I want to make a gutload for my crickets and roaches. Dr. Gecko's Recipe seems to be the best I have found. http://www.drgecko.com/insectdiet.htm I pretty much am going to use everything on the list except monkey chow, dried egg yolk, and dried dandellion flowers. If anyone knows where to purchase the last 2, please let me know. So basically, the ingredients I am left with are: 1 large box dry milk (8 quart size) 1 box rice baby cereal 8 oz raw unsalted sunflower seeds 1 cup wheat germ 3/4 cup alfalfa powder 1 1/2 cups bee pollen granules 1/2 cup powdered spirulina 1/4 cup dried sea kelp 1/2 cup mixed unsalted nuts 1/4 cup coconut 1/16 cup brewers yeast I will also add some whole grain or multigrain cereal like Total or Cheerios. For the crickets, I am going to add dog food to the mix: 26% protein http://www.naturalblends.com/nat_dog_chick_info.asp For the roaches, I am going to add cat food: 34% protein http://www.naturalblends.com/nat_cat_chick_info.asp Anyone have any idea what ratio I should use for dog/cat food to everything else. Since the roaches need a lot of protein, I am thinking 25-50% cat food. For the crickets, maybe 15-25% dog food. I would like to use this as a gutload as well as maintenance food.
Hi, that sound's like a great formula. isn't it a expensive maintenance food tho? I have two colony's and just use the gutload a week ahead of feeding them to my lizard's..I don't consider myself a roach expert so if it's a mistake please speak up. I use mainly chick start chicken food along with fresh fruit's (oranges and banana's). Here's a link to dried dandelion's http://www.vitacost.com/Eclectic-Institute...Dried-Dandelion and here's a link for the dried egg yolk's http://www.naturesflavors.com/product_info...roducts_id/4355 Jack
Be careful with calcium and cockroaches it is a killer, you could lose an entire colony to it. But for crickets chicken laying mash is readily obtained, easily stored and is nutritionally complete. It can be used to feed crickets through out their lives and is considered one of the better gutloads. When I kept and bred crickets I mainly used cat food with lamb milk supplement (I grew up on a sheep farm) I took the milk supplement in a bag and added cat food then shook the bag till the cat food was evenly coated. Then grinded it up in which ever tool you use and serve. I grew thousands of crickets with that formula and I was well into my 30th generation before I stopped breeding crickets. For cockroaches I now mainly use a mixture of dog, cat and rabbit kibble. The ratio I use is 4:5:1, respectively. This has work for me for over 3 years now. Along with the typical other foods such as fruits and vegetables. Remember there is an old farmer saying garbage in garbage out. (Referring to cows of course but it applies equally as well here.)
Re: RE: Roach / Cricket Gutload Recipe Thanks for the links, but those are pretty expensive. I was able to get all the supplements in my list for around $20 shipped from luckyvitamin.com. I figure I will spend another $10-15 getting the other items at the grocery store. I was told chicken laying mash is mostly ground corn with some added vitamins and minerals and that the biggest reason people use this is because it is cheap and has calcium in it. Maybe I should consider it. Hmm, so I should take it easy on the dried milk with the roaches. Are there any other ingredients that are high in calcium that I should be careful with? I'm feeling a bit paranoid now and am thinking it may be best to keep it simple. :?: I have a lot of extra greens & squash from my bearded dragon. I'm constantly giving them to roaches and crickets to help get rid of them.
RE: Re: RE: Roach / Cricket Gutload Recipe For cockroaches, yes, stay away from commercial cricket foods. But besides that and milk supplement and chicken laying mash, not really, go wild. (Those are calcium fortified so it has a higher calcium content than normal foods.) Really in all my years of growing up around chicken farmers I have never heard of it just being corn meal. Yes there is corn meal in it, but it is also high in protein (which is great for crickets), this is what is used for Purina’s chicken laying mash Ground corn, dehulled soybean meal, calcium carbonate, corn gluten meal, dehydrated alfalfa meal, dicalcium phosphate, wheat middlings, soybean oil, salt, cyanocobalamin, vitamin A acetate, dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate, DL-methionine, choline chloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, calcium pantothenate, nicotinic acid, riboflavin, cholecalciferol, folic acid, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (source of vitamin K), manganous oxide, copper sulfate, zinc oxide, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, ferrous carbonate, zinc sulfate, sodium selenite. And this is the mineral and vitamin content Minerals Ash, % 8.5 Calcium, % 3.28 Phosphorus, % 0.61 Phosphorus (non-phytate), % 0.41 Potassium, % 0.74 Magnesium, % 0.17 Sulfur, % 0.20 Sodium, % 0.18 Chlorine, % 0.35 Fluorine, ppm 31 Iron, ppm 290 Zinc, ppm 98 Manganese, ppm 98 Copper, ppm 13 Cobalt, ppm 0.27 Iodine, ppm 0.47 Chromium, ppm 2.4 Selenium, ppm 0.26 Vitamins Carotene, ppm 8.0 Vitamin K (as menadione), ppm 0.5 Thiamin Hydrochloride, ppm 3.4 Riboflavin, ppm 15 Niacin, ppm 64 Pantothenic Acid, ppm 20 Choline Chloride, ppm 2000 Folic Acid, ppm 2.4 Pyridoxine, ppm 4.2 Biotin, ppm 0.13 B12, mcg/kg 17 Vitamin A, IU/gm 19 Vitamin D3 (added), IU/gm 3.0 Vitamin E, IU/kg 28 Here is the energy sources Protein, % 22.089 Fat % 9.724 Carbohydrates, % 68.187 It is a high grain diet but it seems to work well for crickets. Remember variety is key to success even if it is just feeders. So maybe feed this in combination with some cat food oh I do not know around a 6:1 ratio and on top of that feed rabbit pellets and of course fresh fruits and vegetables.
