Whole food diet

[james.w]

What are the negatives of feeding a primarily whole prey diet. Rats, mice, and chicks are the prey in question.

 

[herpgirl2510]

I would like to hear the answer on this one. So far I know the risk of impaction from the fur and the pinkies and pups are high in fat.

 

[Strange_Evil]

Impaction, maybe obesity? Wonder what others have to say.

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And i read that Tegu's need fruit in there diet to promote healthy sheds or Beef and cod oil. How would you introduce one of the two into the diet feeding all whole prey? I'm no tegu expert just had a few questions myself on this.

 

[montana]

Impaction is the one and real reason your tegu will die

Expense Is another reason ,Convenience worse comes to worse you can feed them some tuna or cat food ..

Tegu may decide that all he wants to eat is live or thawed frozen and will starve its self when not offered it ..

I am sure there are other reasons ..The reason I chose a tegu was that I didn`t have to be held up by the bug and mouse cartels ...

 

[herpgirl2510]

Bobby does write in a post how tegus do not need fruit and it is a wasted meal. I think he meant primarily not soley.

 

[james.w]

I would add some fish and fruits to his diet as well.

Is there any record of a tegu dying from a whole prey diet Montana? I have heard more people have problems with impaction from eating cypress, yet majority continue to keep their tegus on it. I have never heard of a tegu becoming impacted based on "fur/feathers".

Montana can I ask what you feed your tegu on a weekly basis.

 

[montana]

Not long ago there was a thread and the culprit was the mice ...

Seems that this member was feeding the mice that [his ] snakes wouldn`t eat .The tegu ate little else ....

By no means listen to me .. Feed your tegu what ever you want ...

 

[james.w]

I'm just trying to learn all I can. If you don't mind, what do you feed?

 

[montana]

Not long ago there was a thread and the culprit was the mice ...

Seems that this member was feeding the mice that [his ] snakes wouldn`t eat .The tegu ate little else ....

By no means listen to me .. Feed your tegu what ever you want ...

I feed my tegu ground venison with cod liver oil salmon or trout [whole if I can net some small enough ] deer or goat liver ... frozen mouse or dead chick[I incubate myself ] two or three times a week ..I also provide lettuce or spinach from the garden strawberries raspberries ,blue berries . frozen or fresh .any of a bunch of vegetables frozen or fresh from the garden [he won`t eat his vegetables tho [but the lettuce looks cool floating in his water dish .... Something like that ..

 

[james.w]

Is a majority of that suff harvested/caught by yourself?

 

[montana]

Is a majority of that suff harvested/caught by yourself?

The mice I bought frozen [Jan did come in the other day with a hand full of hopper mice she found in the garden ]

Every thing else we get or make our selves ...

 

[Toby_H]

I feed mine a lot of whole prey (about 65~70%) but do mix in other things...

For whole prey I use : (frozen/thawed) large hairless mice, day old chicks, 3 day old chicks and small rats... live fish (SA/CA Cichlids I breed myself)... and ocassionally live/pre-killed 3 day old chicks...

For "processed" foods I use : Ground Turkey, Chicken/Turkey Gizzards, fish fillets (whatever's on sale), beef liver and anything else I see around $3 per lb...

and I make myself scrambled eggs with sausage and veggies in it abotu once a week and usually make enough to give my Tegu some...

I rarely offer fruit or vegetables as he just doesn't seem interested. Though I do toss him some grapes or berries when I'm sitting around eating them and he stares at me...

I have Cold Liver Oil which I put on his meals occasionally. But he seems to eat less on the days I use it so I assume he doesn't care for it...

I have calcium powder that I use less often than I should...

This approach has worked well for me and my Tegu seems healthy to me. He is plump but by no means obese

 

[herpgirl2510]

Where do you get hairless mice I do not have access to those around here.

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with an adult is there less chance of impaction?

 

[rrcoolj]

I kind of have the reverse of most people. My tegu dosen't get a whole lot of rodent/chicks mostly because the closest place besides petco that sells them is 1hour+ drive from my house. And petco rodents are extremely overpriced. But I feed a lot of other things including fruit and any cichlids that i can "spare". I usually feed, the ground turkey mixture, liver, gizzards, hearts, lamb, egg, strawberries, bananas, squash, blueberries, raseberries, salmon fillet, tuna, and superworms off the top of my head. I get rodents when I can but I could probably count the number of rodents she's eaten on my hands. Rats are better than mice because of increased bone mass apparently which equals more calcium. As for impaction... I am not saying it couldn't happen... just feed appropriate sized rodents or if you are that worried feed two small rodents instead of one big one.

 

[Toby_H]

I just realized I listed my food items, but neglected to comment at all on the original question

I've heard three arguments against feeding whole prey only...

1) High fat content. Though I hear this argument frequently, the nutrient charts I've seen do not support this claim.

2) Impaction. This is a legit concern/possibility, I believe it is quite unlikely in most cases. I do believe as smaller Tegus have smaller digestive tracts, they are more prone to impaction from fur (or feathers).

3) Lack of diversity. While this is legit if you were to feed only mice, or only rats... but it is not legit if you were to rotate or mix rats, mice, chicks, fish, etc...

just feed appropriate sized rodents or if you are that worried feed two small rodents instead of one big one.

Regarding impaction, I would suggest the opposite. there would be less fur on a single 300 gram rat than on three 100 gram rats... Though in my experience if you feed a Tegu "too large" of a prey item, they just rip it into bite sized pieces.

 

[james.w]

My only concern would be impaction I guess. I will continue feeding as I have been, majority is whole prey (mice/rats, chicks) along with tilapia, ground turkey, and chicken gizzards, hearts, liver. I throw some fruit in every once in a while, but he doesn't take much interest.

 

[herpgirl2510]

I was told it is best to feed a plate of several mice than a larger sized rat because of the risk of impaction. I will give tonka 5 adult mice. I find that his poop is firm when he has mice but gets losser as the wee goes on when he does no have them. Does nyone else have this issue also what do people give to firm it up?

 

[Toby_H]

I do not agree that several smaller mice are less of a risk of impaction than one larger rat. Though I do believe several smaller mice would be easier for your Tegu to digest than a single larger rat.

My point previously was simply that if you shaved all the hair off of three 100 gram rats, it would be more hair than if you shaved all the hair off of a single 300 gram rat. Though I doubt either would be a problem for an adult tegu to digest.


Whole mamals do digest into firmer stool... Chicks digest into looser greesier stool and fish are even worse... Adding starch to a diet firms stool, though I do not think it would be a good idea to do so. It is what it is.

 

[rrcoolj]

^ Please explain, because I am not getting it...

Impaction is when the digestive system is blocked by a solid or semi-solid mass right. So if an animal has several smaller items then the chance of it blocking anything is less than one large item regardless of the amount of hair which can play a part but would that really matter that much? I mean the larger rat having more mass would be more to digest which intern would create a larger waste product which could block something or has a higher chance of doing so. Not necessarily disagreeing with you just trying to understand your logic.

 

[montana]

Where do you get hairless mice I do not have access to those around here.

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with an adult is there less chance of impaction?

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There is no such thing as hairless mice silly !!

Toby has been applying Dry-loc in enclosed areas again ...