BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi guys, i wanna share my skink mix with everyone and have an opinion on whether its suffient nutritionally for my skink.

I make a big batch each time, consisting of 7-8 meals and freeze everything until i need to use it.

Currently, this is whats in the mix.
200g of canned dog food (1 pack lamb, 1 pack chicken & veges)
80g of raw pork
30g banana
50g carrot
50g arugula
50g spinach
2 strawberries (~30g)
50g cucumber

Is this a viable mix? My skink seems to love it and devours every last bit of it. Also, is freezing the meals a viable option? Does the nutritional values of the mix diminish once i freeze it?

Attached are the photos of the canned dog food and a cute pic of my skink attempting to get the bit of carrot off its face

I never feed raw pork to my animals. Too many opportunities for parasites.

no pork mince or dog or cat food for my BTS.... wrong kind of protein ( I don't care if lots of people claim these are OK).
I've had friends in my club who had BTS and fed dog food to them as their staple source of protein who lost their BTS to fatty liver disease and cancers attributed to the food and preservatives added to them.

I sometimes give boiled lean chicken mince , hardboiled egg,

and mix in repcal adult or juvenile bearded dragon pellets (softened in water) and
http://vetafarm.com.au/product/lizard-food/ again softened by soaking
http://www.wombaroo.com.au/reptiles/reptile-supplement
and I've recently added
https://www.store.repashy.com/veggie-bu ... b-jar.html

other than that I follow this list
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html regarding the suitable greens , fruit, berries, and veg

A balanced diet with insect proteins included is better than highly processed preservative rich cat and dog foods mixed with veg.

Kingofnobbys, as a whole, I will disagree with your general statement of dog food being bad for a BTS, but I will agree with the last sentence in your post that: "A balanced diet with insect proteins included is better than highly processed preservative rich cat and dog foods mixed with veg."
A balanced and varied diet is always preferable over any staple rich in preservatives, BUT, not all preservatives are bad, AND, just because it's in a can, is faster and easier, doesn't mean it's comparable to bad fast-food. Freshly chopped and home-made is not always better than pre-prepared and easy.
For example, it is not enough to keep in mind and include all the different ingredients, but what is sometimes more important is in what ratio they are included to certain other ingredients. And because dogs are omnivores, the ingredients (and their amounts and ratios) in commercially produced dog foods are already studied and calculated in much the same amounts that a BTS would need.
Is it perfect? No. Could it be better? Yes. But the "average Joe" with his average Joe knowledge is not always enough in order to make a fresh, home-made diet superior to that of commercially made. Which is why we generally state, to the general public, that a high-quality, canned dog food is the best staple source of protein.

Now, Darylmatthewlee, I like your mix. There are a few things I'd like you to keep in mind.
1. Any raw meat carries risks, especially pork, but those risks are different depending on what part of the world you are in. So you have to research what the potential risks are where you are at, and weigh them accordingly.
2. There is nothing bad about any of your ingredients, but the composition is maybe not ideal, and the next time you make a mix, if it were me, I would use less fruit, and change out the vegetable and green ingredients for more of the ones listed as "feed frequently" on our Diet Chart. Spinach for example is something I only feed once in a while that is not good to use as a staple because it is so high in calcium-blocking oxalates.

Darylmatthewlee wrote:Also, is freezing the meals a viable option? Does the nutritional values of the mix diminish once i freeze it?

Only the B-vitamin Thiamine is diminished when you freeze food, which can lead to a deficiency if you feed only frozen meals on a long term basis. This is why it is good to vary what you feed and how you feed it, make changes and never rely on only one source, one kind, one brand, one way.