# Tegu Not Eating



## AmberMcNutty (Mar 18, 2016)

**This is my first time posting here*

We got our tegu, Monte, about 2 weeks ago(ish). He is from TegusOnly so obviously, he was wild caught. He is a yearling. He has a great temperament, is very intelligent and seems to be very healthy. 
Our only problem is that we can't seem to get him to really eat. 

We have tried raw egg, turkey, chicken, salmon, wet cat food, crickets, papaya, banana, sweet potato, mango, hard-boiled and scrambled egg, tuna...we have made tegu 'meat balls', we mix calcium/D3 powder into everything.......we tried a small amount of Repti-Boost as well. 
Is there anything we can do? Anything else we should try? 
Any fail-proof foods to trigger his appetite???*


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## Walter1 (Mar 18, 2016)

Could be a problem, but most likely not. Tegus weird out over change. Even long term captives moved to a new cage by same owner deal with not eating and restlessness for a short period. They're intelligent by our standards and thrive on predictability. Next, it's also end of winter, which is their slowing down time. Eat and move less. 

Mine are from tegusonly as well. Ultimately, they're happy eating about anything. Best food is frozen/ thawed mice as a staple, some organ meat, high quality wet dog food, a little fruit, and miscellaneous raw ground turkey and beef and pieces of raw tilapia. They are a gourmet garbage can. Please post a pic of Monte. 

Ditch the repti boost.


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## AmberMcNutty (Mar 18, 2016)

This is Monte


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## AmberMcNutty (Mar 18, 2016)

I was able to get him to eat 1 pinkie mouse today that had been rolled around in raw egg...that that's the only thing he has eaten in a few days. Most food he just turns his nose up at and refuses to touch. The ONLY time we seem to have luck...is if said food is drenched in raw egg. Which I guess is understandable, considering it's prime food out in the wild...and we use fresh organic brown eggs...Or maybe I'm reaching too far there? 
I've just read several times over that mice/rats are too fatty to be a staple food....same for egg. But right now, I'll take what I can get.


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## Walter1 (Mar 18, 2016)

Nice are fine. The tegu is also young and needs a balanced diet to grow properly. When I got my first tegu from tegusonly, for a few weeks at best she'd only lap up raw eggs but lost no weight- plump thighs, tail, etc. Then, she commenced to eat nearly anything. Still doesn't like wet dog food. 

Offer food every other day in a dish/bowl in the morning before he wakes up. He'll eat when ready.


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## AmberMcNutty (Mar 18, 2016)

Yeah, he does that! He likes to slurp up the raw egg and wiggle his tongue around in there, lol. 
I use a shallow plate with a lip on it....so he doesn't have to reach for it and it won't just spill over the edges. To be honest, I stole the plate from my 5 year old, lol. 
I guess we'll just keep trying and hope for the best. 
Thanks for the pointers.


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## BaiYing509 (Mar 28, 2016)

AmberMcNutty said:


> Yeah, he does that! He likes to slurp up the raw egg and wiggle his tongue around in there, lol.
> I use a shallow plate with a lip on it....so he doesn't have to reach for it and it won't just spill over the edges. To be honest, I stole the plate from my 5 year old, lol.
> I guess we'll just keep trying and hope for the best.
> Thanks for the pointers.


I am in no way an expert and I don't have experience with captives but tegusonly does post a video of the diet he feeds. Did you try avocado and the turkey meal that your tegu is used to eating from tegusonly? Maybe the familiar food for a while and then start mixing in the pinkies and other foods you want your 'gu to eat.


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## AmberMcNutty (Mar 28, 2016)

Yes, we did try that. I contacted him directly and we tried to match the diet as much as we could. When that didn't work he suggested that I come here. 
Monte is *thankfully* eating pretty well now. We gave him a good 3 days and then tried food again first thing in the morning...he at 3 ground turkey and ground chicken meatballs, some raw egg and 2 tiny fuzzy mice. 
We're going to continue this little diet we have and slowly add in new things.


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## BaiYing509 (Mar 28, 2016)

AmberMcNutty said:


> Yes, we did try that. I contacted him directly and we tried to match the diet as much as we could. When that didn't work he suggested that I come here.
> Monte is *thankfully* eating pretty well now. We gave him a good 3 days and then tried food again first thing in the morning...he at 3 ground turkey and ground chicken meatballs, some raw egg and 2 tiny fuzzy mice.
> We're going to continue this little diet we have and slowly add in new things.


Awesome, so glad to hear he is eating well!


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