Re: Crested Diet

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Posted by azteclizard on January 30, 2003 at 10:12:56:

In Reply to: Crested Diet posted by captive_science on January 29, 2003 at 21:24:57:

I agree with mike on this one, the diet seems to lack enough protien. Even the t-rex diet makes up for the low protien of these ingredients by adding Calcium casienate. I suspect most of the protien in the t-rex diet can be attributed to that ingredient. I would add meat baby food to the diet you are recommending.
-Bill
:Greetings all! Just wanted to post a diet that I have used over the past year with a tremendous amount of success. This will save you the expense of purchasing "pre-packaged" dry foods. This is similar to the Non-prey crested diet that Mr. Repashy had printed in one of the reptile periodicals approx. two-three years ago. I'm not sure if he still uses his diet or if he has made changes, however the following continually outperforms any diet I have tried and is for the most part easy to assemble.

:All products can be purchased of the shelf at local health food stores and vary in price. Those of you keeping 1 - 10 cresteds will find that the initial purchase of ingredients will far outlast any pre-packaged diet.

:Start by purchasing powdered or granular bee pollen, powdered spirulina, and powdered kelp. These three products will assist in the extra trace elements for a prey-free diet. In addition you will need an appropriate calcium/D-3 supplement which can be based on a product you are comfortable with (ie. Minerall, Rep-Cal, etc.). If you purchase granular bee pollen, please grind into a powder with a m/p.

:For mixing I will assume most of you are feeding two geckos and serving size can vary between us all. Start by mixing a little less than 1/4 tea spoon of powdered kelp with your fruit baby food of choice. Add 1/4 tea spoon powdered bee pollen and a very light sprinkle of powdered spirulina. If too much spirulina is added to the mix it will turn dark in color and will become gelatinous within a hour or so which your crested will not like. Finally, sprinkle your choice of calcium supplement and mix until all ingredients are evenly distributed and serve.

:We currently have 53 cresteds and all are maintained on this diet without any live-prey. If you consistantly give live prey, I would recommend a gradual removal of live-prey over the period of one month.

:Mix amounts may vary upon number of geckos feed at a given time, so adjust accordingly.

:If you have any questions, please leave a post and I will respond.

:Thanks!

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Re: Crested Diet captive_science 01/30/03 (0)