Repashy Savory Stew?

[typherp]

Can you explain to me what the cost of convenience is, as I have produced/will produce (some eggs have not hatched yet) more than 200 tegu babies this year on mostly prepared diet and I haven't seen any negative cost.

So you are equating convenience to bad habit? How do you KNOW that what you feeding your tegu is better than Allen's Diet?

 

[frost]

i wonder if tegus have been around long enough and have been studied long enough for someone to pinpoint a certain diet that is the best or at least a guideline for a good one.haha for all we know they could be best fed on all fruit diet or mostly fruit with a meat filler.this post shouldn't be taken seriously btw.

 

[Thelegendofcharlie]

First of all all I have nothing else to say on the subject of Mr. Repashys diet blend.
Im inclined to agree I focused to much unwarrented attention on his particular product while trying to make a point regarding the practice as a whole.
Secondly, "can I explain the cost of convenience?"
Yes and no.
I cannot and will not begin to explain this in its entirety, but will give an example:
Some times it convenient to eat Mc Donalds.
Giving into the convenience of this often enough will eventually lead do your death.
And no not equating convenience with bad habit, i mean this in the sense of sacrifices of healthier dietary options. This should be obvious from the posts.im not trying to be agrumentatve with you.
Frankly Im sick of this thread and regret contributing to it.
But dont accuse me of bashing society because I advocate healthy eating.
Thats alittle far fetched dont you think?

 

[typherp]

Good point... We all have our own diet that we follow and if it works and the tegu is healthy, long term, it's a good diet...in my opinion. My diet might not work for everyone and Allen's diet might not work for everyone as well, but attacking everyone who feeds prepared diet without any concrete proof should not go unchallenged.

 

[laurarfl]

I don't see it as bashing society at all. Of course we all want convenience, but as pet owners we also want to be assured that we are feeding quality food to our pets. Earlier in this conversation it was mentioned that no one is duplicating a wild diet in captivity and we are all looking for a good substitute. Dirt packed fruit...all those natural vitamins, unoxidized phytonutrients, minerals and probiotics from the soil? Heck yeah I would feed that to my tegus if I had a natural source of it in my backyard! But since I can't, I do rely on Repashy products, some Mazuri, some others to supplement along the way.

When it comes to choosing, I am particular. No, I am not going to build my own car. But I have a brand of car that I prefer and for very concrete reasons. Then there are brands that I won't buy for very valid reasons. I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way.

To demand quality is not idealistic, it is practical. I saw a reptile pet food ingredient list today. Here it is: POULTRY BY-PRODUCT MEAL, GROUND SOYBEAN HULLS, GROUND WHEAT, DRIED BEET PULP, GROUND BROWN RICE, DEHULLED SOYBEAN MEAL, DRIED EGG PRODUCT, GROUND ASPEN. Sure it is convenient, but yuck! Is this better than trying to put together our own diets or a wild diet? This does not instill confidence in me as a reptile owner. Obviously Allen puts more into his ingredients than that list. Would I put together my own dog food from the grocery store over some commercial dog foods? You bet! There is some real crap out there. I wouldn't feed my kids hot dogs all day because they are cheap and microwaveable either.

Thanks for answering about cost effectiveness. A large wholesale order may be the way for me to go.

Laura

---

On the thought of breeding and diet...some have bred tegus on diets of leftovers, some on ground turkey and liver.

Personally, I think the measure of success in a diet is longevity of a species and absence of chronic disease. Using people as an example...we have reached a point where overly processed foods have caught up to Americans and shortened our life span. We have more osteoporosis (likely from the consumption of phosphoric acid in sodas throwing off our calcium balance), extreme diabetes from simple carbs, high rates of cancer. Some really unhealthy people can reproduce, but not all can live long, productive lives.

I wish you would't feel that your participation in this thread was regrettable, Charlie. I have found it to be thought-provoking. Good discussion does much to further our hobby and tegu husbandry. I'm glad that you brought up the points you did.

 

[Thelegendofcharlie]

Good point... We all have our own diet that we follow and if it works and the tegu is healthy, long term, it's a good diet...in my opinion. My diet might not work for everyone and Allen's diet might not work for everyone as well, but attacking everyone who feeds prepared diet without any concrete proof should not go unchallenged.

I would like to make it clear a review of my post will show I never attacked anyone, and nor did I say anything that has not been substantiated by the scientific community.
It is not my nature to attack people or spread uncorroborated rumor.
With that being said, I agree that there is not any one and only way to feed a Tegu. I think most diets and practices can be healthy as long as they are varied. Variety is the key. Tegus are very opportunistic feeders this much is clear. This does not mean they can sustain themselves and flourish on anything as some people are want to think. But this does mean that they intrinsically designed to maximize nutritional metabolization from their intake. So again a varied diet is instrumental. I would say there is no right way (though there is certainly a few wrong ways - this much is sure)
Overall I think more care should be taken by owners to provide a more natural (and I mean natural in the sense as that which has been shown by scientific interrogation) diet, and not feed a Tegu like they are a Monitor. Like so many seem to do.

---

Sorry for those that feel offense to anything Ive said, but I encourage everyone to do a little more investigation into nutrition for themselves and for their scaly friends.
Reptile nutrition is often poorly understood and this is not fair to our captive friends.
If you make the decision to "keep" any animal then you owe that animal the best care you can reasonably provide or you are doing that animal an injustice.
This is something I feel strongly about and I AM sorry if anyone feels my words were too harsh.
But this is an important issue in the hobby and I do implore everyone to devote some more time and research into these matters for the benefit of your animals. (and yourself)

---

I don't see it as bashing society at all. Of course we all want convenience, but as pet owners we also want to be assured that we are feeding quality food to our pets. Earlier in this conversation it was mentioned that no one is duplicating a wild diet in captivity and we are all looking for a good substitute. Dirt packed fruit...all those natural vitamins, unoxidized phytonutrients, minerals and probiotics from the soil? Heck yeah I would feed that to my tegus if I had a natural source of it in my backyard! But since I can't, I do rely on Repashy products, some Mazuri, some others to supplement along the way.

When it comes to choosing, I am particular. No, I am not going to build my own car. But I have a brand of car that I prefer and for very concrete reasons. Then there are brands that I won't buy for very valid reasons. I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way.

To demand quality is not idealistic, it is practical. I saw a reptile pet food ingredient list today. Here it is: POULTRY BY-PRODUCT MEAL, GROUND SOYBEAN HULLS, GROUND WHEAT, DRIED BEET PULP, GROUND BROWN RICE, DEHULLED SOYBEAN MEAL, DRIED EGG PRODUCT, GROUND ASPEN. Sure it is convenient, but yuck! Is this better than trying to put together our own diets or a wild diet? This does not instill confidence in me as a reptile owner. Obviously Allen puts more into his ingredients than that list. Would I put together my own dog food from the grocery store over some commercial dog foods? You bet! There is some real crap out there. I wouldn't feed my kids hot dogs all day because they are cheap and microwaveable either.

Thanks for answering about cost effectiveness. A large wholesale order may be the way for me to go.

Laura

---

On the thought of breeding and diet...some have bred tegus on diets of leftovers, some on ground turkey and liver.

Personally, I think the measure of success in a diet is longevity of a species and absence of chronic disease. Using people as an example...we have reached a point where overly processed foods have caught up to Americans and shortened our life span. We have more osteoporosis (likely from the consumption of phosphoric acid in sodas throwing off our calcium balance), extreme diabetes from simple carbs, high rates of cancer. Some really unhealthy people can reproduce, but not all can live long, productive lives.

I wish you would't feel that your participation in this thread was regrettable, Charlie. I have found it to be thought-provoking. Good discussion does much to further our hobby and tegu husbandry. I'm glad that you brought up the points you did.

---

Thank you Laura,
I think you brought some good points (and proofs) to the table as well.

 

[Dubya]

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

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

Do you think that it's better than Rapasy's Savory Stew? At least we know what it's made from. If he develops a taste for this, will he become cage aggressive and bite my hands? See pic.

 

[laurarfl]

Now, Dubya, you know that you aren't supposed to feed "people food" to pets. Did you order it from thinkgeek? They have some of the strangest and coolest products!

 

[Dubya]

Now, Dubya, you know that you aren't supposed to feed "people food" to pets. Did you order it from thinkgeek? They have some of the strangest and coolest products!

Well...yes. But when the tegu grows up, will the dog be mad when I give the occasional hot dog end to the tegu? Sorry, you are right, no human food. (except from the legendary "Forest Pork Store").