Eating substrate

[draxxium]

my tegu keeps eating odd things. at least i find them in her fecals.
she eats small rocks and wood chips.
she is in a 4x4x8 cage. her humidity stays at a constant 60%
her diet varies .

morning she gets a mix of ground turkey and eggs
lunch she gets ground turey and beef with cod oil. and fruit.

i calcium dust every meal, using a d3 additive once a week. and multivit once a week.

once a week she gets 2 hopper mice. shes almost a year old and nearly 2.5 feet long.

does anyone else's tegu do this?
is it for gizzard stones?

 

[Anthony]

my black and white did this so much she almost got impacted... i switched to eco earth and never have that problem but i used cocunut husk shavings recently and she did the same thing again and almost got impacted again.... i switched back to eco earth and will never switch again , its just not worth the risk....

 

[Jefroka]

my tegu keeps eating odd things. at least i find them in her fecals.
she eats small rocks and wood chips.
she is in a 4x4x8 cage. her humidity stays at a constant 60%
her diet varies .

morning she gets a mix of ground turkey and eggs
lunch she gets ground turey and beef with cod oil. and fruit.

i calcium dust every meal, using a d3 additive once a week. and multivit once a week.

once a week she gets 2 hopper mice. shes almost a year old and nearly 2.5 feet long.

does anyone else's tegu do this?
is it for gizzard stones?

They will eat weird things and also large chunks of mulch. It is recommended to use a calcium supplement without D3.

From Bobby Hill of Varnyard Herps (this site's owner)

"The only reptile supplement I have any faith in is Zoo-Med Repti Calcium without D3. Most other products are made from crushed oyster shells, and are not able to be absorbed. Therefore, being a poor product for a good healthy tegu."


...Jefroka

 

[draxxium]

thanx jefroka. that answers that.

and all i use is the Zoo-Med Repti Calcium. i just have some with d3 that i give 1x per week.

 

[Orion]

I use the Eco Earth and my Tegu seems to eat it all the time. She just work up from Hibernation and is not eating much right now. I did look at her stool this morning and it seemed to be nothing but Eco Earth. I saw her doing it from time to time last year. I make sure she has food in her cage on a plate that she is not able to get any bedding mixed in the food, raw venison strips-strawberries-grapes , so I know that cant be the issue. I have a separate feeding cage with super worms and crickets. I am starting to get worried.

 

[draxxium]

mine eats a few small stones now and then and maybe a peice of mulch. nothing really big. i dont feed her in her cage at all because of the aggresion issue. she passes everything without any real probs. but i feed on regulart schedule. without missing. so she knows when its time to eat. she actually has learned that me walking into the room at certain times of day = food. and has started to beg. its funny. s far as using eco earth. some husks like cocunt can be extremely hard on their digestive track. at least with smaller herps like bearded dragons. i dont think tegu's have that issue because of their natural diet. (natural diet being anything and everything, dead or alive)
I cypress mulch at the recommendation of Bobby Hill owner of varnyard-herps. and its a heck of a lot cheaper than eco earth. but thats just me.