Your skinks favourite food mix?

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Rani-May
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Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Rani-May » Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:45 am

Hi there :)

im not new to owning blueys and so this is just a curious question;
What are your skinks favourite food mixes, apart from the obvious snails and bananas that seem to be most blue tongues favourites XD

my skinks love some broccoli, peas, pumpkin and egg all blended together. they will nearly take your finger off with it if hand feeding this stuff, they LOVE it hehe. :D

pic is of one of mine, Crowley, trying to take on a snail that was too big for him. he is only allowed baby snails while he is still a baby lol sorry it is a baaaaad picture :(
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby justyna.ewa » Tue Sep 04, 2012 4:48 am

Grapes and celery with egg whites. :) He will only eat veggies if i mix them with a fruit, the picky thing.
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby LarissaLurid » Tue Sep 04, 2012 12:14 pm

Just be careful, I don't recommend feeding broccoli more than every once in a while since its high in oxalates. Also banana should only be an occassional treat as well, it blocks calcium absorption if fed too often. Fruit should only be a treat as well.

I have a 9 month male Meruake, one of his favorite healthy veggies is squash, he will eat it alone! I often feed him collard greens n other veggies which I used to mix with Merrick or Wellness high quality dog foods, but now currently I feed a meat mix since it's around for my Extreme Tegu already. Currently it's made up of ground turkey, steak, chicken heart/tiny bit of liver/gizzards. I'm definitely changing the chicken out for something better as soon as it runs out though. I use different veggies and cut them up tiny. He's a good eater. :] He really likes the meat mix, but he liked the dog food as well lol. I also feed him Dubia roaches which I highly recommend, plus he loves them and actually chases them unlike how in the past when I've tried to feed him crickets before I stopped keeping them around, he would just ignore them.

One of my skinks favorite foods is definitely egg as well which he gets about once a month as a treat. :] I hand feed it to him and it's adorable!
Here's a video from last month:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4c0RH0ss7g&feature=plcp
(theres a few other videos on my page of him hand feeding as well)

or he likes it raw, but doesnt get that often. it's adorable to watch him eat though lol!
Here's a video from 2 months ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75nzM0lyNlI&feature=plcp


Btw, your skink is so dark! It's adorable! :D I like how its light around his mouth
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby justyna.ewa » Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:12 pm

:o That's a good tip about the banana, I did not know that.
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Dan » Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:56 pm

Dog food made with rabbit meat seems to be the dog food to which they've responded best.
earthworms
dubia roaches--everyone should have a colony
cicadas--(seldom fed, due to extreme chitin content)
opuntia cactus fruit
papaya
green beans
blueberries
mouse hoppers
locusts

given their druthers, this is all that mine would eat. I mix in greens with the dog food and it all does down, though.
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Rani-May » Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:13 pm

oh I didn't know that about banana either, thank you :) and the broccoli mix is a rarity as I hate broccoli myself so its never in the house :P but they go crazy over it when I have it so its one of their favourites.
Mine also love earthworms, but its never difficult getting mine to eat their meat and protein. its the veggies I always need to mix with dog food or lean ground chicken etc

Dan, do your skinks really eat all that on its own without being blended? mine are such fuss pots XD
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Rani-May » Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:21 pm

And Larissa, just checked out those videos, you have one very beautiful bluey there :)
The blotchies are all relatively dark,very gorgeous colours, and thank you :D I love blotched blue tongues. But yes i may be biased because i live in Tasmania XD and all the skinks ive owned have been blotchies hehe.
im going to subscribe to your youtube if thats ok, ive only just gotten to know youtube and uploaded a couple of my most recent bluey, eating his treats a banana and that snail thats WAY too large for him to handle (so he just runs around the room with it in his mouth) though my videos are poor quality from an iphone :(
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby LarissaLurid » Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:13 am

Rani-May wrote:And Larissa, just checked out those videos, you have one very beautiful bluey there :)
The blotchies are all relatively dark,very gorgeous colours, and thank you :D I love blotched blue tongues. But yes i may be biased because i live in Tasmania XD and all the skinks ive owned have been blotchies hehe.
im going to subscribe to your youtube if thats ok, ive only just gotten to know youtube and uploaded a couple of my most recent bluey, eating his treats a banana and that snail thats WAY too large for him to handle (so he just runs around the room with it in his mouth) though my videos are poor quality from an iphone :(


Great, i'm always uploading more reptile and other random videos lol :] hope you enjoy, theres already a bunch on there as well X]

Yes blotchies are one of my favorites :]
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby LarissaLurid » Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:16 am

Rani-May wrote:oh I didn't know that about banana either, thank you :) and the broccoli mix is a rarity as I hate broccoli myself so its never in the house :P but they go crazy over it when I have it so its one of their favourites.
Mine also love earthworms, but its never difficult getting mine to eat their meat and protein. its the veggies I always need to mix with dog food or lean ground chicken etc

Dan, do your skinks really eat all that on its own without being blended? mine are such fuss pots XD



A lot of those are treat type foods, mine also loves papaya, apple, and other fruits. Today he ate peas along with his meat mix but he ended up eating the meat first and then ate the other half of the peas he didn't get so it looks like he likes those alone too. I'm sure as you try out different things you'll learn what they like, dont like and such. I know all my pets have their favorite foods lol
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby LarissaLurid » Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:19 am

justyna.ewa wrote:Grapes and celery with egg whites. :) He will only eat veggies if i mix them with a fruit, the picky thing.


Just for the future, it might be healthier if you replace celery with a different veggie. It's mostly water and doesn't have much nutrition, plus it's hard to digest and i know that in some animals like mice and rats it can cause impaction problems, so if i had to guess I'd say there was a chance it could for lizards as well.

Mine loves his egg treats! :]
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby justyna.ewa » Wed Sep 05, 2012 5:29 am

LarissaLurid wrote:
justyna.ewa wrote:Grapes and celery with egg whites. :) He will only eat veggies if i mix them with a fruit, the picky thing.


Just for the future, it might be healthier if you replace celery with a different veggie. It's mostly water and doesn't have much nutrition, plus it's hard to digest and i know that in some animals like mice and rats it can cause impaction problems, so if i had to guess I'd say there was a chance it could for lizards as well.

Mine loves his egg treats! :]

I've only fed him twice since I've had him for five days now, but I will definitely keep that in mind. yesterday, he had lettuce and bell pepper with some snails. I like to switch it up a little.
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby tylociraptor » Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:56 am

Her favorites are the greens. She seems to be the opposite of the guidelines, because she will pick the greens OUT of the dog food, and when I treat her to fruit, she'll eat around it for the greens. Dandielion and Collared greens are the big couple that she loves. She also LOVES squash. Green peppers are always a hit.

She of course LOVES bananas and egg especially, as the occasional treat, once a month or so. Snails, she goes wild for, and I really need to pick her some more up, they're really good for her afterall! :) But in the end I think she just likes food!!!
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Rani-May » Wed Sep 05, 2012 5:41 pm

Oh wow tylociraptor, you have no idea how lucky you are to have a bluey that actually prefers greens over meats! I WISH mine were like that LOL
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Spindown » Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:22 pm

I usually feed a variety, it changes every month. I have a preferred base of Pedigree dog food, endive, some kind of squash, and green beans (usually canned with no added salt).
I then add other things, like a small amount of fruit. I also change up what types of squash. I am hoping to find some store that sell other skink friendly greens, as I want to start arugula, watercress, and cactus pad/leaf to the mix too.
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby justyna.ewa » Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:24 pm

SapphireTigress wrote:I usually feed a variety, it changes every month. I have a preferred base of Pedigree dog food, endive, some kind of squash, and green beans (usually canned with no added salt).
I then add other things, like a small amount of fruit. I also change up what types of squash. I am hoping to find some store that sell other skink friendly greens, as I want to start arugula, watercress, and cactus pad/leaf to the mix too.

I have been having similar difficulties. I even went to a fresh fruit and veggies market and they just don't seem to have any of the particular vegetables that are suggested for frequent feeding on the care sheet of this site... :s
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby El Lobo » Thu Sep 06, 2012 6:30 am

Lettuce is best avoided. It has no real nutritional value and can cause diarrhoea in many animals.

Celery has a Ca:P of 1:0.6 and is a source of fibre. As mentioned it can cause blockages in some small mammals but this can be avoided by cutting into small pieces across the stalk.

Banana has a Ca:P of 1:4.3.

I don't use any packaged, canned or pre-frozen foods, everything is fresh with the exception of the meat which is bought fresh and frozen in meal sized portions.

This meal works for our Blotchies.

DSCF1854R.jpg


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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Rani-May » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:31 am

wow, i bet they enjoy that variety. looks good. i might jot down everything that looks like is in it and steal that mix :D
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby CricketForestwater » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:45 am

I recently got Ainsley some yellow squash I plan to give to him soon. Is it ok raw or would you guys suggest it be cooked/baked?
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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Richard.C » Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:55 pm

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Re: Your skinks favourite food mix?

Postby Rani-May » Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:33 am

yes mine much down on the good ol' dog food every now and then:)
im not sure about the squash, i was actually wondering the same thing, hopefully someone will read it and let us know :)

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