# Diets and Foods



## ColdThirst (Jan 2, 2008)

Im going to be getting my tegu here pretty soon, and in order for her to be healthy and happy what foods should i feed her and how much? I know it needs fruits (no citrus) and meat but how much of each, and also what vegetables are good for them? What foods and schedules do you guys use with your tegus that work really good, and are the most cost effective? Also Preparation of these foods? I can read in different online articles but they are mostly general. I figured it was best to know from the people with the experience. This is the last piece of the puzzle I need to know in order to properly care for my tegu. 

Thanks, Cory


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## ApriliaRufo (Jan 2, 2008)

I feed MWF 3 mice, and 15 crickets, cantaloupe, T Th Sat 10 zophobas, 2 goldfish, and a nice hunk of 97% lean Ground Turkey, grapes and apples. No food Sunday

Roaches as snacks. All invertibrates dusted with calcium. Going to switch to rats as soon as they are big enough.


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## ColdThirst (Jan 2, 2008)

Also put how old yours are and thanks thats a good start, I dont think mine at 6 months going to be able to handle all that but its a start, Thanks I want to hear what everyone else does also!


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## ApriliaRufo (Jan 2, 2008)

Apollo is 9 months old. I vary the numbers between he and Venus by size of them total, and the size they get to when full. I aim for them to be thick, but always round chested, not rectangular. And of course the size of your mice and rats and insects will vary. Apollo will eat 3 hoppers and the rest of the diet, while little Venus will eat 3 hoppers as well. She's been underfed, and I fed her one hopper, she ran over to APollos dish and ate two of his before he flexed on her.


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## redtail2426 (Jan 2, 2008)

My little guy is about 6 months old and I feed him crickets, european nightcrawlers, dubia roaches, small mice, rat fuzzies, 99% fat free ground turkey, tilapia, grapes, rapsberries, mango, spaghetti squash, and collard greens. And I will soon be getting quail. I dont have any set schedule I just give him whatever I got at the time and mix it up through out the week. You will get a feel of how much to feed your little guy just watch his belly sometimes I let mine eat as much as he wants and sometimes I dont give him quite as much for a day or two.


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## DaveDragon (Jan 2, 2008)

ApriliaRufo said:


> zophobas


I thought you said zoophobia until I looked it up!! :wink: We had one of those beetles after a superworm disappeared in the substrate for a couple of months.


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## ColdThirst (Jan 2, 2008)

Does anyone else feed theirs different and had success


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## KoreanDeathKid (Jan 2, 2008)

before my red tegu, Vegas went into hibernation, he used to feed on this 
Monday-Crickets, superworms
Tuesday-fruits (grapes, kiwi, melons, cooked squash, any other soft fruit, and etc)
Wednesday-Monitor diet, or canned dog food (low fat, high protein, calcium, etc)
Thursday-fruits
Friday-Gold fish, or crickets and superworms again
Saturday-Raw, or cooked eggs
Sunday-Frozen/thawed mice

the order can be a little mixed up, but this is what Vegas gets every week


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## ApriliaRufo (Jan 3, 2008)

I try to stay away from that Monitor/Tegu Diet and dog food. THe canned monitor stuff isn't even organic, and dog food has unnecessary additives. Unless your tegu's fur isn't as silky as you'd like it, I'd stay away.


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## WhiskeyTango (Jan 3, 2008)

[quote=" Unless your tegu's fur isn't as silky as you'd like it, I'd stay away.[/quote]


:lol: lmao :lol:


I am making a list as well..So far I have come up with this.

Sunday:rodents and superworms
Monday:Fruits and roaches
Tuesday:Crickets and superworms
Weds:Ground turkey and fruits
Thursday:lamb hearts and roaches
Friday:rodents and roaches
Saturday:Ground Turkey and superworms

This will adjust to more as the tegus grows..adding baby chickens,baby quail,gerbils and silkworms to the diet...


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## greentriple (Jan 3, 2008)

Also, I've read that reptiles can carry samonela (sp) so be aware of raw eggs.


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## RehabRalphy (Jan 3, 2008)

Alright, I'll give this a shot. I feed several hungry tegu's this schedule:

3 day main rotation thats repeated over and over;
Day 1: Fruits/Veggies with Rodents
Day 2: Fruits/Veggies with Ground Turkey (with supplements)
Day 3: Fruits/Veggies with Insects

Thats the main rotation. Occasionally I'll throw in some weird foods such as crayfish, fish, worms (supers, some butterworms for the little guys), Live Convict Fish, Beef Heart, and a few others.

Little Side note on those who feed Goldfish...
Do NOT feed goldfish to your tegus. Goldfish are a major bacteria disease infested fish. They'll make your tegu unhealthy and possibly stunt the tegu's growth. At petstores, these fish are kept in massive groups which die, spread ammonia and toxins to one another, and they don't bother putting an additives to the water in order to maintain the environment in which they swim in. I use to keep 12 piranha. 11 were the regular red bellied piranhas and they were fead a goldfish diet. Though I could never figure out why my piranha acted so funny and never really grew. On the other hand, I had a black piranha that was only fed a mixture of brine shrimp and beef heart and reached a good 14". The red's didn't reach their full potential and topped out around 5". The goldfish stunted their growth.

If you do choose to feed a live Fish in the tegu's diet, look into Convict fish. They are extremely healthy, inexpensive, and the tegu's health will benefit from them. They are commonly known as the Central American Convict Cichlid. They get to be fairly large too!


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## ColdThirst (Jan 3, 2008)

Thats great guys, keep them coming!! Also what suppliments are you guys using in your tegus diets, and where can i find them at, are they fairly common or home remedies? And What vegitables should not be fed to a tegu, i know some are bad and some just dont have any nutritional value. can you help me out with that as well?


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## PuffDragon (Jan 4, 2008)

Beef liver is really good too and really cheap for alot of it. I've also fed farmed land snails and Nature Zone's aquatic turtle bites (also reccomended for sailfin dragons and fish eating monitors!! lol incase you wondered why) along with everything else recommended above. For supplements stay away from Calcium with D3 you can end up overdosing your tegu on it. Right now I am using JurassiCal and and Rep Cal's Herptivite. Lots of varieties are out there and can be found at your local pet stores for the most part.


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## WhiskeyTango (Jan 4, 2008)

Yeah Mr.Bobby told me all about the beef liver....I know mine will be fed that.

Well I will go by what my iguana likes to eat on the veggies/fruit thing.Try this link.. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm">http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm</a><!-- m --> my ig will eat anything and everything..except tomatoes and mushrooms.

I have used minerall in the past.But I am going with the herpcal-calcium and vitamins now.

Good luck with the tegu


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## eddiezahra (Jan 4, 2008)

i give my tegu 2-3 medalions of Nature's Variety chicken/turkey formula a day to every other day. along with fruits every other day


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## ColdThirst (Jan 4, 2008)

Oh the other thing i couldn't remember to ask this, how many times a day? Once a day? Morning and night? Three times? Whats the usual? Probably twice.


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## Joey (Jan 8, 2008)

You might wanna give the little fella a multivitamin spray daily


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