You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat….

We feel that it is important to understand everything to do with owning your reptile, amphibian or invertebrate and that includes feeding it correctly and knowing about the food you are feeding it.
Many reptiles are insectivorous and feed on live insects; these animals provide vital fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals and also provide vital behavioural stimulation for the animal eating them.
The thrill of hunting is a realistic behaviour for many animals and providing live food allows this behaviour to still occur in captive conditions.
We recommend that to maintain a healthy and properly cared for animal it is vital that the live invertebrates you feed it are also well cared for and properly looked after.

This includes doing a few important things such as…

• We recommend moving your livefood from the tubs they are sold in into a more spacious, well ventilated and escape proof container with plenty of hiding places.
  

• This allows the crickets more room from each other, they will be better looked after by doing this and will last longer.

• Keep your livefood at room temperature, they can soon die off if kept too cold or too warm

• From here you also have the opportunity to “gut-load” your livefood. This is a highly recommended procedure where the invertebrates you feed to your lizard, frog etc are fed themselves. 

• There are commercially produced “gut-loading” products available, equally fresh fruit, raw potato, veg, bran or oats will also do the same job.

• A well-fed invertebrate given the proper care and nutrients will retain its food value much longer, a healthy cricket or locust makes a much heartier and healthier meal for your pet and in the long-run will be extremely beneficial.
  

• Feeding invertebrates as well as keeping them correctly is essential to successfully keeping reptiles.

Livefood available to you…

Brown/Black Crickets: Provided in a variety of sizes to suit your animal.
Crickets are often the staple diet for most captive reptiles, they are easily spotted and often slow enough to be caught and they are high in protein and low in fat.
Inexpensive and available in high quantities they are an excellent choice for both terrestrial (grown dwelling) and arboreal (tree dwelling) animals but they do have a tendency to be rather noisy!

Moisture: 69.07%
Fat, 6.01 %
Protein: 20.27%
Fibre: 3.2 %

Locusts: Available in 4 stages of growth and often referred to as “Hoppers” Locusts are an alternative to crickets but not a substitute. Adult locust grown large and are ideal for feeding larger lizards.
Slow moving and a tendency to climb upwards make these invertebrates ideal for slower moving and arboreal lizards such as chameleons.

Moisture: 57.02%
Fat, 9.47 %
Protein: 17.78%
Fibre: 2.8 %

Mealworms: Available in 3 different sizes mealworms are the larvae of a beetle these inverts stay like this for 3 months before transforming into a black darkling beetle.
Many reptiles will relish a bowl of mealworms but they should only be fed as part of a varied diet and never exclusively.

Moisture: 62.44%
Fat: 12.72%
Protein: 20.27%
Fibre: 1.73%

Waxworms: The larval stage of the wax moth these are a popular food source amongst reptiles. If kept cold they will remain in this pupae stage or if kept warm will turn into moths.
They are one of the most nutritious, easily digested food sources and are great for hand-taming an animal or “bulking up” animals that require it such as females who have just laid eggs or ill/weak animals, they can also be used to stimulate animals feeding on veg due to their movement. However, they are very rich and fatty and once again should only be fed as part of a varied diet and should not become and daily food source.

Moisture: 61.73%
Fat: 22.19%
Protein: 15.70%
Fibre: 7.69%

Fruitflies: These tiny flies are flightless and can be raised on fruit, great for feeding to small lizards/amphibians or inverts such as praying mantis or for newborns such as baby chameleons or frogs

Earthworms: Much safer than collecting wild earthworms these are another favourite for many amphibians such as newts and salamanders and make a tasty treat or other reptiles.

Other food sources are obviously available, defrosted rodents and birds, live and dry aquatic food and various other dry mixtures can all make up part of your pets diet and should be considered at some point but not necessarily made a staple choice unless otherwise informed.

For any more information regarding feeding your animals please see a member of staff who will be happy to help…