# Baby chacoan wont eat



## Brayan Rodriguez (Sep 11, 2016)

I got my baby chacoan tegu about 1 week ago from underground reptiles but he doesnt eat anything only fuzzies/pinkies/ and like 5-10 crickets...ive tried chicken hearts ,gizzards,liver and tilapia and grapes...im going to try ground turkey today see if he will eat some .
Is their any tricks u can get him to eat something other than whole prey (i know its better but i want to add a variety )


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## Brayan Rodriguez (Sep 11, 2016)

Basking is at 105-110° and humidity is at 75_80%


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## Walter1 (Sep 11, 2016)

He looks plump and alert. He's settling in. Nothing tosweat over.


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## beardeddragon111 (Sep 11, 2016)

You can use ground meats, but its by all means not necesarry. Im considering moving all the way over to whole prey myself except for when I run out( happens quicker than you'd think lol).


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## Cody096 (Sep 11, 2016)

.


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## Cody096 (Sep 11, 2016)

Also, just out of curiosity how calm was your Chacoan when it arrived?


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## Brayan Rodriguez (Sep 11, 2016)

He was skidish and always ran away to the other side he still is a lil but i havent handled him just some daily maintenence n he doesnt run away just curious comes to my hand but even if i make the slightest move he runs a lil but comes back ima start handling him this week tho since hes a lil curious ...he did eat some chicken heart today but not a lot he doesnt seem to have intrest in it .....how big is your tegu ?? Any pics


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## Cody096 (Sep 11, 2016)

Heh, I was lucky I guess. Mine was calm and curious right out of the box. The first picture is on the day that I got him and the second was from today. I measured him yesterday at 14.5 inches long.


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## Cody096 (Sep 11, 2016)

He also really loves cantaloupe and blueberries, which I give him a bit of twice weekly.


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## Brayan Rodriguez (Sep 11, 2016)

yup haha but itl calm down im sure with some handaling mine doesnt have any grean left just the very tip of nose the rest a light caramel white


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## Brayan Rodriguez (Sep 11, 2016)

Ive just tried grapes and strawberry but no luck je just licks it n looses intrest but ima hide it hin his fuzzy next time


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## DangerousDann (Sep 15, 2016)

Brayan Rodriguez said:


> I got my baby chacoan tegu about 1 week ago from underground reptiles but he doesnt eat anything only fuzzies/pinkies/ and like 5-10 crickets...ive tried chicken hearts ,gizzards,liver and tilapia and grapes...im going to try ground turkey today see if he will eat some .
> Is their any tricks u can get him to eat something other than whole prey (i know its better but i want to add a variety )
> View attachment 11220


I got my Chacoan last year from underground reptiles and at first he just ate crickets even though I offered him all types of stuff. A couple weeks later he started eating ground turkey with calcium powder, that's when I started hand feeding him (best to start when small). Just one year later and he's eating a variety of fruits and about a quarter pound of turkey and a mouse every day. He's just over 4 feet long now. This group is a great source of information. I have a video that tracks his progress over a year's time, I can share it if you'd like.


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## DangerousDann (Sep 15, 2016)

Cody096 said:


> He also really loves cantaloupe and blueberries, which I give him a bit of twice weekly.


Mine wouldn't eat fruit until he was 10 months old, and only likes blackberries and grapes, I offer other fruit but no luck. He hates cantaloupe and actually spits it out when mixed in Turkey.


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## Walter1 (Sep 15, 2016)

DangerousDann said:


> Mine wouldn't eat fruit until he was 10 months old, and only likes blackberries and grapes, I offer other fruit but no luck. He hates cantaloupe and actually spits it out when mixed in Turkey.


I can see crickets being the go-to food for hatchlings by vendors. DD did it right on offering more and more variety.


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## Cody096 (Sep 15, 2016)

Mine also loved dubias, I was going to start a colony but he ate them too quickly and wouldn't accept turkey at the time, though when I started running low on dubias I put pieces of turkey on them to get him accustomed to it and then chopped up the roaches and mixed them in with the turkey until I ran out. Now he gets excited whenever he sees me set some turkey out to thaw.


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## Walter1 (Sep 15, 2016)

Cody096 said:


> Mine also loved dubias, I was going to start a colony but he ate them too quickly and wouldn't accept turkey at the time, though when I started running low on dubias I put pieces of turkey on them to get him accustomed to it and then chopped up the roaches and mixed them in with the turkey until I ran out. Now he gets excited whenever he sees me set some turkey out to thaw.


Roaches are very nutritious.


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## Cody096 (Sep 15, 2016)

Dubias being the best from what i've read as far as nutritional value and the Ca ratio, I've read a few conflicting things on hissers and crickets were always just a pain in the ass for me. Plus, the dubias don't smell. ^.^


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## Cody096 (Sep 15, 2016)

That was supposed to be calcium to phosphorous, not a face. x.x


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## beardeddragon111 (Sep 15, 2016)

Whats wrong with hissers? They probably get a little big for a baby but other than that whats the problem with them? Im just curious.


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## Cody096 (Sep 15, 2016)

I can't exactly recall what was said about them, but I do believe it was on this forum. But I've also read good things.


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## ophidia (Sep 24, 2016)

My baby (got from them Aug 6th, 11" then) ate red runners, small dubias, and pinkies from the get go. She's 20" now and still will take an occasional dubia, but is far too lazy for red runners. Mostly she eats peach fuzzies rolled in calcium carbonate powder (no D3- the hermit crab calcium from Petsmart is plain superfine calcium carbonate). I've tried ground turkey, ground pheasant, and a little ground beef, and she's ignored it all. Same with fruits-- I've tried blueberries, blackberries, and grapes.

She's also the most chill, laid back lizard I've ever had. She doesn't even give a crap when I dig her up-- I just pull her out and dust her off, then scoop her up, and she doesn't care at all. She likes to hang out behind the couch cushions, behind me, on or near a heating pad. She'll actually climb into my hand and onto my arm when I put my arm in her cage. 

She's a super girl and I hope yours is too . She's the coolest reptile I've ever had, and I've had a lot of reptiles over the years.


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## N8bub (Sep 25, 2016)

The issue with hissers isn't nutritional, but more the amount of chitin in the head. I'm sure most keepers have fed too a varying degree dubia or some other feeder roach and probably have noticed that the head chitin of the roach is passed intact. I feed orange heads once a week to all 3 of mine and regularly find them in their enclosures. Since hissers are so large there is concern that the head could lodge in the gut and cause an impaction.


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## Walter1 (Sep 25, 2016)

N8bub said:


> The issue with hissers isn't nutritional, but more the amount of chitin in the head. I'm sure most keepers have fed too a varying degree dubia or some other feeder roach and probably have noticed that the head chitin of the roach is passed intact. I feed orange heads once a week to all 3 of mine and regularly find them in their enclosures. Since hissers are so large there is concern that the head could lodge in the gut and cause an impaction.


Interesting. Maybe lopping off the heads is an option. Mine were never fed roaches, but I have a hisser colony and they would be a nutritious meal.


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