New Food Chart!

[El Lobo]

The snails found in Australian gardens and much appreciated by BTS are an introduced European species Cantareus aspersus, aka Helix aspersa or brown garden snail.

[Katrina]

If people want, I can send them an excel version of the info and they can sort / edit it however they like. PM or email me and I can send you the excel file.

Originally I was just trying to have the onion, rhubard and avocado either red or red plus strike through to emphasize the "Never" part, but that wasn't working out so well in HTML. Still looking into it. Green for best foods is an option if people think it will be most useful (if I can get color at all the work! ).

I love the discussion because I never know how obvious to make things! Thanks everyone for the opinions and input. I want this to be a guideline and not a bible (and I didn't want to include every fruit and veggie under the sun because then if something like dragonfruit was left off people might assume it is poisonous or bad and not that I just didn't include it). But I also want it to have enough information that it is useful for most everyone, so I really appreciate all the opinions! Stuff like crickets and snails were a big oversight, please feel free to suggest other foods!

Please keep the comments coming - easy stuff like fixing my own typing errors I will edit right away and bigger stuff I will save for later.

So far I am thinking:
- need to add kangaroo rump and various snail species
- maybe more native species?
- definitely more alternative names or foods found outside of North America
- flowers
- storing food and preparing food info (just basic tips)
- scientific names

What else? I am planning a second page for more in depth information on Ca:P ratios, oxalates, goitrogens, etc - the tidbits of info that I have been trying to copy and paste over the years such as oxalates potentially leading to crystals in urates. I want it to be a second page to keep the one diet chart focused on the basics and the very beginner - something to print out. But the second, more 'advanced' page can include example diets and more info on what the notes mean etc.

Most of this info was already done in the original diet chart by Kelley McKinney, all I did was transfer it into excel and add a few things.

[Katrina]

Couple more questions...

I'm thinking organ meat should be ranked higher or at least it should include all organ meat, not just chicken. Thoughts? In Moderation or Frequently? How many feed organ meats more often than occasionally?

A while ago in a diet / food chart type thread people brought up seeds/grain although I haven't found any quality info to add... does anyone have more info? I think it was based on grasses and grass seeds rather than grains like wheat or processed, flour based products. I know that Laurie posted about her blueys eating grasses etc but I don't really have enough info to include it. If you think this is a good addition to their diet, please let me know.

Opinions welcome, I'd rather not be the one who makes the decisions! Especially when we have such a wealth of knowledge on here

[missmacabre]

So is Arugula, rocket lettuce?

[Katrina]

Rat Girl - yes, I think so. It is Rocket, rocket greens, arugula and a bunch of other names! I haven't heard rocket lettuce but I would assume so - google Arugula for images and see if they look the same.

Some updates - changed the Never Feed foods to red. Changed the ages and frequency of feeding a bit as well. Made the best fruits "In Moderation" rather than "Occasional" - does that help?

[655321]

This has a list of edible flowers for reptiles in general but I'm not sure which ones would be ok for skinks. It does mention that one of these is ok for prehensile tail skinks. I know calendula (marigold) flower petals are included in many lizard food mixes that you can buy, but they're mostly marketed towards bearded dragons. I don't know much about them or if they'd be ok for skinks. It's something to look into though. It also mentions dandelions, that you can feed the flowers as well as the leaves.

http://www.anapsid.org/resources/edible.html

By the way, the updates are great! I think it's awesome so far.

[Nae]

Yep, argula is rocket lettuce over here

[Katrina]

655321 - any edible flowers for beardies should be just fine for BTS. They can eat most any fruits, veggies, greens that are not toxic or poisonous: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... 3&aid=1612

Using the Anapsid info and other sites is a good way to figure out if it is likely safe for a bluey.

I wanted to keep the list fairly simple so that people wouldn't think that it was all inclusive and assume that if something wasn't on the list it shouldn't be eaten (or, if cautious, the food list is still enough variety that one could feed a bluey solely from foods on the list). I wouldn't shy away from feeding any of those flowers if you have access to them (I feed dandelion in the summer), but I also am not sure any are good enough food items to add to the list above something like carrot greens, cilantro etc. I'd really like to add more in that are available in Australia, New Zealand, UK etc to help out newer members there that might look at our list and not recognize many items at all!

I will probably add in a couple when I find decent nutritional values for them but definitely go ahead and feed ones you have access to if you want to. I liked the Anapsid site because it does note that no listing will ever be complete and that it isn't intended to be. I think she explains it better than I do!

[ewarshaw]

Thank you so much for all of this work. Being completely new to this, and wanting our little one to thrive, such information is priceless. It also leads me to ask a question: we have a BTS who has yet to take to any live food (I posted about that a while ago and was told that was fine). Based on some advice I was given, I have been giving the little one cat food as the main source of protein (Wellness, chicken formula) but now I am reading that the taurine in it may not be a good thing. So I should switch to dog food until s/he starts eating live food? If so, does anyone have dog food recommendations?

Also, I wonder if anyone knows if Cauliflower greens--esp. the dark green parts--that you just throw away have an acceptable profile?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Katrina]

I'd feed dog food as a staple over cat food, although cat food should be fine in moderation. Some blueys don't ever eat live food, so if yours is one of them then don't worry. It isn't necessary, it is just one healthy option.

Cauliflower greens are fine in moderation. They are brassica genus, so high in goitrogens - not an ideal staple green but fine to throw in in moderation.

[ewarshaw]

Thanks. On to dog food . . . .

And it is good to know that, on those occasions (like last week) when we cook cauliflower, the greens do not have to go to waste--at least not all of them.

[Zach]

Very well done, Kat!

[Morgan]

This awesome and so helpful thank you. I only wrote down what they can frequently and what they can eat in moderation because knowing me I would mess up and forget.