Making your own gutload

[archeryreptiles]

I thought I'd share this info I have acquired about making insect, preferably cricket, gutload. I am thinking about making some for my own crickets and see how it works. The info I have here is what I am going to pick and choose from to make some of my own.

Feel free to comment if you like.

STANDARD BLEND
5 parts Layena unmedicated chick mash (feed store)
2 parts honey nut toasted oats (grocery store)
1 part mixed baby cereal (grocery store)
1 part calcium fortified corn flakes (grocery store)
1 part tropical fish flake containing spirulina (pet store)

DELUXE BLEND
3.5 parts leaf-eater biscuit pellets (zoo feed – special order feed store or farmers co-op)
2 parts Layena unmedicated chick mash (feed store)
2 parts honey nut toasted oats (grocery store)
1 part mixed baby cereal (grocery store)
0.75 part calcium fortified corn flakes (grocery store)
0.75 part tropical fish flake containing spirulina (pet store)
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baby food
Cheerios
Dried bananas
Dried beans
alfalfa cubes
Alpo dry dog food
put it in a coffee grinder

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Dry mix
1 large box dry milk (8 quart size)
1 box rice baby cereal
8 oz. raw unsalted sunflower seeds
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup of chaff from loose alfalfa or 3/4 cup alfalfa powder
1 1/2 cup fresh bee pollen
1/4 cup powdered spirulina or Klamath Lake algae http://www.algae-world.com
1/2 cup crushed fine quality monkey chow (not Purina)
1/4 cup dried sea kelp
*1/4 cup dried egg yolk (or add freshly cooked egg yolk to wet mix (see right)
1/2 cup mixed unsalted nuts
1/4 cup coconut
1/16 cup brewer;s yeast
1/8 cup dried dandelion flowers (optional)
The above should be pulverized using a food processor, blender, or coffee grinder. The texture should resemble a "chunky" powder.

 

[acpart]

The only thing to watch out for I think is that you don't use too many oily products. I was making my own gutload a few years ago. I'd go to the food coop and get all sorts of interesting nuts, seeds and grains and powder them. At the time I was ordering mealworms. They would start out OK, but after a week or so they'd start dying. At first I thought I wasn't getting good quality mealworms, or that it was too hot, but when I stopped using my gutload the dying stopped as well. I think the relatively high amount of oily nuts and seeds was literally stopping up the mealworms, based on how the gutload was sticking to them. If you're thinking of selling your new stuff, try it out for a few months first.

Aliza

 

[archeryreptiles]

Aliza,
Great points. The oil of the product could do a lot of damage as you have unfortunately seen. I wasn't planning on marketing the gutload I was going to make, but if I ever did, I would have to put it through a long strenuous time tested study. It's one thing for my animals to start dying off, but when I think of something I did to kill someone's animals, that just freaks me out.