[Tiliqua]

Unfortunately 99% of forum talk is not based on real experience but hearsay or guesswork.

I feed dog food as a staple to my blue tongues. I vary flavours/brands, and the amount of dog food that I put into my skink mix. I also use lean steak mince or turkey mince instead of dog food for some feeds. Or sometimes I use Repashy meat pie or grub pie as the 'meat' component. But dog food is the commonest type of 'meat'. Grain content or other finer points are not anything to worry about.

I add raw beaten egg, peas, chopped salad greens, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, banana, shredded apple, grated carrot, tomato, cucumber, dandelions, any fruit or vegetable although tending to avoid brassicas. Canned varieties that I use include Pedigree Chum loaf, Cesar beef and liver, Butchers tripe mix. For one skink, you may find the new Repashy blue tongue diet is the easiest/best way. I've not tried it yet myself. I like to use good quality vitamin and mineral supplements such as Nekton Rep, Nutrobal, Repashy calcium plus.

 

[Tiliqua]

Hi, I am a successful small scale breeder of blue tongue skinks. I'm a Recommended Breeder (only one in the UK) on the bluetongueskinks.org website. Produced 49 healthy babies this year. There is plenty of evidence that dog food is a good quality food item for blue tongue skinks and that is why I use it a staple with my animals.

 

[Tiliqua]

Hi, with respect, that means little.

As a breeder, you will surely know that one can get away with all manner of poor husbandry choices and still have animals which go on to reproduce.

If there is plenty of evidence that "dog food is a good quality food item for blue tongue skinks" (how one could possibly determine the validity of a statement so broad I dont know), I am certain everybody reading this would be thrilled to see that.

As for your stating you use it as a staple based on that 'evidence', well I will refrain from commenting on that in lieu of the aforementioned.

@ExoAnimalBre Thanks for that mate, I read it, inspired as always.

Well its clear that you've made up your mind on the issue. In fact you know you are just so right that you feel that it is ok to talk down to people. Blue tongues are not easy to breed and you cannot make poor husbandry choices and breed them what ever you do.

The thrilling evidence is that many of the world's top breeders use dog food for their skinks. Not just breeders, but regular keepers too. I have raised animals on it, virtually never had any health issues, and my oldest animal is approx. 30 years old.

Can I ask what your personal experience is of working with blue tongue skinks?

 

[Tiliqua]

I dont see how my mind is anymore made up than yours, frankly.

You feel you cannot make bad husbandry choices and get away with it, but that is exactly what you have been doing by cutting the corners you are.

I did not intend to "talk down" to you, you may note I elected up to now, not to point out the fact that one could simply PM and request to be the lofty 'second of two, recommended breeders in the UK' on that forum...

The fact that breeders and keepers have and still do make lazy and unhealthy choices in caring for their reptiles is neither thrilling nor evidence, for the record.

People that do this, do it to save money and time, this is proven outright by the very fact there is literally no evidence to support the practice other than "mine is still alive mate" and yet people insist on still doing it. Meanwhile there are myriad reasons why the practice is ill advised even for the animals the products are designed for.

You can ask what my experience is in caring for Blue Tongues, certainly, and no matter what it was I could either fabricate or vastly overstate it and you would have no means of knowing that, which is part of why you saying "Im a top, and highly reccomended breeder" and then going on to make no point or contribution whatsoever, is no shock to anybody reading this thread.

So that's no experience then?

The point is that I have made up my mind based on my experience and that of the many other keepers and breeders that I know, plus very extensive reading and research. Your argument seems to be that having successful and problem free animals that breed freely and live long healthy lives is no evidence?

I'm not going to continue with this. Sorry for having a view that differs from yours.

 

[Tiliqua]

You can presume all you want, if I have struck you thus far as somebody who doesn't know what they are talking about I think that says it all really.

The point is, you have made up your mind based on nothing other than your animals appear outwardly fine and go on to breed, as has been explained to you twice now, this is not indicative of the things you think it is.

Like I said earlier, we would love to see the fruits of that extensive reading and research supporting your statement that "dog food is an excellent food item for blue tongue skinks".

Also explained, but this much you already knew, is that those individuals who promote this archaic practice seek to save time and money and if they can get away with doing so, they will. Ignorance is bliss.

You are not continuing with this because you dont have a point to make it appears, you read the thread and because you still feed dog food despite all modern care standards and logic, you felt offended, I understand that.

Having a different view is no problem whatsoever, no apology needed, thats what forums are for. I wont apologize for explaining why I disagree however, and if that offends you it might be time to address other things.

Well I'm afraid that I have presumed that you have little real experience. What that means is, there is a danger that you are simply repeating what you have heard elsewhere. I am not offended, just disappointed - I thought this forum was about like minded individuals sharing experiences and ideas, not scoring points. The fact that you state that my apparent success does not mean what I think it means, I find a little strange, and kind of dodges the evidence.

Feeding dog food does not save time or money. I'll illustrate. I have just fed my blue tongues. I have a few so I make up a big cake mixing bowl of what I call skink mix, and what the Germans call 'skink pudding'.

To make this I chopped several types of salad leaves, tomatoes, grapes, bananas. Today this was 3/4 of the meal. To this I added one tin of Pedigree Chum lamb loaf, finely chopped and two lightly scrambled eggs. All mixed up and then added about a teaspoon of Repashy Calcium plus. This is a typical skink mix. Next week I will probably use turkey mince or lean steak mince instead of dog food. I will maybe use dandelion instead of salad and peas and beans instead of fruit. I may use raw beaten egg instead of scrambled. It varies a huge amount. But, dog food has a contribution to make to a healthy balanced diet. It is no quicker and makes no difference to the cost, or at least that is not a factor for me.

Try reading this book, known as the bluey bible: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Tongued-Skinks-Contributions-Knowledge-Cyclodomorphus/dp/3931587347

Or possibly the dietary advice given here, widely recognised as the gold standard advice:
http://bluetongueskinks.net/foodchart.html

Or possibly one of my articles on reptile husbandry:

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/rhinoclemmys.html

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