can find people who still cultivate things you maybe never thought of as edible,any cricket would find it more than.

Feed your fuits/greens as you would any other fruit plant eating creature preferably daily, fresh and you will have a continual system of "gutloading". If everyday is a problem, skipping a day isn't a problem unless you need to keep every individual adult as a breeder, expect for them to compensate for the lack themselves as the won't hesitate.

The only 'true' gutloading I do for hatchlings is mostly just algae for ease and to make it a bit quicker so I can feed them out the same day.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Oddly enough, I always thought the general idea behind gut loading - literally filling the gut with what you want - had little to do with the actual long term diet of the feeder insect (if you're feeding an insect, you should by default feeding it the best diet you can to keep it as healthy as you can) and everything to do with packing the insect's digestive system with goodies that you want to go into the animal they are being fed to. Considering things like calcium rich cricket gut load actually kills them if they aren't eaten in a few hours...


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Ground mixes are considered to be a better choice when gut loading insects as this ensures that the spectrum of nutrition offered to the insect is ingested. When feeding whole items the crickets may simply choose to feed on items that are easy to consume and fit thier nutritional requirements. 
For example see Hatt, Jean-Michel; Hung, Elisabeth; Zurich, Marcel Wanner; 2003, The influence of diet on the body composition of the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) and consequences for their use in zoo animal nutrition; Zool. Garten N.F. 73 (4):238-244 where crickets were maintained over a three week period on several different diets and then the analysis of the crickets were compared... there were no significant differences in the nutrional value of the crickets (the parameters analyzed were water, total nitrogen, fiber, ash, fat, gross energy, vitamin A, vitamin E, calcium and phosphorus)..... 
The crickets overall diet does not affect the nutritional value of the cricket except allowing them to replace some lost nutrients however the gut contents to some level can affect the total nutrional value fo the cricket and should be selected with an eye towards that end. This is why *balanced ground mixed *foods are a better option for the solid portion of the diet as the crickets will ingest and hopefully pass on some of the benefits of the balanced diet hence the recommendation to use a organic chicken mash (as this also meets the nutritional needs of the crickets). 

Typically cannibalism in the domestic cricket is linked to insufficient food and/or moisture.... 

Ed


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

I'm surprised Ed didn't mention this but the term "gutloading" orginally meant feeding crickets a high calcium diet to force them to have a positive calcium to phosphorous ratio. As Corey mentioned, that diet is also lethal for the crickets so can't be done as a steady diet. But I do prefer the now more traditional definition of gut loading which is simply to increase nutritional value or variety by stuffing an insects gut with goodies.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

bbrock said:


> I'm surprised Ed didn't mention this but the term "gutloading" orginally meant feeding crickets a high calcium diet to force them to have a positive calcium to phosphorous ratio. As Corey mentioned, that diet is also lethal for the crickets so can't be done as a steady diet. But I do prefer the now more traditional definition of gut loading which is simply to increase nutritional value or variety by stuffing an insects gut with goodies.



Even I sometimes get tired of mentioning some things :wink: ......


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## Fidel (May 11, 2007)

Gutloading feeders is considered essential amoungst the chameleon keepers. We actually get a little obsessive about it. I make mine from various greens, squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and commecial grain based diet, all blended together. The sqaush and the sweet potatoes have high vit. A content which help combat the apparent lack of vit. A in any commecially availiable supplement powders. I sometimes give my darts small crickets gutloaded with this to help with the vit. A. I had a luec with signs of hypovitaminosis A and it helped him out, along with some help from Ed.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Fidel said:


> Gutloading feeders is considered essential amoungst the chameleon keepers. We actually get a little obsessive about it. I make mine from various greens, squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and commecial grain based diet, all blended together. The sqaush and the sweet potatoes have high vit. A content which help combat the apparent lack of vit. A in any commecially availiable supplement powders. I sometimes give my darts small crickets gutloaded with this to help with the vit. A. I had a luec with signs of hypovitaminosis A and it helped him out, along with some help from Ed.



Just a point of clarification here.... sweet potatoes and squash do not actually contain vitamin A( retinol) instead they contain high levels of beta carotene which can be converted to retinol as needed through a biofeedback control. This is also the same source of vitamin A as supplied in the commercial supplements. 

Ed


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

Gutload recipe

I haven't used the above mix, but it comes recommended.

There used to be a great gutload made by WildEyeReptiles - but they no longer make it.

I haven't used this brand in a while - but when I did I liked it - Cricket Food


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I wouldn't use it for amphibians... the powdered milk should contain cholesterol as does the egg yolk in the mixture, and given the risk of corneal lipidosis that is already present due to the natural fat content in the commonly used feeder insects it there isn't much use in increasing the probability that it may occur. 

The cricket blend looks very similar in ingredients to the cricket food produced by Walkabout farms. 

Ed


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

I started using [out of necessity, as it was all I had around], simple bird seed mixes. Seems to be taken fine by the crickets. Mash it a bit in a small bag with a rock.

S


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