What is Bluey Buffet?
Repashy is well known for their selection of high-quality food powders. Their crested gecko meal replacement powders (MRPs) are perhaps the most well known, but they also offer a spectrum of other diets for vegetarian, omnivore, insectivore, and carnivore species.
Bluey Buffet is the world’s first (quality) prepared diet for blue tongue skinks. As with all of Repashy’s products, Bluey Buffet was rigorously tested with generations of skinks to ensure complete nutrition.
Main ingredients: black soldier fly larvae meal, dried egg, squid meal, banana, alfalfa, whey protein, stabilized rice bran, dried seaweed meal, and coconut meal.
Instructions for Use
According to Repashy: “Bring water to a boil on stove, in microwave or kettle. Pour boiling water into a bowl and immediately stir in powder (1 part powder to 2-3 parts water by volume). Let cool or immediately pour into mold. Gel sets at room temperature. Cut into pieces or strips for feeding. Once made, gel should be treated as fresh food and can be sealed and stored in refrigerator for up to two weeks.”
The Test Subjects
- Hermes, a 3-year-old Merauke blue tongue skink (Tiliqua gigas evanescens), and a notoriously enthusiastic eater.
- Kairos, a 2-year-old Northern blue tongue skink (Tiliqua scincoides intermedia), and a notoriously picky eater.
Up until this point, both skinks have been fed a varied diet including fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, live insects, canned snails, canned dog food, Repashy Grub Pie, and newborn rodents on occasion. Between the options, Grub Pie is definitely a favorite. I’m hoping that they will love Bluey Buffet just as much, because Grub Pie is not balanced (nor was it formulated) as an omnivore diet.
The Test
Price: At first $20 seems a little steep for 6oz of meal replacement powder, which would last about 1 month between my two skinks. But reconsidering, $20/month for two skinks works out to be about $2.50 per week, per skink. It’s a really good deal!
Unboxing: I never received a shipping notification for when I should expect my order to arrive, but it arrived within 5 days. When I opened the Bluey Buffet for a picture, I was delighted to find that the jar had been filled all the way to the top! (No chip bag syndrome here!) It also arrived with a little “Raised on Bluey Buffet” sticker and a business card-sized enclosure label, which I thought was cute.
Preparation: My skinks prefer room temperature food, so instead of making a big batch ahead of time and putting it in the fridge, I just mix one part powder with two parts warm water to make two servings — it comes out to be about 1 Tbsp of powder per skink. The powder congeals fairly well after 5 minutes. Unlike Grub Pie, which smells like hot dog food (gag), Bluey Buffet smells pleasantly like dried cranberries and hay. I wouldn’t make it into a room freshener, but it definitely wasn’t bad either.
The Results
First try: Both skinks are very used to stinky food (they like Grub Pie, remember?), so they weren’t sure what to make of it. Eventually Hermes tasted it; he didn’t go wild, but eventually cleaned his plate, per usual. I’m not sure if Kairos ate some on that occasion, because he dragged his body through it instead. I guess it didn’t stimulate his appetite enough?
Second try: In an effort to convert the skinks to the new food, I tried again one week later. It worked—both skinks showed much more interest when I offered the second serving. Hermes went full-blown feeding response, enthusiastically rushing over to dig in. Kairos responded with lots of tongue-flicking and soon started eating.
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ReptiFiles’ Verdict
Thumbs Up!
Repashy Bluey Buffet has a great price, smells decent, and is easy and convenient to prepare. Although my skinks weren’t too enthused about it at first, they quickly came around. I won’t make Bluey Buffet my staple, as I don’t believe that using any food source as a staple encourages a healthy, balanced diet. However I will be adding Repashy Bluey Buffet to my blue tongue skink food rotation (and the growing list of Repashy products in my cupboard!).
Repashy actually has a bearded dragon-specific product called Beardie Buffet! I recommend serving it in gel cubes rather than as a paste, as this works best for the way bearded dragons eat.
Hi there!!
How do you think Bluey Buffet would do for a Beardie?
Thank you for always providing excellent and educational information!