Repashy Savory Stew?

[Teguzilla]

I was on Underground Reptiles' website and I saw that when you order a baby tegu, you get a sample of Repashy's Savory Stew which is a meal replacement gel for omnivorous reptiles. Says it's great for beardies, skinks, turtles, tegus, etc. Has anyone ever fed their gu this? I'm thinking about buying some as a backup for when I can't get mice and other meat.

 

[monstruo-the-tegu]

i haven't tried it but it sounds kinda awesome now all we need is reptile ice cream

 

[Thelegendofcharlie]

I was on Underground Reptiles' website and I saw that when you order a baby tegu, you get a sample of Repashy's Savory Stew which is a meal replacement gel for omnivorous reptiles. Says it's great for beardies, skinks, turtles, tegus, etc. Has anyone ever fed their gu this? I'm thinking about buying some as a backup for when I can't get mice and other meat.

That is not an appropriate food product for Tegus or any other animal.
If you feel their may be a time when you "cant get mice and other meat" then you need to rethink ownership of a Tegu. But Repashys stew, tegu bites, and dehydrated anything* is not an acceptable food product.
In fact its technically not food.

 

[Teguzilla]

I was on Underground Reptiles' website and I saw that when you order a baby tegu, you get a sample of Repashy's Savory Stew which is a meal replacement gel for omnivorous reptiles. Says it's great for beardies, skinks, turtles, tegus, etc. Has anyone ever fed their gu this? I'm thinking about buying some as a backup for when I can't get mice and other meat.

That is not an appropriate food product for Tegus or any other animal.
If you feel their may be a time when you "cant get mice and other meat" then you need to rethink ownership of a Tegu. But Repashys stew, tegu bites, and dehydrated anything* is not an acceptable food product.

I wasn't going to use it as a general replacement. I was just going to use it for emergencies for when I really can't get access to mice. I'm just trying to make sure I'm prepared in the case of a problem. I do have a job and a life so I'm just going to buy some for days when I'm not able to come straight home from work.

 

[Murkve]

That is not an appropriate food product for Tegus or any other animal.
If you feel their may be a time when you "cant get mice and other meat" then you need to rethink ownership of a Tegu. But Repashys stew, tegu bites, and dehydrated anything* is not an acceptable food product.
In fact its technically not food.

Care to explain? For captive members of the Rhacodactylus Geckos, Repashy's mixes are the staple for many keepers. These animals do very well on this diet, proved time and time again by the thousands of people who keep and breed these animals at the highest level.

I understand that Cresties and large carnivorous lizards are very different creatures, but I'm wondering why a food item engineered - by a very respected member of the community, no less - to fulfill most (if not all) of their dietary needs is unsuitable?

 

[Dubya]

What about "Kramden's Delicious Mystery Appetizer"? Look it up.

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I was on Underground Reptiles' website and I saw that when you order a baby tegu, you get a sample of Repashy's Savory Stew which is a meal replacement gel for omnivorous reptiles. Says it's great for beardies, skinks, turtles, tegus, etc. Has anyone ever fed their gu this? I'm thinking about buying some as a backup for when I can't get mice and other meat.

What about a can of tuna packed in water? For emergency food, how bad can it be? At 3am with lemon juice it has helped me make it through till sunday morning. Seriously, tuna in water is not bad stuff. I give it to my cats when I forget to buy cat food. They worship me like a god when I do that.

 

[Thelegendofcharlie]

That is not an appropriate food product for Tegus or any other animal.
If you feel their may be a time when you "cant get mice and other meat" then you need to rethink ownership of a Tegu. But Repashys stew, tegu bites, and dehydrated anything* is not an acceptable food product.
In fact its technically not food.

Care to explain? For captive members of the Rhacodactylus Geckos, Repashy's mixes are the staple for many keepers. These animals do very well on this diet, proved time and time again by the thousands of people who keep and breed these animals at the highest level.

I understand that Cresties and large carnivorous lizards are very different creatures, but I'm wondering why a food item engineered - by a very respected member of the community, no less - to fulfill most (if not all) of their dietary needs is unsuitable?

I perhaps should offered more of an explanation on my previous post, its just not really my desire to explain the fundamentals of nutrition on this site as it tends to spark denial and debate. Nonetheless, since you asked I will elaborate a bit.
As you stated it is an engineered food item.
Therein lies the problem. As with all prepackaged food, the nutrition value is kinetic, and not an accurate description of what can be expected to be transferred and/or metabolized by the consumer.
Take a look at the process(ing)
*All or most of the food products are more than likely irradiated.
Irradiation breaks down molecules, enzymes and vitamins. It can actually destroy up to 80% some vitamins. It also introduces free radicals and will actually convert certain components of said food into carcinogenic toxins such as benzene and formaldehyde of the top of my head. this process is called unique radiolytic products or URPs.
*so next we pasteurize our stew bits
This of course kills nasty bacteria... and many healthy components.
Most water soluble vitamins are destroyed in temperatures exceeding 75F.
Other vitamins break down at temperatures that would undoubtedly surprise you. It varies case by case so I will not list every vitamin but pasteurization causes 30-100% nutrient loss (again depending on the particular nutrient) and destroys most enzymes.
*now we dehydrate our pathogen and (almost) nutrient free stew items
Im am not aware of any professional or academic studies on the subject of dehydration, so I wont comment much here - but research indicate there is some vitamin loss that occurs during this process as well, albeit not as extensive as these other processes.
So now we have stew! But somethings missing..
Water! so we throw some water in that stuff and do one of two things:
*Microwave - Im not even touching this one... Or
*Boil - The effects of boiling are similar to that of pasteurization with the exception of pasteurization being a timed and minimized process. Boiling food is bad enough, but increased as most people tend to exceed the necessary time when employing this cooking technique. Nutrient loss is again in the 30-100% range. (of whats left)
And at last we have repashy savory stew!
Who wants some? hopefully not your Tegus and Crested Geckos!
Although they will happily eat this by the time this hits their scaley little gullets this stuff is practically devoid of nutrition.
And at this point is debatable as whether it is actually considered food, since food by definition contains nutrients and sustains life.
I.e. many things can be eaten but that doesnt make it food, and not every "food" sustains life.
Being a respected member of the reptile community has nothing to to with anything. Kraft, Dole, DuPont, Nestle,JBS, and Sysco are all well known leaders in the food industry for HUMANS, and they bring most people closer or to their maker every day.
As I said earlier this subject begs for controversy and debate.
Its alot easier for people to argue or deny the food they eat (or feed their reptiles) has ceased to be food. (by definition)
If anyone disagrees with any of the above information;
1. I expect as much
2. I could care less
I will not be expanding or defending any of the content but I will say they all come from professional and academic sources and not from a blog or book by Kevin Tredeau
Anyway sorry for a mega-post but it is a complex answer that couldnt said in a few sentences.
So ends my discourse.
I think Im going to make some stew now.

 

[Diablo]

Well put.

Sent from my DROID RAZR

 

[james.w]

LegendofCharlie, I'm not disputing what you are saying, but do you know why there is so much success with the Repashy Crested Gecko Diet if what you say is true?

 

[Dana C]

Legend of Charlie,
Perhaps if you could post a bibliography of your sources and papers detailing what you have said, I and others would be more willing to accept what you say.

 

[laurarfl]

Mazuri marketed a carnivorous diet gel years ago...wonder how this compares.

A lot of what legendofcharlie is saying is common knowledge taught in nutrition. Of course heating denatures proteins and breaks down precursors to vitamins and enzymes. But the body usually has resources to recreate those. Eventually, it wears on the body giving rise to certain ailments that we attribute to aging. Any upper level college biochemisrty text will attest to that information. I had to lol about Kevin Tredeau

The Repashy gecko diet is so successful because he uses natural plant products as a substitute for flower nectar and pollen that would normally be consumed. As an alternative to baby food, it is awesome. It really is a good product for a captive animal that does not have a wild habitat set up.

As for the gel, it is mostly marine invert meal based. Other ingredients look to come from his Gecko diet. Is it good? Sure. Is it as good as a whole prey diet? How can you argue that point? It may be cheaper and may be convenient, but it is not as good as a natural whole food diet.

 

[PocketFullOfTegus]

Im a biology major and I see no fault with what was said by legendofcharlie
sometimes the truth hurts.

 

[Thelegendofcharlie]

As stated before im not elaborating on the content.
Far be from me to scour the annals of my textbooks and the internet because anyone doubts the authenticity of what I wrote.
If youre that curious, Im sure everyone is google competent.
As laurafl stated the majority of what I posted is nutrition and biochemistry 101.
As far as the success of the repashy diet in geckos - thats laughable. Many people in developing nations live off of rice, dirt, and rancid scraps.
Does that make it succesful?
I didnt want to post the information originally because I didnt want to get sucked into a debate.
Feel free to disprove and negate my information amongst yourselves but I will not be joining in.
I dont have anything else to say on the subject.

 

[Teguzilla]

I didn't make this topic to start a debate or controversy. I was just asking a question I didn't know the answer to. As I said before and I'm going to say again, I was not in no way going to use the gel as a replacement for protein. I was just asking was it ok to use when I run out of mice or in the event I am unable to obtain some. This is exactly why I stay away from all herp forums. Not trying to sound rude or angry though.

 

[Murkve]

I'm conflicted, because on one hand I can see the science behind what Charlie is saying; but on the other hand I do not believe that this is reason to throw out all attempts at an engineered diet.

Look at what it did for other aspects of the pet industry. Dogs, Cats, etc. are now much more accessible and affordable to everyone, mainly because of ease of access to a decently nutritious food. Now, I fully recognize that some pet foods are absolute crap, wih detrimental long term health effects. This is why I feed my Cats a high protein, organic dry food with no grain fillers. Would feeding my cats raw whole prey be more beneficial and natural? Yes. Is it feasible and worth the gains made? No. Not for me.

So I'm a bit torn. If a suitable engineered diet were to make its way onto the scene for Tegus, it may make these amazing lizards more accessible, and more integrated and accepted into society. This might be a bad thing though, considering how much Cats and Dogs suffer.

If a proven diet were on the market for Tegus though, would I use it over raw food and whole prey? No, I would not.

 

[laurarfl]

I agree. I also feed my cat a high end grain free diet. My ferrets get a raw, whole food, cold processed diet. Many chronic illnesses in companion pets are the results of poor quality diet. But I wouldn't put Repashy in the same category as Friskies...he's done a lot of research himself.

 

[laurarfl]

Do you know they have that as a product? lol!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e9aa/

 

[Thelegendofcharlie]

Soylent Green slogan = "Made by people, for people"

 

[Thelegendofcharlie]

I just remembered (the movie) Soylent Green was (loosely) based of a novel by science fiction author Harry Harrison.
Harry Harrison wrote a really awesome trilogy called West of Eden (trilogy)
Has anyone read it?
Its a must for all Sci-fi fans and doubly so for lizard lovers.
heres a no spoiler synopsis from wiki:

Overview
In the alternative history, Earth was not struck by an asteroid 65 million years before the present. Consequently, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event which wiped out the dinosaurs and other reptiles never happened, leaving the way clear for an intelligent species to eventually evolve from the mosasaur, a species of reptile related to the modern monitor lizards. This relationship would mean that the intelligent species are not dinosaurs but lizard-people.

The lizard-people are known as the Yilané, and are the dominant life form on most of the planet. However, during the evolutionary process, the species became non-viable on the two American continents, leaving them free of Yilané for millions of years and opening an ecological niche for a top predator. A human-like species, the Tanu, evolved to fill the niche in North America, but are only found on that continent. By the time the novel begins, the humanoids have reached a late stone age level of technology and culture, with a number of societies having developed farming skills.

The Yilané, having had millions of years of civilization, have a very advanced society primarily based on a mastery of the biological sciences, especially genetic engineering, so much so that almost every tool and artifact they use is a modified lifeform. Their boats were originally squids, their submarines are enhanced ichthyosaurs (here called uruketos), and their guns are evolved monitor lizards which eject projectiles using pressurised gas.

The Yilané are a matriarchal society. The females control all political, military, and scientific aspects of the culture and keep the males segregated. Males are primarily poets and artisans, and enjoy dull, pampered lifestyles. Repeated matings will kill males, so they are generally very wary of the females. The Yilané language is incredibly complex, based on sounds, colour (The Yilané are able to alter the skin colour on parts of their body, notably the hands, akin to Chameleons) and body movements, and a key factor in social status among females is how well the language is mastered.
Plot

The story revolves around the eventual discovery of the American continents by the Yilané, who are searching for new resources and territories for colonization. Being reptiloid and cold-blooded, they target tropical and sub-tropical zones.

Eventually, of course, they encounter the humanoids, whom they regard as barely sentient animals. Humans, in their turn, are xenophobically terrified of the Yilané. It is not long before a state of conflict exists between the two species.