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Archives of The Cold Blooded NewsThe Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological SocietyVolume 32, Number 7; July, 2005 |
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Alien Venomous Snake Purportedly Found in Colorado The Mourning Gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris) Calcium-Fortified Cricket Diets Western Hognose Snake Heterodon nasicus Baird & Girard, 1852 Sirens Sand Skinks Elusive Creatures PREVIOUS ISSUES June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 2004 Index 2003 Index 2002 Index Earlier Issues About the Cold Blooded News CHS Home Page |
Calcium-Fortified Cricket DietsReprinted from the Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, Vol.39, No.10, October 2004. M. D. Finke et al. [2004, J. Herpetological Medicine and Surgery 14(2):17-20] note that crickets, Achela domesticus, are commonly fed special diets to alter their nutrient content (especially with regards to calcium) to make them a more complete diet for insectivorous birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Typically calcium-fortified dry diets are used to increase the insects' calcium content. This experiment compared the moisture, ca1cium and phosphorus content of crickets offered a typical dry calcium-fortified gut loading diet and distilled water, with those fed several commercial products (two commercial "calcium-fortified cricket waters" and a calcium-fortified high moisture diet designed to provide both food and water). An unfortified dry diet served as a negative control. Crickets fed the calcium-fortified dry diet contained significantly more calcium than those fed the other treatments. Cricket phosphorus content was not affected by diet. In summary the commercial products tested were ineffective in increasing the calcium content of crickets fed these products. For that reason the use of a calcium-fortified dry diet is recommended for supplementing crickets with sufficient calcium to meet the needs of the insectivorous reptiles and amphibians to which they are fed.Copyright © 1998 - 2006, Colorado Herpetological Society. All rights reserved. | ||
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