# I'm sorry, I had to



## Rhetoric (Feb 25, 2013)

We're still hanging out, later ill probably add a few more pictures to this thread. He came out for a bath and is now passed out next to the heating vent in the floor.


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## leosbybam (Feb 25, 2013)

Great pic...


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## Rhetoric (Feb 25, 2013)




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## kim86 (Feb 25, 2013)

Love the teeth shot.


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## Rhetoric (Feb 26, 2013)

They look so tiny... Still not sure I'd wanna get bitten though


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## jondancer (Feb 26, 2013)

mine does that with the vent after a bath too. nice pics


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## Rhetoric (Feb 26, 2013)

Lol I would try to move him away from it but he kept going right back to it every time it turned on. 


Side note, he looks a bit slim towards his hips. I'm wondering how I can try to put some weight on him. He doesn't eat a whole lot during the colder months. He had a rat last night and a little chicken tonight. Very surprising to see him eat two nights in a row. I'm thinking about offering whole prey twice a week instead of just once every 7-10 days (depending on when he eats) to see if that would help. He doesn't seem like he's starving, there are times I offer food and he will just refuse it. His activity is pretty normal, little slow with it being winter, still active though. Anyone else think he looks skinny? I can get more pictures. Wednesday I'm going to go get a weight on him, it's been a few months.


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## chitodadon (Feb 26, 2013)

Offer whole prey everyday or every other day

from Samsung Galaxy S3


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## HeatherN (Feb 26, 2013)

He does look a bit slim in the hips, but that could just be him living off fat stores during these slow winter months. mine got skinnier round there for the winter too. now that he's awake and eating everyday, the weight shot back up in that area. Your tegu is obviously pretty healthy, judging by the pics.  definitely not starved, malnourished, or emaciated.

btw, upvoted your /rherpetology post. love that lovely tongue.


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## TegusRawsome80 (Feb 26, 2013)

He looks a bit slim in the hips and it looks like the base of his tail is a bit skinny too. Why are you only feeding whole prey every 7-10 days if he's still active? And he's active but normally wouldn't eat 2 nights in a row? What're his temps like? My tegu would eat until he burst if I let him, no matter what month or how many days in a row. If he's not hibernating you should be feeding a LOT more than every 7-10 days.


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## Rhetoric (Feb 26, 2013)

Whole prey is only every 7-10. Now he's been eating 3 times a week. Sometimes I try to give him more food but most of the time he refuses it. Yes he is active but not as active as he is during the warmer months. Right now his lights are at 10/14 on/off. There are only a few hours where he is actually awake. Last night his basking temp was 107.5* which is measured with a digital probe 10" or so from the bulb. He can get a little closer than the probe if he wanted to. 
Last summer was the first time he ever started to really refuse anything. I started feeding him every other day and that seemed alright. When he was a hatchling/Juvie he would eat everything he could get his mouth on.


Thank you fellow redditor


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## TegusRawsome80 (Feb 26, 2013)

What else do you feed him?


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## Rhetoric (Feb 26, 2013)

Chicken breast/wings, he won't really eat chicken liver. It seems to be hit or miss. 
Beef liver (seldom). 
Fish fillets, cod, tallapia, salmon, rockfish, mahi mahi. 
Ground turkey, turkey necks. 
Blueberries, apples, bananas, strawberries. 
F/T would be 2-3 mice (35-40g each), medium rat(s), a couple chicks. 

I thought about adding a little more beef for a while to see if the extra fat might help. All of his food gets a calcium supplement except whole prey. Usually the multivitamin is twice a week, depends on what he's been eating.


I don't feed him eggs.


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## TegusRawsome80 (Feb 26, 2013)

I would up the whole prey significantly and cut back on some of the other meat items personally but that's just me. It's a personal choice but I've seen far better results with it.


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## Rhetoric (Feb 26, 2013)

Alright. How often do you feed your tegu whole prey? For a while I was doing whole prey almost every meal. That was probably almost a year ago though.


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## TegusRawsome80 (Feb 26, 2013)

I do whole prey every meal and supplement with some turkey and liver and fruit but in much lesser quantities. So far I have had 0 health problems and he's healthy, active, and eats every time I offer it.


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