Mega Roach Gut Load

Product Details

Our Dubia roach gut load helps deliver a densely packed, nutrient rich meal to your animals. It contains vitamins, minerals, and other micro, macro, and phyto-nutrients – many of which insectivores often lack in captivity but need for good health (external link).

We call it Mega Roach Gut Load, which is a bit of a funny name, but we went with it in the beginning and it stuck.

We formulated Mega Roach Gutload with two main goals in mind: First, to provide extra servings of the nutrients so often deficient among captive insectivores. And second, to resemble the insect’s natural diet as closely as practical so the insects in turn resemble the insectivore’s diet as closely as possible.

Our in-house Dubia roach chow serves as the base for Mega Roach Gut Load. It’s a thoroughly researched and tested roach chow that we use for our own Dubia roach production. From there, we add ingredients with vitamins, minerals, and other substances insectivores need for good health. We pay particular attention to the “nutrients of concern” for captive insectivores, using whole foods whenever possible.

For example, instead of calcium powder, Mega Roach Gut Load has calcium from chia seeds and alfalfa. Rather than just beta carotene, it contains other carotenoids from dried carrots and kale. Rather than just vitamin E, it has gamma-tocopherol from walnuts and alpha-tocopherol from almonds. You get the idea. We prefer nutrients in their natural form. The result is a Dubia roach gut load with a range of nutrients as they may occur in the wild.

And only then do we supplement if necessary. For example, it’s hard to add enough calcium from food alone, and attempting that would upset the balance of other nutrients. We go as far as we think we can with natural substances, then supplement as needed.

We created Mega Roach Gut Load for use on our own animals. Though it’s designed for use with Dubia roaches, we also use it with other insects.

Nutrition for your animals

This is a true gut load. As such, it’s not meant for raising or sustaining roaches. Always feed Dubia roaches a diet of fruits, vegetables, and/or a proper roach chow. Do not attempt to raise them on this (or any) gut load. Gut loads are meant to enhance the nutritional value of the captive insectivore’s diet, not raise insects.

Mega Roach Gut Load is rich in the following nutrients:

• Biotin
• Calcium
• Choline
• Magnesium
• Omega 3 Fatty Acids
• Sea Salt & Minerals
• Vitamins A, B12, D3, and E
• Zinc

The ideas behind Mega Roach Gutload

The best sources of nutrition for insectivores are wild insects. These almost always have undigested plant matter in their guts. In captivity, some nutrients need supplementation, but we can apply this principle to create a better insect gut load.

This is because insectivores evolved eating partially digested vegetation along with their insects. They likely need need at least some vegetation in their diet for optimum health, even if they don’t consume plants directly. Further, insect digestion improves nutrient bio-availability, and it seems likely that insectivores evolved to rely on this “second meal effect”.

Whatever the case, health problems are rampant among captive insectivores. Most experts attribute many of these problems to dietary insufficiency.

Formulation

We chose ingredients for Mega Roach Gut Load in part on this theory. We also referenced nutrition data from herpetological and other scientific research. All ingredients survived a rigorous testing regimen involving our roaches and our animals.

Storage and use

Store Mega Roach Gut Load in the freezer inside an airtight container for maximum freshness. This is especially important for long-term storage.

Combine with water and serve to your insects as a paste to boost uptake. The more they pack in, the more nutrition they will provide to your animals.