It is with great excitement and anticipation that Repashy launches “Grub Pie”, a new product in the Repashy line of gel food premixes. Repashy Grub Pie is a dietary formula designed for insect-eating animals of all kinds. We believe that this revolutionary commercial diet will prove to be a “game changer” in the way we raise, breed, and keep reptiles, amphibians, and other insect-eating species.
Repashy Grub Pie features over 75% cold-pressed Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal (BSFL) with a smell and flavor that incites an almost instinctual feeding response from all kinds of insect-eating animals. Even species that require moving prey and show little interest in freeze-dried insects or pelleted foods currently on the market, have been irresistibly attracted to the smell and taste of Repashy Grub Pie on the first offering. Some individuals of certain species may require “teasing” or training in the first instance to achieve a feeding response and get them to recognize it as a food source. Bearded dragons, leopard geckos, all skinks, fat tail geckos, dwarf monitors, day geckos, giant geckos, turtles of all kinds, and aquatic amphibians typically find Repashy Grub Pie irresistible. You can see a compilation of user-submitted videos on our Repashy Grub Pie YouTube Playlist .
Our BSFL Meal was first introduced in our Repashy Grubs ‘N’ Fruit gecko diet in 2013 and we had been waiting for our production capacity to increase enough to introduce it into other new formulas. Although we have known the value of insect meals since we started developing exotic animal diets in 1995, we were limited by the availability of a reliable US source of high-grade insects; insects raised under stringent conditions to assure they are of best quality. Insect meal from foreign sources, such as China, did not meet our quality control standards. After much effort to establish a new locally-raised supply of insects, we can now state that our BSFL are raised on feed of our specification, right here in the USA, allowing us to offer the highest quality, insect-based diets in the pet market.
Nutritionally speaking, Repashy Grub Pie consists of nearly 80% cold-pressed black soldier fly larvae. Cold-pressing removes about half the fat content without the high temperatures and chemical exposure of other processes that can denature proteins and degrade nutrients. This process lowers the fat content of soldier fly larvae to a more ideal 12%, which in turn increases the protein values to over 55%. The meal also contains a nearly perfect 2:1 calcium to phosphorous ratio. It takes over 1,000 BSFL to make one ounce of Repashy Grub Pie, and one kilo of Repashy Grub Pie contains 35,000 BSFL, which has a superior nutritional density than 50,000 mealworms!
Repashy Grub Pie has been formulated to be a complete diet, replacing the need for live insects in the diet of omnivores and insectivores. Many insectivores in captivity are raised on a single food source of either crickets, or mealworms (i.e. leopard geckos). While it has been proven that an exclusive diet of supplemented mealworms provides all the necessary nutrition for good health and breeding, we currently recommend that Repashy Grub Pie be fed as part of a balanced diet and not exclusively. Although we have been doing extensive trials over the last two years with great success (even when fed exclusively), it will take more time and research to assert with 100% confidence that Repashy Grub Pie provides a complete diet for insectivores, as an exclusive food source. With further internal trials, and the feedback of Zoos and advanced breeders/hobbyists around the world, we expect that we will soon be able to make this claim with confidence.
We truly believe that Repashy Grub Pie is a revolutionary product that will change the way a wide range of insect-eating animals, such as reptiles and amphibians are kept and fed in the future. Repashy Grub Pie can be fed as a slurry, paste, or a gel. It can also be mixed into existing gecko diets, or be used as a Gravy / Topper on dry kibble diets. Not only is it suitable for Reptiles and Amphibians, but also a great diet for Insectivorous Mammals and Fish, which will soon have their own labeled version. The gel base also allows for the introduction of medications when treatment for parasites or other health problems are required.
Cheers, Allen Repashy