Anyone who keeps reptiles soon discovers a rather simple truth: feeding the animals means, first and foremost, feeding the insects that will serve as their food.
Over the years, I’ve raised and maintained several colonies of feed insects, from cockroaches to mealworms, as well as other species used for the smallest microgeckos. At first, I used different foods for each colony, periodically adding supplements, vegetables, and other nutritional sources; it worked, but it was time-consuming and required careful planning.
As time went on, I began looking for a more practical solution that would allow me to always have a complete food base on hand—one that was easy to store and simple to feed.
This need led to the development of the dry food mix that I still use today.
The mixture consists mainly of various organic grain flours, to which I add:
spirulina
pollen
pure calcium
a multivitaminic for reptiles
The goal was not to create a “miracle” food, but rather a balanced nutritional base that could be used daily by most of my colonies.
One of the main advantages is convenience. I can prepare relatively large quantities and store them for a long time without any particular problems.
In addition, each colony always has a stable food source available, while water is provided separately. This approach allows me to manage many colonies at the same time using a simple, repeatable routine.
Of course, I haven’t conducted any scientific studies, and this is simply my personal experience.
I can say, however, that the insects eat the feed very readily and that, over time, it has become the staple of the diet for most of my colonies. For this reason, it continues to be one of the most useful and widely used tools in my breeding operation.
Like many things at Atthis' Secret Garden, this feed mix was also the result of observation and experimentation. Over the years, I’ve adjusted the ingredients and proportions several times, adapting them to the needs of the species I was raising at the time.
It will likely continue to change in the future as well. After all, part of the appeal of breeding lies precisely in the constant search for better solutions.