Let's talk about gut loading!

[midwestmom]

I'd love to hear what gut loading means to you
Who do you gut load
How do you gut load
Are there specific gut loading commercial products you use and like?

I'm set to receive another 1000 1/2 inch dubia. I think I'd like to try really fortifying/gut loading a weeks worth of roaches at a time. Currently, I'm taking feeders out of a larger bin that has water crystals, roach chow/bug burger and fruit veg scraps, but overall I don't know how well this large group is "gut loaded" and ready to provide high nutrition to our bearded.
Thanks for sharing what you do
Midwestmom
I thought I'd try Repashy gut load on this smaller batch/weeks worth, as well as fruit veg scraps and stop using the bug burger in my large bin.

 

[Taterbug]

I feed my bugs as much variety as I can and there aren't separate feeder/breeder bins, they have a furnished habitat and day/night cycle. They get a lifelong diet of greens, produce, fruit, leaves, some seeds and as much of the cores and rinds of things as they will eat. I buy stuff on clearance and freeze it - they don't seem to mind that some things get soggy when they thaw. (I've got a bunch of peppers, starfruits, squashes, pinnapple skins/tops and papaya in my freezers or big food) Occasionally they will get chicken bones, meat, bread, and small amounts of fat/oil. Infrequently they get leftover canned veggies, mushrooms, cat food and rabbit pellets. I dump my extra supplement powder in with them and have some things like spiriulina that I'm experimenting with. I keep them on a soil mix so some of the minerals work their way into the diet too. I have a bunch of mouse lab block I might add in to see what they think. I don't use water crystals anymore - I'm not confident in the chemical stability of them and my setup allows me to spray water into the cage and they go nuts for that.

I couldn't attest to the nutritional profile of my insects but my approach is that a wider range of food items covers more nutrients than feeding mostly or only one thing and I hope to have a more "natural" approach to what the bugs would be eating. They self select a lot of the time and I've learned what they like or don't like or only want every now and then. I still supplement with a calcium+multi-vitamin at feeding. I also don't have to worry about storing food or it going bad - I had a nasty grain mite problem when I used chicken mash.

If you want to really get into it there is a fair bit of science and published articles about manipulating the nutrient content of crickets with diet as well as fancy recipes.

 

[midwestmom]

Taterbug,
Thank you for your great information... I really would love to know more about how you keep your insects in a soil mix? What do you use for a soil mix? I think you use a glass enclosure for your insects (dubia?) if I remember right... could I use a plastic tub with a soil bedding?
I have questioned water crystals- but how to safely hydrate and maintain humidity without- so your method of keeping insects in soil (where it seems they'd be healthiest vs climbing around on egg cartons)
do you use cleaner bugs and if so, what kinds of cleaner bugs do you use?
Do you have problems with mold?
Do you have a drainage system to keep soil from being too moist?
Any "how to" resource you might be able to point me to?
Thank you!!
midwestmom

 

[Taterbug]

I posted this a little bit ago, it answers most of your questions and has photos too. If you have more questions I'd be happy to help or link some resources.
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=221653
I don't have a problem with mold. The cleaners and/or bugs eat it I think. Some potting soil may introduce unfavorable fungus or gnats so baking the soil components first can help sterilize it before use.
You could certainly do a similar setup in a tub.

The reptile and amphibian bioactive setups group of Facebook also has a how-to guide for roaches I do believe.

 

[Ed707]

I really would like to do what tater does and have a working mini ecosystem to help keep my roach bin clean but as of right now I don't but maybe one day when I move into a bigger place. I feed my colony rabbit pellets, juvenile bearded dragon food and low protein dog food with the occasional orange slice thrown in. I pull out feeders and put them in a large critter keeper every week or so and feed them whatever leftover salad my lizard doesnt eat (in essence gut loading them). I tried feeding my colony the leftover salad but it didn't go so well. They like pulling there food into the egg crates which they did and it went unnoticed and started to stink real bad. So if you don't have cleaners like tater does it could be a real problem. Feeding the colony larger pieces of fruit/vegetables that they can't drag off and dry food with water crystals so you don't have to constantly clean your tank is what I do. You dont want to feed them smalI shredded greens and vegetables unless you have the time to do a thorough cleaning if a smell starts. I have relative high humidity in my home and that takes a part in it as well. If you don't the fruits/vegetables may just dry out and degrade as apposed to rot and mold. Mold thrives around 70% and you want your colony to have a minimum of 45% in order for them to molt properly, at least from what ive read. Also read things about water crystals being a high cancer causing substance which I don't like but at the moment it's what they get. A bug raised on natural food and water it's whole life will be healthier and in turn healthier for your pet. Gut loading refers to more of feeding the bug good food (that would benefit your reptile) right before you feed it. The thought that some of the good food would be inside the bugs intestinal tract when your reptile eats the bug getting some nutrition from it.

 

[kingofnobbys]

When I first started keeping lizards as pets, I used to buy tubs of Piscus Brand crickets that came with a little sashey of "gut loading mix" and sometimes (if I was lucky has what looked like chicket or rabbit pellets in the tub and a slice of carrot , more often than not if there was any food in the tub it was old , mostly eaten and slimy and disgusting looking, and there'd be no other food in the tub , and I regularly found several dead crickets who were maggoty in the tubs .... I'd have to go through all the tubs and pick the tubs that looked the best of a bad lot, and still had to pay top dollar for them at the counter of the pet shop).

I'd immediately empty the crickets out when I got them home and put them into cleaned empty cricket tubs with a bit of fresh carrot and a slice of apple and the contents of the Gut Loading sashey which often looked off to me (moldy). I regularly lost most my crickets before I got to use them.

Then I tried commercial insect gut load (food) .... not much better .... would get very damp and lots of crickets would die.

I bought some repcal adult beardie pellets that I wanted to try my beardies on, they wouldn't eat them unless I hand fed them the pellets (dry).

Tried the crickets on them , they love them , so I've been using dry straight out of the bottle adult beardie pellets , carrot and buk choy to gut my crickets ever since. Works a treat.

I now only buy the occasional tub of crickets from pet shops (in emergencies) , instead I buy my crickets online by mailorder and they travel 700km to me from Melbourne (Vic) to Newcastle (NSW) and rarely find more than a dozen out 700-800 crickets in each batch dead when they arrive (even in heatwave weather like the last month or so).

 

[HKzForDayz]

i gutload using alfalfa powder and vegetable scraps.