# Advice needed on a Black and White Tegu.



## karel (Jun 4, 2012)

Hi all could I again ask for some advice. I have a male about 5 years old ,and have had him since a hatchling. The possible problem is that even though he eats loads he has not properly pooed for about ten days,the last one was about 2 days ago and watery.His previous meal were grapes.Some passed through undigested, His viv is 9 by 4,warm end with basking spot is around 110f and cool end around 80. He has a cat litter tray with fresh water daily and I try to keep the humidity at 75-80 with daily misting.He is very active and seems totally normal ,always inquisitive ,and is not straining to poo .he wees ok.His diet is mince with liver ,mice ,strawberries,apple, pears, about 4-5 weeks a banana.He has 2 ceramic heaters a strip uv light changed every 6 month and a Arcadia sun uv lamp 160 w. He has a long walk in the garden supervised and basks normally. I use calcium powder, and shed seems normal.The Sun lamp is a D3 Basking lamp changed about every 6 month.Could there be impaction as he seems quite happy.


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## chelvis (Jun 4, 2012)

It sounds like the water poo could be due to a high diet of fruits and not enough binding agents. Try adding something with more bone in it like rats or chicken necks. These are bones that are easy to chew up but the bone will help bind everything up.


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## karel (Jun 4, 2012)

Hi all he just had a large meal of mince and liver with a few drops of cod liver oil, but even a warm bath did not make him poo,but he is very active and seems normal, I am just worried as If there is a problem I want to catch it early


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## chelvis (Jun 4, 2012)

Want is mince? Do you mean mince liver? Liver will cause some GI issues as its very rich meat, try not feeding that to him for a bit.


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## karel (Jun 4, 2012)

Hi its minced beef, and I slice liver up into small bits and mix it with it .I am in England and you can buy mince beef in supermarkets.


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## chelvis (Jun 4, 2012)

It sounded familiar. Beef is a rich meat and with most animals can cause lose stool. I would try chicken necks or something with bone to help push everything through.


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## karel (Jun 4, 2012)

Hi will do ,many thanks .


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## Bubblz Calhoun (Jun 4, 2012)

_More fiber and variety, too much of the same meaty meals will cause loose stool. At 5yrs old I would have him eating larger whole prey than mice, be it quail, chicks, rabbit or what ever. They get things from whole prey that we know nothing about and it's hard to duplicate. 

If you primarily feed meaty meals, then there needs to be a mix of different organs added to it besides liver. Like gizzards, lungs, hearts, intestines and all, each provides different vitamins and nutrients that others don't or have less of. Along with calcium, fruits and some veggies.

For grapes, cherries and things like that with the skin on them, I started cutting mine in fourths and haven't seen one pass undigested yet. Might see the skin every now and then but that's it. Although I'm fine with that, it's much better than larger pieces._


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## Bntegus (Jun 4, 2012)

i agree whole pray will fix your problem.


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## karel (Jun 5, 2012)

Hi many thanks ,I will try that


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## laurarfl (Jun 6, 2012)

I also started cutting the grapes in half to help with that problem. If he still has loose poo, try no food or water for 24 hrs to give the cut a rest and then giving a lower fat diet (no liver, lean meat) to ease back into food.


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## karel (Jun 20, 2012)

Hi all took the tegu to a reptile vet just to be sure ,and within 500 yards in the car he pooed everywhere, I am changing his diet a bit to chicks and mice.and no lean meat.
Also I am having a behaviour problem, he has a 9 by 4 viv , but all he does all day basically is to try to batter his way out of the viv. And in the process trashes the viv.As a result Iam forever changing his water which he either floods the viv with or fills with substrate.He knows there is a outside as he gets walkies. as I write this he just upended his water yet again and the viv is floating ,how can I stop this ,I cant dry his viv and change water 10 times a day. Many thanks .


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