dog food?

[Blotch]

you felt fine on the maccas only diet? I started Shaking, getting dizzy and just all round felt bad.

[Helikaon]

hahah yeah i felt fine though we did throw in a few kfc, meals and red rooster, hahah i was living with my brother at the time and we were lazy , and both worked evenings, so we'd wake go get maccas for lunch, then i'd finish work go pick him up and get maccas again. didnt eat breakfast:P did this for a while. other then the fact i think i may have been getting lack of sugar headaches for a while. thats about it.

[Lucifer_Spades]

I tend to think of Blueys as more oppertunistic feeders. Kinda like Bears and Racoons. If they find berries they will eat them and that days meal will be all fruit. If they find a nest of rat babies, that days meal is all fresh live pinkies. If all they find is a dandilion flower, then there's a day of greens.

I have a tendency to think people fuss a bit too much when it comes to a proper bluey diet. I don't think there is one proper diet.


If a bluey lives next to the shores of a lake, do you think he will pass up the protien from a fish that washed up? If he comes across a bowl of dog food I'm sure he will gorge himself.


Basicly there is no proper, wild bluey, diet. They eat what they can find when they can find it.

And while I may not have experience with wild BTS or a lot of first hand experience at all. I do know the hallmarks of oppertunistic eaters and I have dealt with several species of that type.

I think as long as they don't just get one type of food all the time, they will be healthy. So I just make sure to try and change it up. Yes, somedays my blueys have gotten all cat food. Otherdays they have gotten all fruit. Most days they got a little bit of this, a little bit of that. which is how I imagine they truly eat in the wild.

And yes, on occassion Quigs did sneak some dog poop out of the yard.

[kelly_kodiak]

Lucifer_Spades (I don't know most peoples real names as much as most of you do), I completely agree with you. My Bluey will eat one thing until she is sick of it then on to something else. She will take a bite of something else here and there, but that is her pattern.

I do also agree that most cat and dog foods are junk; that's why I mentioned I only use Merrick's b/c of its quality. Of course I'm sure some of you will find fault with it also. One of the main reasons I like it is b/c of the vegetables in it. Azul WILL NOT eat raw or unseasoned cooked vegies. This is the only way so far that I have found she will eat them.

[kelly_kodiak]

Woops, forgot a question I'm seeing all over the site about snails. All I have ever fed is canned snails. I know, probably bad mommy for this . With live snails, how do you feed them? Do you have to pick them out of their shell 1st or does the Bluey know how to do this? I haven't gotten into live feeding except meal worms, Butter Worms (her favorite!!), etc. No pinkies or anything like that.

Some input would be appreciated greatly. Also, I don't remember who the couple of people are, but hopefully they will read read this, were talking about raising snails. Someone was trying to replicate someone elses' way of caging feeding and breeding them. I would love to know about this. The only snails I find in my area (Florida) are the ones in fish tanks. I did research some for breeders and they were over sea's and I was told they were not allowed to ship to the US.

[Tattoo]

Live snails are one of the best choices for your BTS. You should quarantine them for 4-5 days and if they live feed them out. If you buy aquatic from the pet store make sure they are pest free. Just set the snail down in front of your bluey. They know what to do. The more shell they eat the better ... mmmm calcium!

[Fatal_S]

I have a colony of Ramshorn snails. They're a small, aquatic snail, usually black or red with white marks. To many people these snails are a fishtank pest, which is how I got mine. I found people (or pet stores) overrun by snails, and bought them really cheap. They breed like mad (thus being a pest), eat algae and veggies, and live with my sisters Betta. They stay small, maybe as big as a quarter, and will lay eggs on almost anything (rock, deco, plant). The best thing I've found about them is the BTS seem to eat the whole snail every time, crunching it then swallowing it all. This is great for calcium.

Another aquatic snail you could get are Apple/Golden/Mystery snails. These can get much bigger than mine. You can keep them the same way as described above. My BTS eat these too, but I find that A) they're expensive to get! and B) my BTS leave most of the shell.

People I know who are breeding land snails are Lisa (she made the thread about it) and Blotch (using Lisa's information). Oh, and I've used can snails once. They're not bad, but they often have added flavoring and salt. Live is much better.

[kelly_kodiak]

Thanks alot about the advice on snails. I'm going to see if I can find any of the Ramshorn snails as soon as I can. I found also that aquatic snails can get up there in price.

[kelly_kodiak]

By the way Tattoo, what do you mean by feed them out? Are you talking about aquatic or land snails? How do you know if they have parasites or pests?

[Helikaon]

there are 2 types of snails that can contain flukes that i know of, these are right and left sided snails. one is a vector for liver fluke and the other a vector for cyathostomes. they are small dark coloured snails, found in small creeks and rivers and dams.

[Geoff Gates]

I have always regarded blueys as more as carnivores than omnivores.
Scott

Blueys are definitely omnivores, they prefer meat though, but in the wild it is hard to come by or they're just not quick enough to catch it.

So they will scavenge on anything.... even fungus growing on a log. which is a staple of wild blotchies.

...and yeah, i give my blueys dog food ocassionally.

[Leigh]

I think a lot depends on how you keep your Blueys,a lot of people feed the veg and greens as a good(and for some) only way to maintain the cal:p ratio, I also think they would do fine on all the diets that everyone offers,obviously they don't get bored with the same sh*t different day senario(is it the same flavour/brand every time ) Richard's live out doors,and I bet they get other things to eat,like unsuspecting bugs that enter the enclosures,mushrooms or fungi that grow there, and I bet there's some kind of plant life(grass,weeds) in there they could nibble on,the full sun light must play apart as well,otherwise he wouldnt suppliment the ones indoors.
I'm sure Zach would agree, that when this site started they were all newbies to the bluey cause, and there weren't any Aussies here to say any different, the diet originated from a Beardie diet sheet,which is close but nowhere near completely accurate for Blueys,they both have different tastes and whats good for one aint for the other.In the few years I've been here things have changed a bit (input wise) with people chipping in on a global scale, the way I see it is, if your clever, you'll take in all the advice offered, and make an educated assumption on whats best for you and your little buddy(s) mines a barsteward for eating greens so I get him his needs other ways,the old saying goes "Its horses for courses" ,who REALLY knows whats best,unless your Dr DOLLITLE and can talk to the animals you like me, are guessing,and doing what you thinks best at the time.....

[Leigh]

OH, I forgot to say,THIS SITE IS STILL THE BEST SOURCE FOR BLUE TONGUE INFORMATION, ANYWHERE


TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTE..............

[Kymbadina]

I just find it amazing how no one has tried telling Richard he's not feeding his Blueys properly. if it was anyone else opinions would be flying at him left right and center.

As you may know - I'm all for this type of diet - They'd get no less from Dog food than they'd get from their wild diet.

to each they're own I suppose. I'm in no place to tell someone how to run theyre diets. I give Chomper dog food about 3 times a week..I can't help it..He just looks so happy when he gets it!
But before anyone hounds me..He also gets dark greens and carrots and veggies and whatnot.. I'm just afraid to give too much mush after that poor little baby skinker Quille? I think that's her name...you all know her. The little baby that Lucifer Spades has rescued..I dont want anything near that to happen to Chomper.

[Lucifer_Spades]

Quinn has her problems, not because she was fed the "wrong" things once or twice, but because she was fed nothing but baby food and table scraps for a large portion of her life.

A bite of dog food or baby food, or table scraps now and then will not cause the damage that has been done to Quinn.

[Kymbadina]

OH, I forgot to say,THIS SITE IS STILL THE BEST SOURCE FOR BLUE TONGUE INFORMATION, ANYWHERE


TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTE..............

I agree. Petsmart gives out "care guides" on how to take care of all the reptiles we sell..BTS being one. I took them all and wrote this website on the inside(So the managers wont notice..Pretty sure our lovely manager would have something to complain about that not being "policies and procedures"PSH whatev