Food Discussion

[Katrina]

Why are more greens needed than other veggies, according to the food chart?

Some greens are extremely nutrient dense and healthy. Some - not all!

Lots of veggies are also nutrient dense and healthy, like squashes, green beans etc. Some veggies aren't super healthy but are great in moderation for variety (like tomatoes / cucumber).

Greens aren't needed more than any other veggies - they don't need any greens, it's just that lots of greens are nutrient dense and healthy for blueys.

[Vegasarah]

[quote= What brand do you use?[/quote]

Sojo is the brand name

[Vegasarah]

I also like to switch it up and buy the smaller bags but then try the different mixes. For example, this company also has a beef one. Here is that ingredient list:

Sweet potatoes, USDA beef, celery, carrots, cabbage, whole egg, flax meal, tricalcium phosphate, cranberries, papaya, pumpkin, rosemary, parsley, ginger root, dried alfalfa, dried kelp, zinc sulfate, vitamin E acetate, vitamin D3, vitamin A palmitate

I'm curious as to why this would need supplementing with more vitamin A retinol when there is already a strong emphasis on vitamin A carotenoids.

Well it is designed for dogs, so maybe they have a higher need for Vitamin A? I really don't know.

ALSO: If anyone thinks that my diet needs to be modified or if this doesn't sound ideal, please let me know! You all know much better than I do about BTS nutrition, and I trust your research and judgment much better than my own! Everyone on here is such a huge help to me and I wanted to thank all of you for the continued successful health and wellbeing of my Blueys

[Katrina]

I feed my cats raw food and the blueys get it on occasion - http://www.instinctpetfood.com/

[Lauriek]

I actually thought I'd posted a reply to this discussion but obviously I hadn't - either that or it's gone missing in cyberspace
About dogfood.
When I lived in the Mallee, which is an arid area of my state here in Australia, we had dogs, they were both working dogs but where also pets and kept inside at night.
They would be fed in the mornings (as well as a smaller meal at night) mainly with canned food and when I'd hear frantic barking I'd know ah ha, the lizards have arrived. Sure enough there would be a couple of wild blueys munching on dog food. One morning the barking was quite frenzied and a goanna had arrived.
I have also been hissed at by a very large wild bluey in the chook shed, attempting to eat/steal eggs.

[Richard.C]

good examples of oppatunistic feeders laurie,the monitor would have cool to see

[Kurt]

What are your thoughts about adding a Reptile multivitamin in conjunction with the Ca +D3? Unnecessary?

[Lea]

Lauren, when I lived in Darwin I had a monitor walk right into my apartment and join me in the kitchen as I sliced up some watermelon! I think he thought it smelt a lot yummier than grubs and a heck of a lot easier than catching his own dinner. I gave him some, which was an amazing experience, then got the camera out and have some awwwwwweeesssoommme shots of him on my verandah and as he ambled slowly back to the tree. That has to be up there with all my shingleback encounters as one of the most incredible things I've ever witnessed!

[Richard.C]

multivitamins are great to add as well,only benefits the animals we keep,and helps cover areas lacking in there diets,i usually add itt every 2nd or 3rd meal i have supplemented with cal/d3,but i dont really follow any normal routine with any supplements,sometimes i add it,alot of times i dont,thats just me though,and being honest

ok no more wild monitor talk ladies,my sis when she lived in exmouth had a perentie that lived under her veranda,and teased me with pics of it,lol,was a big bugger to,though i shouldnt complain,i have a few pet ones enclosed in the backyard,though seeing them wild is quite the experience

[Lea]

Sorry, it was a bit OT.

Back to bluey food stuff!

[UroFreak13]

Are lima beans okay, i added a some frozen veggies to my mix whicch included peas, corn, carrots,& lima beans. He seamed to enjoy the mix?

[Ellie_A]

We have been making our own raw cat food (chicken based with added supplements) I make up an extra batch without added taurine and freeze it. The skinks get this and canned dog food along with Repashy calcium plus twice a week and I throw in veggies if we have some laying around. They seem to be doing well on it but if anyone has any concerns with this please let me know.

[Katrina]

We have been making our own raw cat food (chicken based with added supplements) I make up an extra batch without added taurine and freeze it. The skinks get this and canned dog food along with Repashy calcium plus twice a week and I throw in veggies if we have some laying around. They seem to be doing well on it but if anyone has any concerns with this please let me know.

If it is a healthy raw cat food, including appropriate portions of bone and organs, then I think that would be great!

[UroFreak13]

Lima beans?

[Ellie_A]

We have been making our own raw cat food (chicken based with added supplements) I make up an extra batch without added taurine and freeze it. The skinks get this and canned dog food along with Repashy calcium plus twice a week and I throw in veggies if we have some laying around. They seem to be doing well on it but if anyone has any concerns with this please let me know.

If it is a healthy raw cat food, including appropriate portions of bone and organs, then I think that would be great!

The recipe is based on the one recommended by Lisa A. Pierson so it contains chicken thighs with skin and bone, heart, liver, eggs, vitamin B, E, fish oil and iodine. From all the reading I have done it is supposed to be one of the best balanced cat food diets. We got sick of spending so much on the pre-made diets so we bought a grinder and now we make a month at a time.

[saisaac]

Do any of the college students on the board have access to some university databases? If so we might be able to find some studies on their natural diet that we haven't looked at as of yet. I have been looking for some myself, but have not found much.

Obviously, as others have already said multiple times, we cannot, and perhaps should not, aim for a "natural" diet, but I wonder if there aren't some good veterinary or biology articles that might provide a better insight into the nutritional needs of omnivorous lizards. Regardless, it is pretty clear that dog food supplemented by vitamins, fresh fruits and veggies, and calcium works.

[Katrina]

Do any of the college students on the board have access to some university databases? If so we might be able to find some studies on their natural diet that we haven't looked at as of yet. I have been looking for some myself, but have not found much.

Obviously, as others have already said multiple times, we cannot, and perhaps should not, aim for a "natural" diet, but I wonder if there aren't some good veterinary or biology articles that might provide a better insight into the nutritional needs of omnivorous lizards. Regardless, it is pretty clear that dog food supplemented by vitamins, fresh fruits and veggies, and calcium works.

I got my hands on every single Tiliqua article I could a few years ago when I still had access to databases. From what I found, 90% of the articles were either about shinglebacks or pygmy BTS. Not too many mentioned diet, but when they did it was similar to what we know from members here and the bluey bible etc. Opportunistic, munch on what they can find, insects, carrion, flowers, berries, leaves, mushrooms... I didn't find anything that I felt was really significant but not many articles focused much on diet. I don't think I found more that an article or two on T. gigas spp.

At the time, I found and read most every article on Tiliqua I could. I'm sure I missed some.

If anyone finds anything worth reading that is available, I'd be happy to link it in the thread in the ADF. We had quite a few in there (not journal articles) but most of the links moved / were taken down over time.

[Scotts1au]

Google, diet of two species of tiliqua, by glen shae, this is probably one of the best available articles. I tried to post the link but it was too long.

[El Lobo]

The paper by Dr. Shea referred to by Scott.

http://www.rzsnsw.org.au/Volumes%20of%2 ... dae%29.pdf

[Karen]

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 !

Interesting. I've wondered why Sylvia has bumpier scales than Tiberi. This is a nutrition issue? It would make sense given her past MBD...