# Tropical fish flakes for gutloading



## Bradley (Aug 26, 2009)

A few people have told me they use fish flakes as part of their gutloading schedule, mainly due to the colour enhancement. I have personally never used them and prefer to give fresh veg and repashy to my feeders but it has got me thinking. With me keeping chameleons and day geckos anything that will help their colours stand out more is a plus.

Does anyone use them? Are they any good?


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## ConnorTrussell (Apr 5, 2012)

Bradley said:


> A few people have told me they use fish flakes as part of their gutloading schedule, mainly due to the colour enhancement. I have personally never used them and prefer to give fresh veg and repashy to my feeders but it has got me thinking. With me keeping chameleons and day geckos anything that will help their colours stand out more is a plus.
> 
> Does anyone use them? Are they any good?


I use fish flakes

If you're gonna do it make sure it's high quality

When looking to enchance colours I personally use the stuff from repashy that's called superpig, with fish flakes and weetabix, a tiny drizzle of honey and a tiny sprinkle of this: T-Rex Sandfire Fire Belly Toad Dust - Vitamin supplement

That stuff also claims to be a pigment enchancer


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

Any red/green/yellow/blue veggies and fruits, do come with natural colour enhancing pigments and vitamins that DO improve the colours of your reptiles/amphibians.


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## lewkini (May 12, 2009)

Dragon Farm said:


> Any red/green/yellow/blue veggies and fruits, do come with natural colour enhancing pigments and vitamins that DO improve the colours of your reptiles/amphibians.


As in peppers? or am i being thick?:whistling2:

Lewi


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

Yes red peppers !!

A true story. When I was a child my mother took me to the doctors because my hands and feet had turned orange. It turned out I was eating too many carrots and oranges. The carotein had literally made me change colour. It works with reps and amphibians too. Its been scientifically proven that veggies/ fruit will make a otherwise washed out looking animal into a colorul creature. 

See here 

http://www.eaza.net/activities/Documents/NutritionDocs/ZA_NutritionIssue5.pdf

Find the pictures of the red eye tree frogs and see the difference the diet makes to the colour of the frogs. (see article starting page 6)


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## Pyrite (Oct 13, 2012)

Dragon Farm said:


> Yes red peppers !!
> 
> A true story. When I was a child my mother took me to the doctors because my hands and feet had turned orange. It turned out I was eating too many carrots and oranges. The carotein had literally made me change colour. It works with reps and amphibians too. Its been scientifically proven that veggies/ fruit will make a otherwise washed out looking animal into a colorul creature.
> 
> ...


I second this as it also happened to my bearded dragon. He loved to eat carrots and jumped at them like crazy so obviously I spoiled him. A few weeks later he started to turn orange!


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

hi Mate,

yes it was common to use tropical flakes for years mixed with cereal based foods.

In recent times however we are starting realise some of the limitations of doing so. We don't really know what they put in these foods. Most of it is chicken or marine fish based and as such could pose a risk.

The colour enhancing foods are not tested long term of reptiles and there are many other chemical additives added to these foods.

I just do not feel comfortable to use this method any longer.

I actually met a flake producer at Interzoo, the worlds pet trade fair in Germany. This guy openly told me that the flakes were made from chicken feathers and colorants?????

variety is key to gut loading! use the brightly coloured veg, peppers are cool as are carrots. There are many veg items that can be used safely. Then it is up to your care techniques and technology to bring the best out of the animal

most highly coloured animals are fully energised in terms of heat and light and must be very well hydrated.

effective and regular hydration is vastly more important than we realised.

john,


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

I.feed alot of my feeders carrots n oranges, ti bring out the reds and oranges in my fire-bellied toads/newts.. 

Tiger

Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

How about Carophyll Red and Yellow ?


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## jarich (Mar 23, 2012)

Fish flakes are not a good gut loader, no. As well as the things John mentioned, take a look at the Ca ratio of them. Gut loading is meant to be an enhancement of certain deficiencies in the feeder insect, calcium being the major one. Fish flakes actually make the insect less nutritious as regards calcium. 

Everybody always thinks of the bright coloured vegetables in regards to carotenoids, but the dark leafy ones also have lots too, sometimes more. There are as much carotenoids in mustard greens as in red peppers, for example, and you get the added benefit of a fantastic Ca ratio with mustard greens. Carrot and sweet potato seem to be the best source of carotenoids, and both are also decent regarding their calcium content. Sweet potatoes are quite high in oxalates though, so again as said above, variety is important. 

Since you already feed Repashy for other things, if you really want the colour enhancing quality without the effort then you could go with the Repashy superpig. That is a food specifically designed with reptiles nutritional health in mind, and also gives the added colour enhancing qualities. 

With gut loading, its a good frame of reference to always think about what you would feed your reptile directly. Would you feed your reptile fish flakes? Im guessing the answer is no. Generally speaking, any food designed for other animals (dogs, cats, fish, etc) is not good gut load for reptiles.


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