Food Discussion

[Richard.C]

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heres whats left of just over the last 2 weeks of feeding my lot,hopefully mls gears havnt imploded,lol

[DrakeLineous12]

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heres whats left of just over the last 2 weeks of feeding my lot,hopefully mls gears havnt imploded,lol

When you said chum I pictured a whole other thing entirely lol
I guess they don't sell that here

[Laurenk]

i feed solely dogfood ml,have done for longer than you have breathed air,lass in my avatar is older than you and has eaten dogfood that whole time,not sure why it grinds your gears but ill say it again,i feed solely dogfood,hehe

What abou fruits and vegs?

[Richard.C]

soley dogfood,some of it has veg in it,according to the label it has a proportion of veg roughage in it
often you see peas,carrot chunks ect in some flavours to

remember dogfood isnt a single food item,but a formulated diet designed for omnivours,it also contains vitamins and minerals straight from the can,compare that to say feeding chicken with 2 or 3 different varieties of veg,and maybe a live feeder insect or 2,which are often lacking in nutrician if not gutloaded and fed a healthy diet in the first place,to me dogfood makes sense

i do give some of my skinks other food on occaision,snails,dandelion flowers,mushrooms ,crickets/roaches ect,but generally its just dogfood,as that works well for me and has done for over 20 years now

like i said though theres many different ways to feed them successfully,even with out dogfood,my main point is dogfood isnt bad for them like is often quoted,ive raised hundreds of babies on it born to mothers fed soley on it and they grow up and the cycle continues,with zero dietry related illnesses or issues,no kinks,mbd issues,no sign of gout,perfectly normal appearing animals and thats without uv lighting for the indoors kept ones all that time

[Dakota]

soley dogfood,some of it has veg in it,according to the label it has a proportion of veg roughage in it
often you see peas,carrot chunks ect in some flavours to

remember dogfood isnt a single food item,but a formulated diet designed for omnivours,it also contains vitamins and minerals straight from the can,compare that to say feeding chicken with 2 or 3 different varieties of veg,and maybe a live feeder insect or 2,which are often lacking in nutrician if not gutloaded and fed a healthy diet in the first place,to me dogfood makes sense

i do give some of my skinks other food on occaision,snails,dandelion flowers,mushrooms ,crickets/roaches ect,but generally its just dogfood,as that works well for me and has done for over 20 years now

like i said though theres many different ways to feed them successfully,even with out dogfood,my main point is dogfood isnt bad for them like is often quoted,ive raised hundreds of babies on it born to mothers fed soley on it and they grow up and the cycle continues,with zero dietry related illnesses or issues,no kinks,mbd issues,no sign of gout,perfectly normal appearing animals and thats without uv lighting for the indoors kept ones all that time

On that note, would you recommend this diet to other people?

[Lea]

soley dogfood,some of it has veg in it,according to the label it has a proportion of veg roughage in it
often you see peas,carrot chunks ect in some flavours to

remember dogfood isnt a single food item,but a formulated diet designed for omnivours,it also contains vitamins and minerals straight from the can,compare that to say feeding chicken with 2 or 3 different varieties of veg,and maybe a live feeder insect or 2,which are often lacking in nutrician if not gutloaded and fed a healthy diet in the first place,to me dogfood makes sense

i do give some of my skinks other food on occaision,snails,dandelion flowers,mushrooms ,crickets/roaches ect,but generally its just dogfood,as that works well for me and has done for over 20 years now

like i said though theres many different ways to feed them successfully,even with out dogfood,my main point is dogfood isnt bad for them like is often quoted,ive raised hundreds of babies on it born to mothers fed soley on it and they grow up and the cycle continues,with zero dietry related illnesses or issues,no kinks,mbd issues,no sign of gout,perfectly normal appearing animals and thats without uv lighting for the indoors kept ones all that time

On that note, would you recommend this diet to other people?

I would say that he would. He has given it lots of thought and there is clear rationale to his methods.

[Dakota]

I would say that he would. He has given it lots of thought and there is clear rationale to his methods.

I agree.

[Richard.C]

well my post was more that dogfood isnt bad for them,and they do really well on it as a staple,from what ive witnessed,which goes against the grain of what is out there written on the subject

most of what is written out there is second hand knowledge,from way back,its not based on fact,its just copying what has been said in the past,old school thinking,not based on fact,no tests ect ect,i dont have miracle lights,miracle water or anything like that,yet my geriatric blueys are soldiering on eating this diet,and spitting out babies so on and so forth


its easy to read articles ect and write stuff off on zero experience,way to easy,words are just that,actually going out and trying it,over a long period of time on a heck of alot of animals,and there offspring and there offsprings offspring ,actually experimenting on the subject instead of repeating what someone has said many moons ago is more credible,its tested in theory,over generations,with out any of the so called issues the diets supposed to cause


a pet peeve of mine is this sort of thing,oh they cant be fed dog food,oh u cant keep them indoors with out special miracle uv lighting,u cant do this you cant do that,thats an urban myth,and theres so much evidence out there that proves this fact

you dont learn much by just reading,just what others think on the subject,you learn by experimenting,trial and error,firsthand experience so to speak,im not reccomending dogfoods use over other diets,as theres many good diets out there,but i am putting it out there that its been mighty fine for me for over 20 years now,thats a tested fact

[Jeff]

Well said in every post you have made on this thread Richard. I for one appreciate your willingness to share the knowledge you have gained through decades of experience. As frustrating as it is to see some ignore what you have to offer, please know that just as many value every word. You have been a huge influence on me from the start of my BTS obsession.

[Scotts1au]

Mine probably get 75% their protein from dog food. To my knowledge I have never lost one from nutritional related issues, they are healthy bouncing babies that grow like weeds - never had a case of mdb or any other problem. No UV light, rapidly growing babies from 12cm to 45cm in 6 months all they get is a little Ca powder with Vit D3. They also get chopped fruits - particularly apple and other stuff, but by and large, mostly dog food.

As far as adults are concerned, no other food seems to encourage them to eat as well and allow them to recover from having babies like dog food. Usually I only use loaf varieties, rather than gravy ones as there tends to be less wastage etc. There is only about 30-40% meat (animal product) in them anyway, the rest is vegetable matter, vegetables, grains, plant based fillers (carob etc) etc. I also mix and match and use puppy food with a higher fat content (from 4% for regular food to 10% for puppy food) from about half way through their pregnancies as it appears to encourage them to eat more and come out the other end with better fat stores.

I find that all of my animals do better if they are a little on the fatter side prior to brumation, cos there is a long road ahead of them and emerge ready to breed. The best way I've found to manage their weight is with Dog Food.

[Scotts1au]

Actually the dog food thing was something I discovered by myself, well before the whole internet thing came about, probably the same with Richard.

[Kurt]

Well said in every post you have made on this thread Richard. I for one appreciate your willingness to share the knowledge you have gained through decades of experience. As frustrating as it is to see some ignore what you have to offer, please know that just as many value every word. You have been a huge influence on me from the start of my BTS obsession.

I agree. And thanks to the rest of the experienced owners/breeders as well.

Does anyone know about the diets from some of the other experts that are less active on the forum? (James, Andrew, Ray, etc...)

[Ray Gurgui]

Just keep it simple, too much good stuff is not good for them. Babys give just meat, once they are a year old ,or over 14 to 15 inches you can add vegies, fresh or frozen . No vegies for BABYS . Or they grow up deformed like most of yours, the scales should be flat and smoothe like in the wild, not round and bumpy from too much vegies. A Northern should not have scales like a shingleback !

I do 3 full tables per feeding now for adults and subadults.

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I know its been a while (two years) but im always here, at least 30 times a day.
It seems like most of you are getting dumber, no one knows how to use the search anymore,
all the answers are already here !!

Got to change my sig, its over two years old now !

[Fatal_S]

Hi Ray! Great to see you post Though try not to scare all the newbies away. Would love to pick your brain a bit about this!

No veggies at all for babies? When you say just meat, do you mean just dogfood (which generally already has some veggie-matter included?) or just pure meat?

How big are those plates for the subadults/adults? Fed weekly?

Too much veggies leads to bad scales for sure? I have a new merauke here that's small and has really rough scales. I thought it was from the mites and constant baths it was getting. Maybe the diet lacked meat though.

[Ray Gurgui]

Hey Mel !
Just ground beef no gravy, I can add water to make gravy. Why pay extra to have vegies in the can it means there is less meat. You can always add your own vegies and know what they are getting. And I forgot to say add calcium w/d3 and a good multi vitamin every feeding !! For babys meat w/vitamins, adults and subs add vegies, they did their growing already so they cant get stunted from less proteen per meal.
I feed my guys almost every two weeks, dont want them obese, in the pic those are 6 in plates, and the paper is digestable if they get too wet from the dogfood.

The last part of your question.... you already answerd it.

Mel call me anytime I'll talk skinks for hours ask Jeff ! Hes afraid to call anymore , I wont shut up.
Got unlimited calling US and Canada.

[Katrina]

Nice to see you posting, Ray!

I'd love to chat again sometime, when things slow down I'll have to give you a call.

[Fatal_S]

Is the beef cooked? And is there a specific brand of calcium/multivitamin you use? Tiny sprinkle on top of each meal, or well-powdered?

Sorry, lots of little questions. Your meal is very different to what I'm used to hearing about. Extremely interesting. I'm rubbish at talking on phones Phones are scary to my generation. Would probably be worth the terror for the chat tho...

[Richard.C]

holy crap ray,thats alot of mouths to feed

another example of a tried and tested diet,thanks for sharing ray

[Ray Gurgui]

Oh man I really have to go to bed .
Pedigree dog food / "Groung beef w/ Beef chunks" Repcal calcium w/d3 Vitamins I use Nekton brand , Nekton MSA, Nekton REP, Nekton E.

With the amount of food I have to mix up per feeding, in 2 big pasta sause pots 4 or 5 gallons each , Verry precise measurment of 12 - 23oz cans of dogfood
+ 2 lbs mixed vegies (frozen thawed) per pot mix it all real good. Now for the exact measure of vitamins and calcium (wink wink ) In look at the food likt it is a flat mountain and use the calcium like a blizard cover it all mix it in , then the same for each vitamin, pour it on mix it in, next one same thing, and so on .
They only absorb the vitamins they need the rest gets pooped out, better than not enough vitamins. I get the 5 lbs bucket of Repcal every year.

The amount of food keeps growing, but I been doing this mix for 21 years, seems to work for all my guys,
Since I been on this forum the last 8 baby seasons so far I produced 1077 BTS babies, not counting this year still waiting.

Ok - done enough typing now for the next two years (I hate typing)
I can do work , and take care of the animals while im on the phone,
cant do that when you have to type !!

[Fatal_S]

You rock, Ray. Thanks!