STOP! DO NOT FEED YOUR REPTILES BEFORE WATCHING THIS VIDEO! HOW TO GUT LOAD FEEDER INSECTS

[@Reptiliatus]

I've been getting lots of requests to make this video! Let me know what you think! I hope it's helpful! Remember to answer today's Question of the Day, and a special thanks go to all my Reptiliatus Channel Patrons for their additional support! For more information on how to support this channel, check out www.patreon.com/Reptiliatus

[@mellewedin8221]

Bell peppers have so much to offer and they are filled with plenty of water for your feeders, a long with cucumber as well.

[@imperialgirl4858]

I am very blessed that one of the big feeder producers is only 15 min from the house, so I can go pick up the small amount of fresh feeders directly as needed.

[@buckslayer5612]

Same 5 minutes 😂

[@Reptiliatus]

Very lucky!

[@user-TN65K0]

Same but they only have a ton of crickets for dubias I gotta go to one around 30 minutes away and for mealworms and black soldier fly larvae the only place I know is unfortunately petsmart but at least the one I go to has relatively good reptile bird and moderately good small mammal care

[@MacysNatureCrew]

I do two things when it comes to my reptiles 1: My rescue reptiles get special gut loaded insects. For example, a rescued leopard gecko that we got in has very bad eyes. And the cause of this is usually a vitamin A deficiency. So we feed specifically vegetables with high levels of vitamin A so that the animal is getting that vitamin exclusively for the first week or two. 2: Not all the insects in a big bin are going to eat as much as the other bugs that dive right in. So I pick what feeder bugs I’m going to feed off. One day it may be a few mealworms being fed to a leopard gecko. I place those selected bug into a small deli cup and place the food in the deli cup so that those specific bugs get all the nutrients they need before being fed off. Thought I would throw these methods I use out there to anyone who it interesting :)

[@Reptiliatus]

Great suggestions! Thank you for sharing!

[@HxRMotorsports]

This is good info, thank you for posting it.

[@corinesievert7032]

Entertaining and insightful video… as per usual…But I really came here to say that watching Basil eat anything really makes my day. Her chaotic energy and derpy voraciousness are adorable ❤❤

[@MikeTytula]

Fantastic video my man! I would say that the feeders should be given some form of water, we found a little automatic bird feeder stuffed with cotton works really well and only needs to be filled once a week or so.

[@Reptiliatus]

Thanks brother! Great suggestion!

[@dragonfarmreptiles7357]

But better they get water by eating vegetables, that way they are in effect drinking water with added vitamins and minerals

[@MikeTytula]

@@dragonfarmreptiles7357 agreed, but from my experience even with the veggies and such water is good to have on hand. They go through it fairly quickly

[@ettinakitten5047]

I'm a newbie mealworm vendor and I've been giving a lot of this stuff to my mealworms already, but I hadn't considered squash, bee pollen and dandelions. One thing I have done that I didn't see you mention is that I like to save eggshells from cooking, grind them up into fine pieces, and add them to my mealworms' meal. I like to think it probably ups their calcium content.

[@mutkaheki]

When I'm short of proper gut loading, I've used Crested Gecko diet. But I honestly just feed fresh vegetables that I have for my turtle most of the time. Full Dandelion plants(I grow it indoors in the winter) and Arugula are my staples.

[@jordanbarnett7247]

This video is incredibly valuable! Gut loading is something I’ve been lacking on and know that I need to do more often but kind of didn’t have the best strategy or technique. I also didn’t know about the flukers dry grain at all… because of you uploading this I have a much better plan of attack and my animals will be much better off. Thank you

[@beverlyjensen443]

Excellent Training Video!!! No wonder you considered being a school teacher, you're a natural educator. Thanks.

[@Reptiliatus]

Wow, thank you! That’s so flattering! 🙏🏼

[@TheBlubunni]

This was a very informative and important video. Thank you Dayyan. I researched my head off learning about bearded dragon care. There's so much to learn and know to provide the best care for your animals. Have a fantastic day/night Dayyan 😊✌🏼

[@Reptiliatus]

I’m so glad you liked the video! Thank you for watching, supporting, and commenting 🙏🏼. Thanks! You too!

[@nathan5126]

10/10 content, editing and production.

[@Reptiliatus]

Much appreciated!

[@DracoBoyTheDragon]

You should spray mist the veggies, or add water crystals for hydration, and will make the feeders live longer

[@DoorsToHideBehind156]

So basically you're making a salad that would be wonderful to feed a bearded dragon or omnivore, it makes perfect sense. Great video 😊

[@r1verman]

I keep Dubia roaches. I give mine fresh vegetables that have been marked down due to expiration date. I usually do greens. I give them fish food which they love.

[@joegrossman5073]

I think this would also be good practice with tarantula feeder's. I'm gonna do this for my tarantulas that's for sure I want happy T's lol. Love your videos keep up the hard work.

[@tagmopruannsilver8267]

Do you know what nutrients are important for inverts? I know calcium is less important, but I don't know what nutrients are important

[@DMOptionalboss]

I never did the bee pollen part, but I do use some generic fluker's turtle diet to sprinkle into gutloads. It's basically kibble that you moisten without all the extra salt and less crude protein and you only need a couple of bits per gutload. I just read the ingredients lists of other things like fish food and figure out whether feeders would eat it, that way the feeders are eating a balance. Trial and error. Crickets are pickier than dubia roaches, and noisier. If you can get the roaches, do that. Crickets are just annoying. Every time I get a batch of crickets, I sacrifice as many adult males as I can see so that the storage room doesn't become a screaming-chirp-stridulating den.

[@tagmopruannsilver8267]

Do you know of a way to drop feed dubias? Since my dubias burrow/hide I've been feeding crickets to my animals that I know won't tong feed or won't eat immediately. That way I know the feeder will stay out in the open more or less

[@DMOptionalboss]

@@tagmopruannsilver8267 Good question. For reference, I mostly am feeding toads and geckos, but the bearded dragons probably have the most need for help, since they don't like the tongs and tong feeding is my personal preference. Dubias even don't squish that badly in tongs, like crickets do. They have a shell that's easy to hold on to. Answer: Instead of dropping them in as is, use a slick-sided feeding dish with steep sides and set them in that. Dubias can't climb well. I use a 1/3 cup dry measuring cup and they just sort of scoot around trying to get out. The sound actually excites the beardies. Drago and Urki are their names, btw.

[@KittenCece]

I'd love and super appreciate a new video on isopods! A feeding video like this would be super helpful to me right now too. Lol

[@jessecunningham9924]

Thanks for this fantastic video, Dayyan. I didn’t know avocado was toxic to reptiles!

[@Reptiliatus]

My pleasure! Always good to look into these things yourself as suggested! There are likely plenty of other fruits, veggies that aren’t safe!

[@gryllidaeperkcal1369]

🚨Long comment 🚨 From what I’ve researched, fresh fruits and veggies are the best for increasing beta carotene, while if your focus is to alter the calcium to phosphorus ratio to 1:1 in crickets or mealworms, you want to either use a commercial gut loading diet specifically meant for that like Repashy superload or make your own calcium gut load. Maybe avoid superworms if you really want to increase calcium through gut loading, because in one study their calcium level would hardly budge on two different Mazuri gut loading diets that had successfully altered the calcium to phosphorus ratio around 1:1 in mealworms and crickets. There’s also a difference between gut loading and feeding the feeder insects food to maintain them. Gut loading is feeding the feeders nutrients that will only be available to the reptile through the insect’s gut, such as calcium. This is where the rule that you feed gut load for at least 24 hours come from, as after this amount of time the calcium levels begin to peak in crickets (calcium levels typically are at their highest after 48 hours, but this can change based on the life stage of the insect and with some diets like Fluker’s orange cubes being reformulated). What’s not typically said is that there’s an actual time limit to how long you should be gut loading as eventually the calcium levels fall due to the gut load being excreted. Plus, the high calcium required to alter the base calcium levels to not be lower than phosphorus in crickets before they’re dusted can actually kill them after a couple of days. A maintenance diet is meant to keep the insects alive and healthy before they’re gut loaded and fed to an insectivore. These diets have safe levels of calcium to raise and maintain feeder insects on, such as Repashy Bug Burger, fresh produce, Josh’s frogs cricket food. The thing with maintenance diets is that this is the best time to focus on beta carotene, vitamin E, and maybe even omega 3. These nutrients accumulate in the insects’ tissue rather than just being in the gut and excreted like calcium. Therefore the 24-48 hour rule isn’t as effective for these nutrients as it is for calcium. You really want to feed beta carotene, vitamin E, and omega 3 for as long as possible rather than just feed them for 24 hours like you would with calcium. When you give a diet like this to insects with compound eyes, such as crickets, a little bit of the beta carotene is converted into vitamin A retinol. Sort of like how cows will eat a beta carotene rich diet, which is then converted into retinol through their small intestine. I would like to cite my sources, but KZbin deletes any comments with links outside of their app. I can message it to you through Facebook messenger if you’d like.

[@xturtlex84]

This is a great video. Thank you for all the information. People like to make informational videos but do not show you exactly what you need to do. 😊😊

[@Reptiliatus]

I’m so glad it helped!

[@sherrilvollmer4477]

I always learn so much from your videos.

[@Reptiliatus]

I'm so glad to hear that! I do. my best!

[@kdub5139]

I never even thought about gut loading my feeders. I gave my super worms sweet potato to keep them hydrated, but nothing else.

[@Alex_Del]

Quick question for my dart frogs. Is there a way to "gut load" fruit flies besides the mix that I make to breed them?

[@Reptiliatus]

Flies are a lot more tricky. That’s why it’s so important to dust them properly. I would say you could potentially dust them with powdered bee pollen but I’m not sure how easy it would be to actually gut load them.

[@halfie44]

Time to buy cricket food! I used carrots mainly but they don't seem to enjoy that too much, now I know how to make them feel better

[@falcolf]

I had no idea that ANY roaches were legal in Canada so this was amazing! I miss keeping bugs for my late elderly leopard gecko but I might start raising mice when I get my rosy boa!❤

[@matthewj6154]

Hit up your local fruit and veg shop. They always have tonnes of leftovers they'll be happy for you to take. I do it for my chickens.

[@Reptiliatus]

Great suggestion!

[@DoorsToHideBehind156]

Mealworms are a staple I keep in my refrigerator, I've never thought about gutloading them. I'm going to start putting greens and other food in the food dish that I use to feed my knob tail gecko. Often times I'll see one or two mealworms still in there the day after. And after the second day they're gone.

[@РадиВалентинов]

Hello Reptiliatus what I have noticed is that my crickets die really fsst from things like carrots and lettuce so now I give them the cricket fruit jellys with some bran. Any siggestions for the food ( I use this good to raise them not only gutload them)

[@Beardedbuddys]

This video is awesome! Helps a lot. I gutload my Dubia Roaches and mealworms before feeding and dust them with Arcadia supplements and Vitamins

[@jasminetownsend6621]

great video ,so many people dont have knowledge on this sort of thing 🦗🦗

[@Reptiliatus]

Thank you so much! I do my best to share!

[@jasminetownsend6621]

@@Reptiliatus you're more than welcome ,i have learnt alot from your videos as im sure others have ,hope your day goes well all the best from the uk 🙂

[@RosaPlatzer]

This video helps so much! Happily my dad is working in a animal company and he is every day in several pet shops and he often gets crickets and so on for free!☺but i dont know wehre i can get maggots from because i really want to feet maggots to some of my animals and i dont want to let them deliver and my dad can`t find ones

[@whitneymosley3421]

I would love to know more about how to care for/reproduce a darkling beetle

[@aprilemacpherson7423]

You are fantastic, my friend...so very natural!! Thanks for all you are teaching me. 😊

[@Reptiliatus]

Ayeeee thanks for the support, friend!

[@rdnkenki]

Excellent. I need to do more for my leopard geckos. I feed them roach chow and raw carrots mainly but will try more variety of raw veggies and add calcium and spirulina and bee pollen for bugs to eat

[@nicolecross4260]

Very well done! I really enjoyed this video. Showed many different aspects of something definitely not talked about enough. Thanks for showing which bee pollen too! I’ve struggled trying to decide which one to use and a lot sell as granular form instead of powder. So thank you again ❤

[@gabcaron333]

I just got my first reptile and everything is new for me. This video is sooo helpful ! Thank you so much! Also, do you have Pictus Gecko ? I know they are not that comon and that why I think they are cool, but little bit scary for me because its hard to find good information on them...

[@rybuds47]

Thanks for covering this i feel this part of my care is lacking.

[@Reptiliatus]

Happy to help! We’re all striving to improve our care! It’s all good! 😊🙏🏼

[@faithful_to_the_bay5487]

someone need's to gut load me , great vid !

[@Reptiliatus]

Lol

[@MOONOVERMIAMI]

Hello great video information and updates Dayyan

[@Reptiliatus]

Thank you so much! 🙏🏼

[@mellewedin8221]

A great cost effective bulk idea is to get chicken feed, egg layers pellets. It has all that in it. I add my own spirulina. The pellets are in calcium. Honestly i dont gut load, i just treat my feeder insects as if their lives matter, cuz they do!

[@laurenpelling4079]

Fab video so many people don’t know how to correctly gut load!

[@Reptiliatus]

I hope this helps! Enjoy and thanks for watching!

[@karenlee3198]

This is super super helpful! Does Canada have BSFL? What of them as feeders? Also size ratios for feeders to pets? I learned so much

[@Danijack1203]

❤ I've never thought of this but I do feed wherever I buy for my reptile fruit and vegetables so I'll get some other stuff for them also

[@Reptiliatus]

Wonderful!

[@kismitj]

qotd, i give our feeder insects trimmings from the food for the humans or the pets that also eat vegetables.

[@seanmabey1609]

That prasinus is lightning fast. My storri seem chill in comparison.

[@Reptiliatus]

Always! ⚡️🦎

[@pitztoplawncare6781]

I need to add butternut squash into my gutloading regimen

[@HxRMotorsports]

Hi. Thanks for doing this video. This is all very new to me and I appreciate video's like this. I'm a new owner of a beautiful Leopard Gecko who was mistreated by her previous owners for the first 3 years of her life (they kept her in a small plastic tub similar to the one you used in your video to gut load your crickets). Amazingly she survived and I'm now doing all I can to bring her back up to full health. She was fed nothing but morioworms before I got her and it's taking some time to get her off of them and to try other foods. I've gone with mealworms for now because they're worms and so I thought she might not be able to tell the difference. What would be best to gut load mealworms? Just the leafy greens and bee pollen? Or should I try to get some other stuff in there to help her regain her health? Thanks again for the video matey.

[@thunderbasilisk1352]

Huh. Havnt tried Bee Pollen. Imma try it.

[@evergardenxox]

i dont suppose u have a link for the critter keeper u use? i cant seem to find a decent size one

[@ElizabethMurray-yo8yd]

Hi I have just watched this video fab as always I was just wondering what the green veggies you gave the insects and if I can not get dandelions from the garden what other vegetables other than squash would benefit my reptiles as I have tree frogs crested geckos a gargoyle gecko and my yellow headed gecko and leopard geckos would they all benefit from same gut loaded insects my baby tree frogs I have only been told to give them the fruit flies but how would I gut load them or is the culture enough for them I just want to give my reptiles and frogs the best your fab as always x

[@tarinatupanen]

I just want to know how do you get Morio worms to eat anything else than carrots? Because they wont touch anything else that I try to give them. I have also found that sometimes crickets too will stop eating no matter what I offer them. I have only one Leopard Gecko, and she eats once a week, so there's always so much wasted, because the crickets die so easily (especially if they do not eat). The Dubia roaches are the only ones that thrive, and multiply (and they eat everything). Otherwise I feed the feeder insects Arcadia Insect Fuel, another brand of similar stuff, vegetables and some fruit, and during summer I give them dandelions (leaves, flowers) and other wild veggies from our yard, and since I grow food for us humans also, I give home grown veggies to the insects as well (all organic, no pesticides used).

[@c-america]

What do you think of Flukers Orange Cube Complete foods? Are the good for gut loading

[@Reptiliatus]

Personally I don’t feel it’s a good product. If you read the label, the only nutritional ingredient in it is the spirulina. You could easily buy a bag and sprinkle some on greens and it would be a million times healthier. They aren’t orange because they contain oranges so think about that too.

[@c-america]

@@Reptiliatusthanks!

[@sandywalter9728]

Very interesting video! Like you said... you are what you eat! ❤

[@Reptiliatus]

Haha, yes! Thank you 😋!

[@No0dl-]

This video has help me a lot! Thanks!👍🙃

[@g_eazy9153]

I learned so much thank you!

[@h0ltib0y17]

Great Video and it teached me a lot. I still have a question tho: As I don't eat very much squash it would be quiet the expense to purchase a whole one to feed only a part of to my insects? Would cucumber be a good alternative as it holds water very well as the squash does or should I invest into something else?

[@Billbeaux]

Love this video. Thanks for sharing

[@Reptiliatus]

You’re welcome!

[@DyslexicYoda]

Great video!!

[@Reptiliatus]

Thank you very much! 🙏🏼

[@ChantalsCritters]

Great information.

[@Reptiliatus]

Thanks!

[@Tom-repgeck]

Another great informational video! I've used carrots in addition to dry diets and now im going to try squash like you do. Thanks! I'd consider trying dark leafy greens but how do you keep yours from wilting so fast?

[@Reptiliatus]

Thank you! You are so welcome! Good stuff!

[@TapSnapOrNap203]

I feed my crickets watermelon pangea gecko food.. is that ok ?

[@Reptiliatus]

Personally I wouldn’t see that as gut load. It works I guess because you’d be feeding that to your gecko anyways but I’d suggest doing veggies and grains over pangea. Perhaps using it here and there is all good

[@markforbessr.3499]

Hey buddy ,I breed my own rats, so for another thing I use to gut load is the powder left from the bags of rat food. Question about discoid roaches, Can the be mixed in with Dubias ? have a great day man!

[@majykafilms]

Hey thank you for this ! I am trying to get a proper cricket colony going in my ten gallon from when my gecko was a baby. Is Swiss Chard a good thing to use to gut load them? I have so much of it in my yard that I can keep giving it to them fresh daily for 8+ months a year.

[@Reptiliatus]

It can be in limited quantities! It also contains higher levels of oxalates if I am not mistaken.

[@LuckyCoinFrog]

I have a dubia roach colony that is going strong. I actually dump my kitchen scraps from cooking in there. (avoiding anything my reptiles should not eat) I did however do one thing out of curiosity... I gave them a big chunk of leftover cooked chicken and O M G the bin SHOOK and jumped around like I had let loose a rat in there!! They devoured it like horror movie piranhas. o----o

[@tarantulakat]

wow a beg of crickets

[@snakepoo]

Thanks for the info

[@Reptiliatus]

Np! Thank you for watching!

[@sammansfield21]

Can locusts be gut loaded the same as crickets? My bearded dragon is more interested in locusts then crickets

[@Reptiliatus]

If you lookup greens that can be fed to them I’m sure you’ll find plenty of great options. Locusts can be offered bee pollen though!

[@whoknows6023]

where do you get ur discoids?

[@Reptiliatus]

I got them ages ago. You can get them from Canadian ant colony.

[@Thats_Cam04]

Okayyyyy chef dayyan🤌🏽🧑‍🍳😂

[@Reptiliatus]

Hahaha thank you! 🙏🏼👨🏻‍🍳

[@Stef_T-G]

I'm defenetly bad as feeding the feeder of my jumping Spider 😅 Is this recipe is good for jumping Spider too?😊

[@Reptiliatus]

It’s great for that too!

[@Stef_T-G]

@@Reptiliatus thank you so much!

[@chickenfist1554]

Here's some tips. - Don't feed crickets calcium. It blocks their insides and will kill them within 72 hours. - Low protein food for roaches. They store protein as uric acid which causes gout and other issues in reptiles. - Chick crumb (non medicated) and bran for mealworms and morio/superworms. Raises their protein levels. Then just provide carrot or potato for moisture. - Red and yellow bell peppers are high in carotenoids and lutein which, amongst other things helps bring out the colour of orange, red and yellow animals. Feeding beetroot powder (moistened with water) to crickets makes them turn red and also increases colour of reptiles :D - To save yourself a fortune on reptile specific gut loading products, separate 'death row' insects 24/48 hours before feeding and only offer it to those instead of the whole colony.

[@JoueProductions]

i give my buffalo worms chicken, fruit and veggies, they go mad for meat/chicken etc

[@whitneymosley3421]

Yayyyy!

[@ZhonsWu-rs5bh]

We call the stuff here Gutload. I fed my insect before I fed them to my geckos

[@Reptiliatus]

Yes, exactly :)

[@Serket800]

Honestly I never see the places I buy food from have healthy-looking food. The majority of the time the insects are all dead and yet they're still keeping them on sale.

[@Reptiliatus]

That’s not good! ☹️

[@GeographyManI]

hey man

[@Reptiliatus]

Hi!

[@timwerner2095]

Great video!