Making dubia food gel

[Killa J]

I started a dubia colony a few months ago. I had been feeding them Repashy Bug Burger, but now that I have a good bit of dubias they are eating it really fast. It’s fairly expensive, so I bought a 10lb bag of dubia food from one of the breeders. Can I add gelatin to it and make it like the Bug Burger as a really solid gel? It’s really convenient and clean to have food and water in one thing.

 

[KarrieRee]

I started a dubia colony a few months ago. I had been feeding them Repashy Bug Burger, but now that I have a good bit of dubias they are eating it really fast. It’s fairly expensive, so I bought a 10lb bag of dubia food from one of the breeders. Can I add gelatin to it and make it like the Bug Burger as a really solid gel? It’s really convenient and clean to have food and water in one thing.

Gonna see what CooperDragon says
@CooperDragon

 

[CooperDragon]

I haven't tried that, but I don't see why it wouldn't work as long as you aren't adding anything toxic to the mix.

 

[Killa J]

I’ll give it a shot with a small amount to see how it works. I don’t see gelatin in the Bug Burger, it’s got some other thickeners. But I think that at the speed they eat it, there’s not much worry about it spoiling

 

[CooperDragon]

As long as you're using food grade gelatin (or other thickener), I think it would be OK. Starting with a small amount as a test is a good idea. My main concern would just be with having potentially harmful ingredients moving up the food chain to your dragon. I try to avoid feeding my roaches anything I wouldn't feed directly to my dragon.

 

[Killa J]

It’s only got the one ingredient - gelatin. So it will add a small amount of protein. It might end up costing too much depending on how much gelatin it takes to make the gel.

 

[Killa J]

On second thought, maybe agar would work better. Since gelatin is usually from beef and they say not to feed animal products to dubia.

 

[CooperDragon]

If you're making a small amount to test with, it might be worth making a batch of each and see how they go over. I don't think a small amount would be harmful either way. I've offered small amounts of leftover hornworm food to my roaches and they seemed to like it. It gels up nicely when mixed with boiling water and left to set. Here are the ingredients (from Repashy's site) in case anything stands out as a possible substitute to try out for binding.

INGREDIENTS: Soy Flour, Stabilized Rice Bran, Corn Meal, Cellulose, Calcium Carbonate, Brewer’s Dried Yeast, Cane Molasses, Dried Seaweed Meal, Lecithin, Locust Bean Gum, Soy Phytosterols, Dried Kelp, Dried Watermelon, Rose Hips, Hibiscus Flower, Marigold Flower, Paprika, Turmeric, Citric Acid, Potassium Citrate, Salt, Calcium Propionate, Methylparaben and Potassium Sorbate (as preservatives), Magnesium Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate, Manganese Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate, Copper Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate. Vitamins: (Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Beta Carotene, Pantothenic Acid, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex).