60/40 ratio for Tiliqua gigas?

[Jeff]

The Bluey Bible does describe the diet of wild gigas. I don't have time to elaborate right now, but will tomorrow if no one does before then. (page 191)

[Scincoides]

Thank you Jeff. Looking forward to hearing what it says

[Dakota]

I hope it includes the ratio along with the diet. Looking forward to what it says.

[Richard.C]

when they check diet they give percentages(ratios) and usually including lesser found portions and break it down to objects found including any unidentifiable bits

[Jeff]

I still don't have time to comment, but here is what is said about the wild diet of T. gigas from: Blue-Tongued Skinks, Contributions to Tiliqua and Cyclodomorphus, edited by Robert Hitz, Glenn Shea, Andree Hauschild, Klaus Henle, & Heiko Werning.

This is on page 191:



This is within the chapter Titled, "Husbandry and reproduction of Tiliqua gigas (Schneider, 1801) in the terrarium, and was written by Paul Gassner.

[Dakota]

Wow, just as suspected! Thanks Jeff.

[Kurt]

Wow, just as suspected! Thanks Jeff.

Did I read the passage wrong? Correct me if I did, but it said meat:veggie ratio was 1:1... Not 90/10.

I use dog food as a staple-and will continue to do so, but now I won't hesitate to throw in some more of the Repashy omnivore food I bought a while back. I was very sparing with it because of the seafood content, seems like that isn't as big of a deal anymore after reading this. One weird thing tho, my Merauke wants nothing to do with fruit! I'll have to keep trying diff types I guess since grapes, berries, and bananas haven't worked. Anyone have suggestions for tasty fruits for gigas?

[Dakota]

Whoops, I thought it said 1:2, could barely see.. but still supports my theory of them eating more meat.than what we thought.. so, with the fruot added, would you guys think 40/60/10?

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

In the wild large insects, small vertebrates, snails, worms, eggs, and sweet fruit is eaten. That means that their diet in the wild would be mostly meat.
In captivity the skink pudding is made at a ratio of 1:1 because of the high protein and low fiber.

[Richard.C]

dakota,have you read many books on tiliqua ftom the era of the mid 40,s???

if you had then you would find thst thats pretty much whats written as the wild diet of most aussie species to,which has proven to be way off

its not scientificly based,theres no percentages given like you demanded jeff give you,yet because it suits you your taking it as gospel,im guessing one of your papuan contacts has mentioned this part of book to you, or you found it on wikipedia and are running with it

[Dood]

Hi, I am new to the forum and am planning on getting a BTS in the next month so I have been doing a lot of research on habitat and diet and would like to share this journal article I found on the diet of wild skinks- http://www.rzsnsw.org.au/index.php?cx=0 ... j3156734j7

[gust0640]

I think, that the normal 50/40/10-feeding is fine. You can give it some more meat if you want, but if you do, i would suggest to give it something to hunt for, like a cricket or a little frog. My bts was a little chuppy at a time, but when i startet to give it small frogs to chase for, it became more active, and got in much better shape Make it work for the meat.

[Toria Dawn]

One weird thing tho, my Merauke wants nothing to do with fruit! I'll have to keep trying diff types I guess since grapes, berries, and bananas haven't worked. Anyone have suggestions for tasty fruits for gigas?

Kurt, I am pretty sure peppers are technically a fruit, and my guy can't say no to them (especially red ones, that's his absolutely favourite food ever!!!). Same with cucumber. Have you tried blueberries? Small amounts of cherries maybe? Mango or papaya? These are all things Roy adores…granted he is far from a picky eater!!!! Just get fruit you also like and experiment, and then you can eat the rest. Mmm!

[critterguy]

No real conclusions can be made from that excerpt from the bluey bible. The only real way to know diet composition would be a study involving gut content analysis in some way or the other(stomach flushing, for example). But even these studies tend to be biased towards things that are not as easily digestible. And this % varies from season to season and individuals-like Richard said these are opportunists. They eat whatever is remotely edible that they can find, but prefer high calorie nutritious items when they are available.

A bluetongue lizard feeding on soft bodied prey and eating seedy fruit may well produce a fecal pellet with little evidence of the animals it ate-so it is difficult to quantify percentages this way. Even with stomach flushing soft bodied prey may be digested faster than things with lots of chitin or fiber.

[Toria Dawn]

I hope this isn't completely off topic here, but… as a completely opposite thought, could you have a vegetarian skink? People are omnivores, but there's vegetarians and vegans. I know we have tons of opportunities for supplements and substitutes that reptiles do not. I have heard of people feeding their dogs a vegetarian diet.

Could you supplement a skink's diet with high protein veg (broccoli has a lot of protein) and whey protein powder? They'd be getting iron from the variety of high quality greens, like beet greens and arugula…

Just out of curiosity, I don't intend to mess with my bluey's diet. Just wanted to put it in this thread as it is discussing the ratio of meat/protein to veg.

[Susann]

could you have a vegetarian skink?

I'm sure it could be done. But just as with anything else that involves going very far outside of what's been proven to work well, you'd have to do lots of work (research, calculations, food prep) to make it safe. Dark green veggies and greens do tend to have more protein, but lots of times they are high in oxalates, which binds calcium.
And when you say vegetarian, do you mean no insects either? Because it seems to me that most of the studies indicate that BTS diet consists of mostly insects and plant matter. If you are feeding well gut loaded insects, and well thought out veggies and greens, you'd be much safer than just going with just plant matter.

CAN it be done? I'm sure. (I'm also glad you're not planning on it )

[Toria Dawn]

Thanks Susann. I definitely don't plan on doing this, like I said it was curiosity. I did mean completely vegetarian, no insects. I have been veg for 15 years, however I have no problem feeding my bluey worms and dog food or any other type of meat. Especially since my other pet (aka boyfriend of 7 years) is basically a carnivore, lol!!!

That's interesting though that it could be done. Does this mean with a lot of work (research, calculations, food prep), a completely carnivorous diet would be possible? Would you have to supplement for the loss of vegetables? I mean for the loss of essential vitamins and minerals they provide.

[Susann]

Especially since my other pet (aka boyfriend of 7 years) is basically a carnivore, lol!!!

Would you have to supplement for the loss of essential vitamins and minerals.

I imagine so. If you can't find the right, safe veggies/greens that provide them.

I've never tried vegetarianism, but I imagine a lot of research, and shopping specialty stores would be involved to do it right...? I don't know if you can get everything you need to eat a healthy diet is found with one stop at Walmart...? I imagine it would be much the same to feed a BTS.
I mean, I feed mine Mazuri Insectivore pellets instead of insects. But if you are going totally vegetarian, that might be like adding ground pig pellets.

[Toria Dawn]

I mean, I feed mine Mazuri Insectivore pellets instead of insects. But if you are going totally vegetarian, that might be like adding ground pig pellets.

Hahaha, ya sort of except it would be for the skink and I doubt he has any moral conflicts or queasiness about eating anything at all, hahahaha! I wouldn't force my diet on any animal or person. However interesting fact: when I first became interested in skinks, it was shortly after I became vegetarian, so I was about 13-14. I saw one at a pet store and they reminded me of a huge reptile salamander, lol. Anyway, the pet store employee said they were completely vegetarian!!!!! I'm glad that when I decided to finally get one a few months ago, I did the research to find out they are in fact not herbivores by nature.

[Kurt]

Kurt, I am pretty sure peppers are technically a fruit, and my guy can't say no to them (especially red ones, that's his absolutely favourite food ever!!!). Same with cucumber. Have you tried blueberries? Small amounts of cherries maybe? Mango or papaya? These are all things Roy adores…granted he is far from a picky eater!!!! Just get fruit you also like and experiment, and then you can eat the rest. Mmm!

Oh if peppers count then that's definitely the fav. My merauke won't eat blueberries oddly enough. Don't think I've tried cherries, mango, or papaya. I'll have to give those a shot since I eat lots of mango and the occasional papaya. My merauke is pretty picky tho. I think he likes veggies more than fruit... But that prob cuz I mix it into the dogfood/meat.

Thanks Susann. I definitely don't plan on doing this, like I said it was curiosity. I did mean completely vegetarian, no insects. I have been veg for 15 years, however I have no problem feeding my bluey worms and dog food or any other type of meat. Especially since my other pet (aka boyfriend of 7 years) is basically a carnivore, lol!!!.

I got my blueys when I was vegetarian. Everyone thought I was a big weirdo for feeding my skinks meat but not eating it myself. Actually everyone thought I was weird for being vegetarian and weirder for owning skinks lol!