Feeding Only Mice

[Weedazon]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering what were the thoughts of my feeding my tegu only mice? I have been giving her two adult mice every other day. Is that enough? She is a pretty good sized tegu, though I'm not sure of her exact size. I'll post a picture of her in the tub to see if that'll help. The reason I switched to mice is because when she was younger, I fed almost exclusively supplemented ground turkey, though sometimes I would give her hamburger (minimally) and some liver, and sometimes eggs. She had fish a few times as well. However, no matter what I fed, she would ALWAYS have diarrhea. Not one single time did she have a solid stool. But, now that she's on an all rodent diet, her stools have always been solid. I don't know if she wasn't getting enough fiber with the meat or if she can't digest it as well or what. But are there any bad effects for feeding just mice? It is nutritionally complete, correct? I leave some calcium in a bowl inside her cage just in case she wants to lick some up. I know people say a variety is best, but in all honesty she LOVES the mice. She goes after the mice (which are always pre-killed) with more vigor and enthusiasm than ground meat or anything that I've fed before. I also put cod liver oil on her food once a week.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Since you answered your own question "I know people say a variety is best." You must be looking for someone to pat you on the back, say you're doing a great job and tell you what you want to hear. Being that you're ignoring what people have already said.

Tegus don't eat only mice in the wild so why would you choose to limit her diet that way?

How often did you switch up her food from one meat too the next? Feeding one type of processed meat as a staple can also cause loose stools. How often did you give fruit, what kind, and did you cook the eggs? Did you ever have her stool checked to see if she had parasites or worms? All of those things can also be the cause of loose stools.

If you're feeding her 2 adult mice every other day then she's getting at least 8 a week. Which means she's a high risk for impactions, prolapses, since they can't digest the fur and being over weight.

It's easier to feed and keep a tegu fed if they are use to eating a variety of foods. If you want to use whole prey as a staple there's more than just mice that you can feed.

If you're going to continue not taking the advice you get when people are trying to help do what you want to do and feed only mice. I suggest you invest in a breeding pair of Hairless ones and watch how much you feed.

As your tegu gets older and bigger 2 mice every other day won't even be a snack.

 

[Orion]

My friend was taking care of my Tegu while I was on travel for a month. He ran out of the mix of food I had frozen for him ( he would thaw it daily). My buddy went to just feeding him mice. Within a week he was impacted and later died at the vet because he could not pass anything and his stomach ruptured.

 

[slideaboot]

A mouse-only diet will not only likely increase your tegu's risk of impaction, but could lead to prolapse as well--both situations absolutely suck. Mice are great IN MODERATION--they are great sources of natural calcium. But, you DEFINITELY want to mix up the diet--even with just ground turkey. Aside from the negative short-term effects of a mouse-only diet (impaction / prolapse), you will also end up with an overweight tegu with longterm health complications. It's not worth it, in my opinion. Not to mention, ground turkey's easier on the wallet (a BONUS, if you ask me).

 

[Weedazon]

No, I am not looking for someone to 'pat me on the back'. I'm simply saying that a variety has not worked for Zeke in the past, and I was wondering why an all mice diet would really be so bad because it's supposedly nutritionally complete. She has no interest any any fruit I offer her (bananas in moderation, various kinds of berries, melon, etc). She didn't seem to like the organ meat I offered her too much, especially the gizzards. She liked the liver alright I guess, but wasn't too enthusiastic about eating it. I posted on here when she was having trouble with the diarrhea, asking for suggestions on what to do, and I was told to perhaps try adding more mice to the diet to help first before seeing if it was maybe a problem that would need to be fixed by a vet. During that time, she was also having trouble passing her stools and was straining quite a lot to get the urates (I think that's what it's called...the solid yellow/white part) out. I guess I just saw so much improvement in her stools that I was hesitant to go back to the ground meat at all.

I was feeding her mostly turkey, though every few days or so I would add in some organ meat, beef, egg (which was always cooked) and fish. She just seemed to pick around everything else and eat the turkey & egg. If too much mice will cause impaction/prolapses though, then I will definitely add more variety and cut down on the mice. I didn't think impaction would be a problem because she's pretty big, but I hadn't ever heard of prolapses before. Maybe I can hide some fruit & organ meat in the turkey so she'll eat it that way. Can tegus eat the shell on eggs for extra calcium if it's crushed up or is it better to just remove the shell and dust? Thanks for the help

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Tegus get tired of eating the same thing after a while just like we do. In no way does that mean you should stick to the only food that they're willing to take. That'll just cause even more issues.

Which is another reason why people feed a variety. When they get picky switch to something else and when they get too picky don't feed them for a few days. Eventually they'll eat just about what ever you offer and get the point.

Captive tegus are way more privileged when it comes to the amount and how often they get food compared to wild ones. On top of that they don't have to go looking for it, there's very little effort what so ever since we bring it right to them. Which leaves them with way more options and opportunities to nit pick. When that happens,.. cut back and they'll get the point.

As for eggs they can break down the shell, some people prefer to dry them out and grind'em up also. But it depends on the tegu, Dino never ate the shell he just cracked it open ate the yolk and whites. I don't know if it was preference of the fact that I fed a primarily whole prey diet and he didn't need the extra calcium.

The size of your tegu has nothing to do with whether or not she can get impacted or have a prolapse. It's the diet and fur intake since they can't digest it they have to be able to pass it. The fur builds up and becomes to big, and compacted to pass. Which leads to impaction and or prolapse from straining to pass the fur. People also feed a variety to help ease that process, the fur doesn't build up so its easier to pass.

There's nothing wrong with feeding a whole prey diet, like you said before its nutritionally complete. There's just more items to feed than mice, if you choose to stick with mice or rats for what ever reason. Like I said before invest in a breeding pair of hairless ones.

 

[Guest]

The tegus age can also effect whether or not it wants to eat fruits, from what I've read on here not a lot of the younger tegus seem to interested in fruits and veggies. I've given my tegu some baby food from time to time, I'll mix it into its turkey or eggs. I make sure it doesn't have any funky things added to it.

As stated above you could always try waiting a few days to feed your tegu if you chose to change up the diet. My tegu has always been a great eater. My beardie became a wax worm addict (I didn't know how bad they were at first), he refused to eat anything and went on a hunger strike for almost a week, eventually he got hungry enough to eat his regular diet. Reptiles aren't dumb, they won't starve themselves.

As far as the whole prey diet goes,I would mostly be worried about impaction, the fur is a big one. Hairless mice (as mentioned before) might be something worth looking into.