# Owen eating bedding



## Non Crimen Jr. (Feb 14, 2012)

So i came home from school, and like i do every day i look at Owen. Well today, Owen was chewing on about a 1 1/2 inch cyprus wood chip. So i opened the doors and tried to grab it. He ran in his hide and finished it. I am very concerned, can tegus digest wood? What should i do?
Thanks in advance!
-Nick


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## dragonmetalhead (Feb 14, 2012)

Eating substrate isn't good. It can block them up and cause impaction, prolapses, and other terrible health problems. If I were you, I'd pick up Owen and gently palpate his belly to see if there's anything in there; if you feel lumps, he's probably got some chips in him and you should get him to the vet. Is he still having regular bowel movements?


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## Non Crimen Jr. (Feb 14, 2012)

Ok well i just caught him eating another piece of mulch  could he have a mental disorder? Special Needs?
What have we gotten ourselves into.


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## james.w (Feb 14, 2012)

Sometimes eating substrate can be because of something lacking in his diet. Another reason could be food got dropped/spilled on the mulch and it smelled like food so he ate it.


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## txrepgirl (Feb 15, 2012)

OMG. I'm sorry to hear this. That's not good at all. PLEASE do me a favor and take the mulch out of the enclosure before he eats any more. I hope he will not poke himself with the mulch inside of his mouth. He could get a infection and not make it ( that what happened to our femlae blue/red hybrid ). If he is impcted I would give him a few luke warm/warm baths every day. For right now I would stop giving him some solid food to make sure he doesn't get even more impacted if he is. You can give him some chicken baby food with a little bit ( just a few drops ) of cod liver oil. This will lubricate the intestines and help him to poop out the mulch. This will take a few days. I do highly recommend taking him to a vet and get some Xrays done to see how big the mulch piece is and where it is located. If you can't afford to take him yet give him the baths. If he doesn't eat the chicken baby food on his own you might have to force feed him ( link below ). The good new is that there is a big chance that he will make it. Both of our Tegus who were impacted made it and pooped out the object ( Leo the mulch and Schatzi the plastic cap of a door stoper ). Good luck and please keep us posted. Oh, one more thing. Please make sure that he basks so his metabolism keeps going. 

If you see him poop like my female in the link below then he is impacted. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/txrepgirl#p/u/40/kBEoZOxVxQI 

How to force feed a Tegu:

http://www.youtube.com/user/txrepgirl#p/u/42/KpovPdBYU3c 

You can put some panalog ( you can get that at your vet ) on his vent. So when he is pooping out the mulch the vent will not tear open from being to dry. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/txrepgirl#p/u/41/mogoifkpQic


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## Non Crimen (Feb 19, 2012)

txrepgirl said:


> OMG. I'm sorry to hear this. That's not good at all. PLEASE do me a favor and take the mulch out of the enclosure before he eats any more. I hope he will not poke himself with the mulch inside of his mouth. He could get a infection and not make it ( that what happened to our femlae blue/red hybrid ). If he is impcted I would give him a few luke warm/warm baths every day. For right now I would stop giving him some solid food to make sure he doesn't get even more impacted if he is. You can give him some chicken baby food with a little bit ( just a few drops ) of cod liver oil. This will lubricate the intestines and help him to poop out the mulch. This will take a few days. I do highly recommend taking him to a vet and get some Xrays done to see how big the mulch piece is and where it is located. If you can't afford to take him yet give him the baths. If he doesn't eat the chicken baby food on his own you might have to force feed him ( link below ). The good new is that there is a big chance that he will make it. Both of our Tegus who were impacted made it and pooped out the object ( Leo the mulch and Schatzi the plastic cap of a door stoper ). Good luck and please keep us posted. Oh, one more thing. Please make sure that he basks so his metabolism keeps going.
> 
> If you see him poop like my female in the link below then he is impacted.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the responses everyone. Owen seems to be just fine. Eating like a pig (or Tegu). Eliminating waste just fine. I thought perhaps Nick was mistaken until I saw Owen eat a small piece as well. I do believe it's caused by food particles being in the substrate. We'll use the feeding bin exclusively from now on.


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