Lucy - May 31st, 2011

[Little Wise Owl]

I caught Lucy basking today and was able to get some pictures. I think I've figured out her basking habits now. She comes out around 10:00am and generally goes back to bed at around 1-4pm.

She still hasn't eaten much. I got her to eat 3 large crickets last week. She didn't want anything to do with superworms or turkey. Yesterday she buried her plate of turkey about 3 inches under the substrate... I was incredibly confused when I didn't see a dish in the enclosure when I went to take it out. She still hates me and loathes being handled, being near me and being looked at. lol

Oh well, at least she's pretty.


Anyway, here she is. (Ignore her water dish. When she's out, she likes to romp around and apparently dumped it for funzies, I guess.)

 

[Gedy]

She is pretty indeed I hope you get her a little more used to you soon.

 

[Little Wise Owl]

I don't see that happening to be honest. If I handle her, she definitely will not eat for that week.

The life of an import...

 

[Gedy]

I have an import baby (only way to go in Europe) , but argentina B&W.
We had some struggle feeding, and he still won't eat in a feeding bin at all.

I don't know if it will work for you.... but I recently found a trick to get him a little more to eat.
My crickets are in some sort of (see trough) fauna box, and to get Spunky more hungry I put the whole box with noisy crickets in his enclosure for about half an hour to lure him out of his hiding.
Then I trow in a few crickets (on the other side of the enclosure) I picked out and dusted before ,and remove the fauna box.
He will run of to the few loos crickets.
I don't know if it will work for Lucy, but maybee it is worth a try

---

My English ins't great so I made some pictures.
Enclose has two front doors, so first one is taken on the right side where i put the box in, and second is from the left side where I put the crickets in.

 

[Strange_Evil]

She looks nice and red. And judging from your post you sound fairly knowledgeable, i bet you'll have her eating in no time, but she does not look skinny as far as i can tell...Maybe she is still shy of the new home or maybe a shy eater?

Is that eco? Hows it working with the burrows?

 

[Little Wise Owl]

Thanks Gedy, I'll have to try that.

Strange_Evil- She's a very shy eater and very shy in general. She's definitely not skinny so that's why I'm not so worried. Her last owner took very good care of her. When she (previous owner) had her, she didn't eat well until some random day where she decided it'd be a nice thing to eat. From that day, she seemed to be eating fairly regularly. Now that she's with me, she's seemed to start that process over. I'm hoping she'll finally choose a random to start eating.

As for the Eco, it's great for burrowing when it's moist. Where I live, everything dries out easily and when it's dry it holds no burrows whatsoever. When this happens I just take her and her decor out and pour maybe a litre of water back in and mix it around until it's nice and moist again.

 

[Little Wise Owl]

So, I tried feeding her today.

I gave her a large plate of chicken liver, ground turkey, dusted superworms, banana chunks and little cherry tomatoes. I just wanted a variety so she could choose at least SOMETHING.

What she didn't do was eat. At least I don't think.

What she did do was throw her food EVERYWHERE. It's like she threw a tantrum with the food when I left her alone. I believe she may have eaten a little bit of turkey but she mostly just flung it everywhere somehow...

 

[james.w]

Have you tried mice/rats??

 

[Shadowgamer21]

she looks almost exactly like the one at a local reptile shop near me, roughly same size too

 

[Kebechet]

I would try pinky mice, as well as tilapia, or salmon. Mine goes crazy for mice and fish. There was a period where mine wasn't eating a little after I got him. How are your temps and humidity levels? That might be affecting her appetite. Also, what kind of enclosure is she in? If it's all glass, it could just be that she feels really frightened and exposed. You might try getting some paper to back the cage, around the back and the sides to make her feel more comfortable if this is the case. Good luck!

 

[Rhetoric]

Yeah my tegus can't get enough fish lol, they enjoy other foods but the fish really gets them excited.

 

[Little Wise Owl]

I've tried pinky mice and rats with no success. Her previous owner used to offer them and she'd eat them but she just won't for me. I'm going to try tilapia tomorrow

 

[Little Wise Owl]

Yesterday we tried fish and it was a no-go... Oh well.

 

[TheTeguGurl]

Just a thought have you tryed baby chicks? if she is too small for them still you can try and cut them up to smaller chunks, i know its gross. And i know most ppl will say not to do this but have you tryed live feed like a small live pinky or hopper.. you can also get neonatal bunnies.. i know it sounds terrible. but if she is imported she may like live feed instead..my tegus love the neo bunnies they are frozen thawed thou.. just a thought. I remember Lucy and talked to her old owner about this before

 

[Little Wise Owl]

Live pinkies were a no-go.


I haven't tried chicks because she's too small but I supposed I could try and cut them up.

 

[TheTeguGurl]

How long are you leaving the food in with Lucy? are you feeding her in the enclosure or another feeding bin! i would try and do a feeding bin with a lid leave her alone with the food for awhile

 

[Little Wise Owl]

Some days I'll leave the food on a plate in her enclosure and I'll come back later to find it buried or kicked around. Other days, I'll take her to a tub and leave her covered for a while. She'll usually just curl up and go to sleep when I leave her in the tub.

 

[TheTeguGurl]

hOW OFTEN IS SHE EATING? is she loosing weight at all!? Can you find in your area some quail eggs? you could try those and cut up baby chicks

 

[Little Wise Owl]

She's not eating at all but not losing any weight. I've tried quail eggs and she didn't even look in their direction.

In the past she has eaten a TINY bit of turkey, 3 crickets, 1 pinky and lapped up some raw egg yolk.

 

[thomasjg23]

It could be the season, my red still wont eat anything. cant wait for his appetite to come back.