BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hello,I'm living in China,and many people here have BTS as pet(well maybe not so many)...the food source in China is kind of different comparing with other countries,and there are lots of wrong idea about food for BTS,one problem is about the dog food,lots of us know that dog food is a good source of protein but most of us never notice that all the dog food in Chinese market got grains in it and that's not good(which I been try to tell others in past few months)...I now use the frozen snails for restaurant as main protein source,along with some dubias ...
The second problem is that too much fruits and not enough vegetables...for many people don't know that importance of green vegetables,and blue tongues always prefer sweet apple rather than tasteless leafs...and for those ones who finally realize that,we don't some greens and veges which are common in US,Europe or Australia,in fact many of us never heard endive or chicory...
So I list all the vegetables I can find in the local market,and hope some one can give some advice of the menu...
1 Purslane
2 two kinds of Amaranthus


3 two kinds of Lactuca


4 Green and rad cabbage
5 Bok choi
6 Napa cabbage
7 Chinese Celery(just thinner)
8 Cucumber
9 Bell Peppers
10 Corn
11 Pumpkin
12 Zucchini
13 Sweet potato
14 Carrots
15 Turnip
16 Radish
17 Zizania latifolia(really don't know the English word)
18 Edamame
19 Phaseolus vulgaris(again,have to use scientific name)
20 Vicia faba
21 Tomatoes

Grains in the dog food aren't necessarily bad, it's just that they are pretty much useless. Here is a good food chart with some of these veggies on it. http://bluetongueskinks.net/foodchart.html
I don't know much about the rest that are on your list.

donkeybuff wrote:Grains in the dog food aren't necessarily bad, it's just that they are pretty much useless.

there are two kinds of dog food I can find,the biscuit-like ones(which is most people here use),and pouch treat dog food(which I think is better？)
Canned dog food is not easy to find here...

MechHAN wrote:

donkeybuff wrote:Grains in the dog food aren't necessarily bad, it's just that they are pretty much useless.

there are two kinds of dog food I can find,the biscuit-like ones(which is most people here use),and pouch treat dog food(which I think is better？)
Canned dog food is not easy to find here...

Oh, I thought you were talking about canned food. Dry food is okay, some Australian breeders use it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyorpFNTWC4

donkeybuff wrote:Grains in the dog food aren't necessarily bad, it's just that they are pretty much useless. Here is a good food chart with some of these veggies on it. http://bluetongueskinks.net/foodchart.html
I don't know much about the rest that are on your list.

There is no evidence of that. I'm not saying that they are bad, just that there is really no evidence of how blueys digest them. In cats and dogs there are studies showing how grains as fillers are causing health problems and obesity, just because cats and dogs NEVER had grains in their diet until we started feeding commercial foods and they got cheap and started using fillers. Grains and carbohydtrates - same as in humans, simple carbs will cause a spike in blood sugars and so the body releases a huge amount of insulin to combat this (and the sugars in the blood are quickly stored as fat). This is the same for cats and dogs as humans, I'm not saying that that is how blueys work.

I avoid feeding both my cats and blueys grains (and for the same reason, HIGHLY recommend against any kind of pelleted reptile diet). Others feed dog foods with grains for years with great results, but I'd just caution against saying that grains are useless or not bad... we don't really know. In other animals that have never eaten them in the wild, grains have definitely been linked to health problems.

Hey MechHAN - lots of Chinese veggies are great for blueys as well. I don't know all of these off the top of my head, but I'd added some comments in for the ones I do know. Lot's of those you can throw into the rotation at least part of the time.

Snails and cockroaches are great feeders. I wouldn't NOT feed any dog food with grains but it you have access to those feeders, maybe just feed it occasionally.

MechHAN wrote:1 Purslane Feed quite often
2 two kinds of Amaranthus
3 two kinds of Lactuca Rarely - without knowing what species
4 Green and rad cabbage Feed rarely
5 Bok choi Occasionally
6 Napa cabbage Occasionally
7 Chinese Celery(just thinner)
8 Cucumber ?Occasionally
9 Bell Peppers Occasionally
10 Corn Rarely
11 Pumpkin Occasionaly
12 Zucchini Occasionally
13 Sweet potato Occasionally
14 Carrots Occasionally
15 Turnip Occasionally
16 Radish Occasionally
17 Zizania latifolia(really don't know the English word) Wild rice? I wouldn't bother
18 Edamame Occasionally - non salted
19 Phaseolus vulgaris(again,have to use scientific name) Green beans? These are good, feed often
20 Vicia faba I've never fed these - I'm sure you could throw them in once in a while
21 Tomatoes Occasionally

Katrina wrote:Grains and carbohydtrates - same as in humans, simple carbs will cause a spike in blood sugars and so the body releases a huge amount of insulin to combat this (and the sugars in the blood are quickly stored as fat). This is the same for cats and dogs as humans, I'm not saying that that is how blueys work.

I think it works the same,for the blue tongues which been feed lots of dog food usually looks obese...

I'm growing chinese greens and vegetables. I am curious as well about amaranth, chinese celery and a few others. Many chinese greens are in the mustard family (brassicaceae)... Can it be assumed we can feed these greens safely, though how often may depend on their mineral ratios?? Does anyone know the general guideline for safe/ideal ratios?

Also, just quickly looked at nutrition facts for amaranth leaves (very quick look so may vary by the type): http://www.nutritionvalue.org/Amaranth_ ... value.html

According to this, a 100g serving is 215mg Ca and 50 mg P. Does that calculate to 4.3:1 for Ca:P ratio? In which case, based on the other greens listed on the BTS nutrition page, amaranth should be safe to feed pretty frequently?? I am just guessing on how to calculate the ratios, so if anyone can correct, please do so! I grow many chinese/Asian greens and would love to know if I can feed them to my pets!

Katrina wrote:17 Zizania latifolia(really don't know the English word) Wild rice? I wouldn't bother

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for wild rice...we don't eat the seeds,we eat the stem as vegetable...
and thanks for your advice,I think I'll use purslane more,to me it's also great...