Symton Reptile Starter Kit Product Review – June 2022
When you first get a reptile, it’s incredibly difficult to think of all of the things you’ll need for your reptile. Figuring out the kinds of bugs you should feed, how often, and what you shouldn’t feed can be incredibly confusing for a new keeper. In this review, I’ll be sharing a very helpful starter kit for new reptile owners that takes care of staple bug options for you as well as helpful accessories for feeding time! Let’s get into it.
I was sent Symton BSF’s brand new Reptile Starter Kit last week and unboxed it for my other social media accounts and was super excited for the amount of quality products involved in the kit. This kit is available here: https://symtonbsf.com/collections/supplies/products/medium-reptile-starter-pack and retails for $60. You can use my code “kamsreptiles” to get 15% off your first order as well!
They include 600 Black Soldier Fly larvae in the box and you are allowed to choose the specific size that you’d like as well. I think this option is fantastic for keepers that have younger reptiles who may not be able to eat the large larvae safely. Considering this was an amazing insight on their part!
I have been buying these larvae from Symton with my own money for almost three years and they are such a great staple feeder insect due to the amount of calcium they naturally have. Make sure to keep them in a cool area so you can keep them from turning into flies for as long as possible, though!
Each box also comes with their Symple Sifter which I find to be incredibly useful to get the larvae out from their substrate. I had one of my own that I had purchased before receiving the box as well and I can say that I use it very frequently. They also come with a Symple Scooper which pairs well with the sifter! You can use the scooper to grab the larvae out with the substrate they’re in, then sift them with the sifter to separate them completely. Honestly didn’t think they’d be as useful as they are, so I was pleasantly surprised.
The box also comes with Symtongs, which are some pretty heavy duty large feeding tongs. They actually reminded me of the tongs I purchased for my snake, since those have to be a little larger than normal to avoid getting accidentally bitten! They are gorgeous matte black tongs though, and you can seriously never have enough tongs if you’re a reptile keeper. My dad walked in after my unboxing and said “those would be amazing for the newbies who are scared of the bugs!”, which ironically enough after three years of keeping I have yet to touch a single bug. The further away from the bug I am, the better, I say.
Also included, there are some preserved dubia roaches that are canned. I’m not gonna lie, I have never purchased canned bugs before, but after reading that they have the exact same nutritional value and last a long time for emergencies, I love the idea. Also worth noting, if you live in Florida where dubias are illegal, these are not because they’re not alive and cannot be invasive because of it. Can’t exactly ruin the ecosystem when you’re dead. These canned dubias last three years unopened and up to a week when opened and refrigerated. For those who are worried that their reptile may not eat something that isn’t moving, I can confirm that these still smell like that strong bug smell, and three of our reptiles didn’t give them a second thought.
One of my favorite accessories for bug feeding is definitely escape-proof bowls, and this kit includes one! Buying bowls at a random pet store to put dubias in only to have them escape is probably one of the most annoying things, so I personally have like six escape-proof bowls on hand in my house. All of them by Symton, actually.
The starter kit also comes with some stickers and a really cute t-shirt. I call the one I got before my “bug shirt” and now I have two that I will shamelessly wear all the time. I’m a big fan of minimalist t-shirts from the brands I support, so I like that the kit came with one!
I think that this Reptile Starter Kit is a great idea for new keepers, or even keepers that don’t have any of these supplies and want to save a little bit of money. This kit saves you about $20 if you were to buy it instead of buying all the included accessories individually. Also worth mentioning, the box is cute and reusable, or you can recycle it like a good Earth loving human.
To conclude though, this kit is definitely worth the money in my opinion and the accessories included makes feeding time so much easier. I’ve been supporting Symton for almost three years now, ever since I first got my first reptile, Smaug. I lived in Alaska when he was a young beardie and I adored their fast shipping from far, far away.
Here’s one of my first Tiktok videos of him when he was only five months old eating out of their container: https://www.tiktok.com/@kams.reptiles/video/6811702495811751173?_t=8TKP6f6qX0A&_r=1 Thought it would be a funny little video to include.
Anyways, that’s all for now! Happy feeding, and as always, I am so glad you’re here.
