Food questions??

[ZombieBTS]

What's a good dog food?
What's a good cat food?
What's a good calcium?
Do I need a UVB bulb?
Can I mix the dog/cat food with calcium?
When will I be able to take my BTS outside?
Thannks :-)

[Susann]

Wow! Glad you're doing good research (...and if you ask "What's good research?" I may have to find you and bop you on the noggin! )!!

The best way for you to get good info on all that, is to do SEARCHES on all those questions, because there are LOTS of possible answers, and lots of good opinions, to each question.

I'll do a quick answer on most of them, but I urge you to look in to it more by using the search feature on the forum.

A general rule of thumb for a good dog/cat food, is to look at the list of ingredients, that are listed in order of greatest to least amount, and make sure that at least the first ingredient is MEAT. Other than that, some of us avoid meat by-products, but not everyone. Lots of people on this forum have fed their skinks the cheaper stuff for years and years with no ill effect. They just add good, high nutrient vegetables to the meat. Many add a multi vitamin and/or calcium powder every so often.

Yes, you can add calcium to the dog/cat food, mix it right in. Generally people say they "sprinkle" or "dust" some on and then mix it in.
How much/often is different for everybody. I don't think there is a "general" amount...? Some dust a bit on once a week, some in every meal, some not ever.
As far as a GOOD calcium, just look for stuff that is 100% calcium (or some with added D3), made for reptiles.

Again, the use of UV is as diverse as the use of calcium. Some do, some don't. Do some searches on the topic, google it.

You can take your skink out at any time as long as he doesn't get too cold for too long. You can hold him in your hands in the winter time just to let him get some sun for a few minutes, or when the grass or back patio warms up enough you can let him walk around for a while. In the dead of summer you'd have to offer him some shade. Just use common sense, and your own hand as a gauge for how long he can be out. If I put my skink down on the grass, I usually plop down too, and when my hands get too cold/hot, then I figure the skink might be too.

Hope that answered some of your questions.

[Linnea]

for the calcium uptake it is recommended to either use a UVB bulb or D3 supplement in the calcium.
but as susann said its been discussed a lot.

i am a firm believer of that either of them is needed.

to add about food in general, squash is a good example of a veggie, dandelions and aragula are good salad types.

double check the list of things not to give your reptile an extra time if youre unsure about something - but avoid rhubarb, avocado, iceberg lettuce and spinach.

do you mean outside as in, the waiting time before you can start handling? if so its entirely up to you after the 1 week "getting to know his new home" period. susann already said the rest

[ZombieBTS]

What's a good dog/cat food to buy though?
And a good calcium?

[Linnea]

Wellness, applaws, cesar........are the ones i can remember. i also use gold which is catfood, but i dont feed anything with fish in.
im swedish so the brands will differ.
generally, learn how to read on the sides of the package and base your opinion of the food on this. it will come in handy even for you n__n

about calcium brands, its really easy for companies to produce so you can go to a good pet store that has reptiles and ask for any kind. you can eveb make it yourself if youre patient enough. (wash carefully picked eggshell from good hens, roast in oven, make it into a fine powder with a mortar)
but its A LOT cheaper and easier to buy in store unless you live in/near a chicken farm! also the calcium content varies when you do this......so go buy any from the store that is meant for herps n__n dont pay extra for D3 of you already have an UVB bulb.

[Susann]

What's a good dog/cat food to buy though?
And a good calcium?

Yes, I realize you mean to purchase the stuff you are asking about But searching previous posts will still get you the MOST information, because, like I said, most of your questions deal with opinions and preferences, rather than straight fact answers.
Here's a couple posts from a recent thread, I hope Jeff and Katrina don't mind me reposting these:

I would definitely not say MOST feed any specific brand. A number of people feed Wellness, but probably not more than a many other brands. In my honest opinion, I don't think it matters too much which brand you choose to feed. The main difference between a high end expensive brands and a cheap "garbage" brands is the amount of filler and gross parts of animal that is included. I think that most of the fillers are harmless, and the organs, bones, and guts included in the cheap brands are actually beneficial.

I choose a cheap garbage brand for my skinks, but NOT because it's cheap. I think it is the best for the health of my skinks. A number of the most knowledgeable BTS keepers/breeders around have used cheap dog food for decades after trying many different things. The concensus is that a diet including cheap dog food produces the healthiest BTS possible.

Whatever brand you use, I would recommend mixing in thawed frozen vegetables and sprinkling calcium on it once a week. If you don't provide UVB lighting, then the calcium needs to include vitamin D3. Even if you do use UVB, I would still use calcium with D3 occassionally. You can get calcium supplements in the reptile section of any pet store. BTS are truly one of the easiest animals on the planet to maintain in captivity. Because of that, there is absolutely no reason to not give them everything they need to thrive.

Thanks for taking the time to find out what they need before you bring one home!

I agree with everything Jeff said.

I use a variety of brands - Wellness, Merrick, Blue Buffalo, Spot's Stew - there is a local pet store that brings in all kinds of good, healthy brands so I alternate between them. I buy the more expensive brands because of the warm-fuzzies, not because I believe they are necessarily healthier (like Jeff said - lots of the fillers like organs / bones are actually healthy for blueys - makes it more of a whole food item, more variety of nutrients as opposed to say just chicken breast). I try to avoid grain fillers.

I personally use Wellness brand 95% Beef kind, or Halo brand.

Brad (ReptileKing) just today said in your other thread that he prefers the Rep-Cal brand of calcium, I personally use Fluker's brand.