Gut loading feeders?

[Layla72372]

Hi,
We just bought a baby dragon for my son. We are feeding him crickets 3x a day plus greens. I'm wondering what is gut loading feeders? Right now I just throw a carrot in the container for the crickets to eat. Should I be doing something different?

Thanks!

 

[Taterbug]

Gutloading is filling up the space in the insects digestive tract with good healthy food so they are more nutritious. It's generally recommended to feed the insects the same salad fixings as your dragon. You can also get commercial chows or use Gutloading recipes from online for a bit more rounded diet for the buggies.

 

[kingofnobbys]

This is what I do , and it seems to work very well.

I buy my crickets (in bulk by mailorder online), I order more than I think I'll need, you'll aways loose some between delivery and over the next week or 2 or 3 as they age or if some are weaker (sick).

I feed my stock of crickets the following :
- fresh carrot (chunks)
- repcal adult beardie pellets (straight out the bottle)

1 or 2 days before the crickets in a holding tub are used I add fresh carrot , more beardie pellets and a leaf of buk or puk choi.

I find the crickets really like the beardie pellets , I leave the pellets in until consumed (even if they look mouldy and stale after a week).
I replace the carrot every 2 or 3 days (depending on the weather).

I think commercial cricket chow is a waste of money.

 

[Rankins]

I feed my crickets high quality dry parrot food (it looks/smells like Fruity Pebbles). I grind it up in a coffee grinder so its powdered.
I also sprinkle it on the Rankins greens. I haven't compared the dry parrot food with dry bearded food. I think it should be close though. After all, reptiles are related to birds on the evolutionary scale.