Zoo Med Labs

Axolotls are the world’s cutest carnivores but have a voracious appetite. That’s why we developed a food just for them. Our brand new high-protein, soft-moist diet is highly palatable for axolotls. It will be love at first bite.

• High-Protein: Carnivores require a high-protein diet. In 2022, research found that a 45% protein diet had improved survival and growth compared to the other test diets (Manjarrex-Alcivar et al., 2022). We formulated our diet to meet this guideline.
• Animal Proteins, No Soy: The diet uses animal protein sources, with no plant-based protein sources (like soy) that may impair aquatic carnivores’ gut health. Soy is a widely used alternative to fish meal, but studies have found diets using soy can negatively affect the gut health of carnivorous fish. Research has only just begun on the effects of soy protein on carnivorous amphibians, but the result was similar (Yang et al., 2019). Some fish species have been studied thoroughly enough to determine a safe level of soy for their diet, but this has not yet been done on amphibians, so we decided to abstain from using it altogether in this diet.
• Soft-Moist: Most pellets are hard and crunchy, but the stable high-moisture content of this diet makes it ultra-soft. This soft-moist format makes it easy to eat and go down smoothly for these amphibians that swallow their food whole.
• Highly-Palatable: Axolotls rely heavily on the aroma and palatability of their food. In 2022, a study found that the inclusion of fish oil and chicken oil in a pelleted diet is highly palatable to axolotls (Ocaranza-Joya, et al. 2022). We chose to use fish oil as it aligns more closely with their natural aquatic diet. Once the pellets are dropped into the aquarium, they are almost immediately drawn to it by the aroma alone.

Retain humidity and fine-tune your tropical pet’s habitat. The Humidity Plus Silicone Terrarium Cover is a heat-tolerant, flexible cover for an 18”x18” terrarium lid to reduce moisture loss in your habitat. It may be cut to size for smaller habitats..

Recreate the forest floor in your habitat with safely sourced jackfruit leaf Terrarium Leaf Litter. Perfect for bioactive habitats as they provide both a source of shelter and food for decomposers like isopods and springtails!

Deliver heat deep into your reptile’s body with Zoo Med’s new ReptiCare® Infrared Heat Projector! This bulb emits energy-rich infrared (IRa and IRb), which gives immediate, powerful warmth at lower wattages than standard heat bulbs. These infrared wavelengths are directed down into the habitat with a thick glass reflector, and then soaked up by surrounding rocks and décor. Décor will release this heat upwards to warm the air and provide belly heat for more natural basking. Use the ReptiCare® Infrared Heat Projector day or night because it produces virtually no light. Its thick, carbon fiber filament has a long lifespan and Zoo Med guarantees it for 1 year through their manufacturer’s warranty. It radiates heat in a wide, even distribution that allows for safe thermoregulation, and helps increase metabolism and activity levels. It comes in 35W, 60W, 100W, and 150W.

Have your captivating creatures piqued your curiosity and now, observing them is all you want to do?

Zoo Med’s Creature View or Betta View Magnifier is the perfect way to keep a close eye on all of your petite pets! Beyond just admiring their adorable antenna, lovely legs, and fascinating faces, this magnifier allows the keeper to more carefully inspect them for changes like body condition changes, eggs, babies, insect molts, and more. Use the suction cup to attach the magnifier securely to the outside of your tank to keep it handy. Move it into the best position to view your creatures whenever desired or hold the magnifier in hand to scan over the habitat to inspect substrate and décor.

Now you can behold your bettas, inspect your isopods, take in your tarantulas, mind your millipedes, stare at your scorpions, contemplate your cockroaches, study your spiders, and view various beetles!

The 28-gallon Low Boy Breeder Flat Aquarium is a new, smaller version of our 50-gallon classic. The 36”x18”x10” footprint makes these aquariums more usable for small spaces, breeding animals, and devoted coral frag tanks. College students can set up a sorority of bettas in their sorority house, axolotl breeders can set up racks for raising juveniles, and apartment dwellers can still enjoy a small saltwater setup with limited space. It can be used for semi-aquatic and terrestrial animals as well, like newts and salamanders, or it can be accommodated for a riparium or lagoon-style habitat. The new 28-gallon Low Boy Breeder Flat Aquarium makes a great addition, no matter how it’s used!

Eliminate mineral build-up and create a clear view into your habitat. Zoo Med’s new Wipeout^TM Terrarium and Aquarium Glass Cleaner is 100% plant-based and removes hard water deposits, dust, fingerprints, and other light-blocking deposits without streaking. The perfect, sustainably made, non-toxic, tool for glass or acrylic habitats. Safe for fish, plants, invertebrates, reptiles, and amphibians!

We’ve spent the last 3 years researching the dietary needs of bearded dragons and evaluating their taste preferences and body condition. Finally, we are proud to announce our new Dragon Food!

Zoo Med’s new Dragon Food is a tailored diet for bearded dragons’ age-specific needs. Available in Juvenile and Adult formulas, the diets feature bearded dragon favorites like clover, dandelion greens, and Miscanthus grass to provide important long-stem fiber. Includes calcium-rich black soldier fly larvae, enticing mango fruit, and probiotics to maintain digestive health. This diet helps ensure all essential nutrients are offered to pets and fills in nutritional gaps that other food choices like live insects and produce often miss. This food is natural with added vitamins, minerals, and other trace nutrients. Made with NO WHEAT OR SOY, and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.

When developing a diet, our first step is always to review the published scientific literature on the animal and related species. A few key points we considered when making this diet were:

• Bearded dragons are omnivores that change their diet as they age. Juveniles require a high-protein, insect-heavy diet, while adults require a high-fiber, plant-heavy diet.

• They eat a variety of plant materials in the wild, including naturalized dandelion and clover leaves, as well as hardy, fibrous stems of grass. (Wotherspoon et al., 2016)

• Obesity is common in adult pet bearded dragons and is often caused by a diet too high in fat and animal protein.

• Soft foods can cause dental disease because it sticks to teeth and harbors bacteria, while hard pellets may actually help scrape off plaque! (Mehler and Bennett, 2003)

Our goal was to ensure the diet was nutritious and delicious, so we conducted many preference trials of individual ingredients, ingredient combinations, and different pellet types. Our large group of bearded dragon volunteers all agreed on a crunchy diet and a few key ingredients: black soldier fly larva, mango, clover, and dandelion greens.

Once the final diets were complete, we monitored the bearded dragons long-term. Every day the dragons' stools were collected and examined. Each week, we weighed, measured, and closely inspected the dragons' body conditions to ensure juveniles were gaining weight appropriately and adults were maintaining healthy weights. We further tested the diet's ability to maintain healthy breeding animals and their offspring. All breeding females on this test diet laid several large clutches and hatched healthy babies. Those babies are now adults, and several are still in the test program, ready to be breeding adults themselves!