# Unusual Foods



## Guest (Jul 22, 2010)

So, I bring Link with me pretty much everywhere, as long as it's outside. I live in a very alternative and open minded town (Portland oregon) and no one seems to mind me having a lizard poking his head out of my front coat pocket. The other day a friend ordered me some Italian sweet cream gelato. I was sitting outside with Link, and he decided he wanted to try some. He looked up at me, and I offered him a small spoonful. He absolutely LOVED it. He's a fussy eater, so it really surprised me when he licked a few times, then opened his mouth and practically tried to inhale the spoon. So apparently he likes gelato, or at least the Italian sweet cream flavor. I definitely won't let him have it very often, but I found it pretty adorable to see a lizard chomping down on an ice cream spoon. 

What foods have your tegus asked you for, or have you let them try, that would be considered unusual?


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## reptastic (Jul 22, 2010)

WELL IT WASNT FOOD PERSAY, BUT ONCE I ABSENT MINDILY LEFT MY CUP OFF COFFEE ON THE FLOOR IN MY REPTILE ROOM(IT WAS EARLY IN THE AM) AND NERO STUCK HER NOSE IN THE CUP AND DRANK SOME. SHE TRIED TO FIGHT ME TO GET BACK TO IT LOL!


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2010)

Mine stole a winegum I accidently dropped on the floor... I was getting all cozy at the computer eating sweets and my tegu was sleeping on my feet when I dropped it ... I have never seen a tegu being so fast at waking up and swallowing anything before :lol:


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2010)

DuraZell said:


> Mine stole a winegum I accidently dropped on the floor... I was getting all cozy at the computer eating sweets and my tegu was sleeping on my feet when I dropped it ... I have never seen a tegu being so fast at waking up and swallowing anything before :lol:




Huh, I wonder if Tegus can taste sweet things? Or if they just taste/like fatty flavors?


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2010)

I am sure they can taste the sweet things. If you look at your tegu eating a mixed bowl of fruit it will eat the sweetest fruit before it eats the rest. Mine does anyway...

And my tegu was just faster than me getting to the winegum - and I am usually veeery fast when it comes to candy...  I guess it was just a moving object to her which actually had an ok sweet taste once it was in the mouth 


Edit: Keyboard is not my friend today...


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2010)

Mine actually hasn't accepted any fruit, so I wouldn't know ^^' but I will be trying some more fruits soon, to see if he likes them. So far he hasn't shown any interest in blueberries, but it could be because they were out of a can. He's a picky little guy.


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## ThrillHouse (Jul 23, 2010)

my tegu is kindof picky. i have tried thrawed raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and fresh mango, kiwi, apricots, , plums, cherries and grapes (without seeds).

ive had most luck with grapes and cherries. he loves cherries the most, but gets loose stool afterwards. so i dont give him that as much.

and i always trick him into eating corn with his eggs, that works pretty good. he doesnÃ?â??Ã?Â´t like peas either. 

(not that anyone asked, just sharing as i have tried to give him fruits at least once a week. hes not even a year old yet, so i dont expect him to eat very much of it yet.)


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2010)

My tegu eats almost anything - potato, carrot, rice, pasta, melon, grapes, strawberries, peach, plum, pear, pineapple, blueberries, paprika etc etc. And snails + eathworms are e.g. also eaten.

The winegum was quite a surprise, though. I'd never imagined any reptile eating any candy what so ever. LOL.

I do think that the coffee drinking is just as weird as eating winegums. LOL


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## eddyjack (Jul 24, 2010)

DuraZell, 
You refer to such a wide variety of foods, (potato, carrot, rice, pasta, melon, grapes, strawberries, peach, plum, pear, pineapple, blueberries, paprika etc etc. And snails + eathworms are e.g. also eaten). 
This is something I have never heard and at the same time quite interesting to me. 
I have heard so much about how careful one should be in feeding then again, are Tegu's not basically a scavenger in the wild? Eating whatever they should happen upon? I have introduced my Tegu to a wider variety than I thought acceptable at times, thinking if she ate it ok, if not, then it must not be for her.
Are perhaps the first 4 items (potatoe's, carrot's, rice and pasta) cooked? I cannot safely assume at least that the rice and pasta would not be cooked. And the potatoe's and carrot's, can they be eaten in such a firm state as raw?
Thanks for sharing this with us
Sincerely,
E.J.


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## chelvis (Jul 24, 2010)

I think the wierdest thing my tegu has eatten was guine pig food. A few pellets fell on the floor and he desided they were tasty enough... oh and popcorn (he must has seen the dogs eatting it off the floor and desided it was edibal.)


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## eddyjack (Jul 24, 2010)

Ha ha that's funny that yours ate pig pellets. The popcorn though is interesting as well. 
E.J.


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2010)

Mt BF told me that he was sitting on the couch, eating a plate of Mac and Cheese, with his old tegu, "Tank", chilling right beside him. Tank started creeping up to him, staring at the plate, so he held out his fork to her, and what'do'know? She LOVED the Mac and Cheese.


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2010)

eddyjack said:


> DuraZell,
> You refer to such a wide variety of foods, (potato, carrot, rice, pasta, melon, grapes, strawberries, peach, plum, pear, pineapple, blueberries, paprika etc etc. And snails + eathworms are e.g. also eaten).
> This is something I have never heard and at the same time quite interesting to me.
> I have heard so much about how careful one should be in feeding then again, are Tegu's not basically a scavenger in the wild? Eating whatever they should happen upon? I have introduced my Tegu to a wider variety than I thought acceptable at times, thinking if she ate it ok, if not, then it must not be for her.
> ...



Generally I think we keep reptiles in a different way here in Europe compared to how you do in the States. We do things "the natural way" and you kinda make your own mixtures - or how to put it. (Not saying than one way is better than the other - we just do it differently)
We catch bugs in the wild to feed to our animals, we go to the wild to find different plants our animals eat and we feed more whole food items. In the US you always mention the ground turkey  We do not use that over here. You mix your own food by grinding things together Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â?¬Å? or how to put it. 

In the wild tegus are oppertunistic eaters - eating whatever they come across - as you mention. And even though, I know they won't come across boiled carrots, potatos, rice and pasta in the wild, but I do give mine those things anyway since it is great food items  Earthworms are rich in calcium and protein, snails are as well. For me that is excellent food items. So my tegu sometimes gets dinner leftovers (only the natural things), natural food caught in the wild and a varity of Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?â??homemadeÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â bugs (dubia, zophobas, achatina fulica etc) and mice, chicks, fish, crabfisk and whatever I can get my hands on.

That is also how I do it with the rest of my lizards, since that is just the way we do keep reptiles here in Europe. 
My enclosures are also more Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?â??natural lookingÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â?¬Å? even though they are fake. I built in fake rock walls, add real stones, wood, plants etc to make each enclosure look like a Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?â??small piece of nature from the animalsÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ natural habitatÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â. Some do this in Europe while others donÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢t. 

But in general I think it is a matter of how we do things in Europe vs. the States Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â?¬Å? could be called a cultural thing?


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## eddyjack (Jul 26, 2010)

Your methods of feeding I find very interesting. I will certainly try more of these things that you mention. My real concern with the "things caught wild" at least in the insect world, even earth worms and such, is that there are so many pesticides and other toxin's that I just would not be comfortable going out my door and picking anything like that up and feeding it.
As for all other things mentioned by you, I will be offering a much wider varitety to my Tegu from now on. And I am glade that you confirmed my belief of the Tegu being a oportunist in the wild.
It is so good to hear from you and learn of your ways, thank you so much for sharing and hopefully we will talk again soon.
Sincerely,


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## chelvis (Jul 26, 2010)

About to say not everyone feeds ground, i personally don't like feeding ground turkey but where i live wild inscets would be a bad idea too many pesticides and herbacides.


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## Guest (Jul 26, 2010)

We don't have that many pesticides, herbacides or other types of toxins in our nature here in Denmark. I do avoid areas where stuff like this could be used, but genererally it is safe enough to get these food items outside for the animals. In the biggest cities here in DK cars do polute just about anything, so it is only safe for me since I moved to a smaller town - I have a great varity of areas, where I am able to find food items for my animals. 

I think the methods I use are somewhat similar to how Bert Langerwerf did things - even though I have heard stories of how he sometimes fed his tegus pizza, cake and odd food items like that. I do not do that  I have had (and still have) the best teachers when it comes to reptiles, so how I do it is very much due to the great knowledge these people have - combined with my "personal touch". I feel so lucky knowing so many great reptile keepers 


@ Chelvis, I did not mean to make it sound as if you all only use ground meat - I was speaking in general, and of course, not everybody does things the same way


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