# NURSING A TEGU BACK TO HEALTH - NEED HELP/ADVICE



## dadasgirl (Jun 11, 2010)

I've made some honest missteps in raising my tegu - but am determined not to give up. I hope you guys who have nursed sickly tegus can lend some advice & prayer for my little guy. 

Tegu Age - 1 1/2yrs - bought as a 6month old hatchling
Tegu Enclosure: 6 x 2 x 2 
Bedding - Cypress Mulch / misted & moistened
Heat - Built in underneath on one side under the hot hide
Light - Power Sun at 1st for 9 months now using the Mega Ray 
Light cycle - 12 hours with light / 12 without
Food - Varnyard raw turkey recipe w/fish oil + eggs + fruit. He never responded to the beef liver. All food dusted with Reptical 
Soakings/Sheddings - We soak once every 2 wks - and when he shows signs of shediing. 
Temperment: Normal - fiesty at 1st, then he calmed down. can be onery - but thats not an issue
Hibernation: He didnt do it - I'm hoping to get him healthy enough to do so.

PROBLEM: Legs/limbs showed sign of weakness - his movement was labored. His behavior was lethargic - he didnt chase the crickets we bought - his gait was slow and abnormal. 

VET SAID: He wasnt getting enough calcium - I ADMIT - I still havent gone through the very 1st bottle I ever bought. I guess I wasnt using enough - my food to vitamin ratio MUST have been too low PLUS we held onto the Power Sun bulb too long - I didnt know the UVB exhausts after 4 months or so. Xray was good - weight was good - no MBD damage but you see my quandry...

REMEDY: Vet has my guy on Calciquid - & says over time the problem will correct itself - my guy has shown improvement - BUT - as he grows I am concerned if he truly will be able to grown into a healthy able bodied adult. Have I scarred/ damaged him for life - Has anybody had experience nursing sickly tegus ...I just need reassurance & advice ..


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## chelvis (Jun 11, 2010)

I'd say vary the diet some more. The turkey diet is great but you still have to offer a variedy of diet. at a year old ditch the crickets, too expensive to feed them that and not worth the tegus energy. Try offering some fish fillets and whole rodents. Best calcium is natural calcium (ie bones found in whole rodents). Thank you for posting all the the basics, just wondering what are your temps on the warm side, one the cool side and at the basking spot. If it was MBD it would have shown on the x-ray, i'm thinking the temps might be too low or the food is too low in something else. 

Post your temps and try varying up the diet. Keep us posted.


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## VARNYARD (Jun 11, 2010)

PROBLEM: No whole prey items, rodents, chicks or quail.

REMEDY: Feed proper diet as seen on the care sheet, whole prey items, rodents, chicks or quail.


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## Pikey (Jun 11, 2010)

i agree 100% he NEEDS the whole pay i'd offer atleast small/med rats or jumbo mice 2-3 times a week (2 small/med rats or 3-4 jumbo mice each time you offer)


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## dadasgirl (Jun 11, 2010)

The temps on the hot side - 85 degrees in his hide ( thats where the built in heat from the bottom is ) 
Basking area underneath the Mega Ray - 101 degrees ( outside the hide )
Temps on the cool side are about 75 degrees - water & another hide is on the cool side. 

My plan was to incorporate baby mice as he got older and bigger. I coulda sworn I read somewhere ( not here though ) that the pinkies are "treats" for a growing tegu and not really a staple. We would give him one very rarely. But these little morsels of nutrients have been lacking from his diet - and I feel like such a bad parent  

I saw one of Varnyard's videos of a tegu poorly cared for and I am trying to do my best to keep from going down that path...

Thanks for the info guys...


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## chelvis (Jun 11, 2010)

Pinkies are treats but at around 5 months (about 20" or so) they should be able to take hoppers. Your tegu should easily be able to take an adult mouse or small rat at one year of age. Pinkies are just fat, bones haven't really developed and organs are not fully working yet. An adult whole mouse or small rat will have lots of bone and organ meat for him.


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## Herplings (Jun 11, 2010)

VARNYARD said:


> PROBLEM: No whole prey items, rodents, chicks or quail.
> 
> REMEDY: Feed proper diet as seen on the care sheet, whole prey items, rodents, chicks or quail.



Absolutely.

I don't Supplement my Tegus and Monitors diets. That is me thou, I'm not say you should or shouldn't. That is up to you. 

But, I do feed whole prey items once ever 3 feedings.

Feed more whole prey items, baby bunnies and rats, hamsters, gribbles, gunie pigs... They all work great. 

Good luck. Keep us posted.


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## carcharios (Jun 11, 2010)

Where do you guys get your whole prey items? I would love to do this but the only pet store close to me is PETCO and the place that does have live mice, rats, pinkies, etc. is 40 minutes away. Can you order them frozen online?

Also, once a tegu has MBD, can it be corrected? Can you be the liquid calcium at a petstore or must that be prescribed?


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## tora (Jun 11, 2010)

Petco has frozen rodents... I actually prefer them to Petsmart as far as brand goes. 

You can get them online.. 
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rodentpro.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.rodentpro.com/</a><!-- m -->
Has a lot of diff items in bulk.

And I've read about tegu's recovering somewhat so long as it's not a severe case. 

Not sure about the store vs described question though.


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## Pikey (Jun 11, 2010)

yeah you can do Rodentpro.com (one of the best site's i think)

my 10 month old Black & White is 3ft (it did hibernate too) will still eat 2-3 large mice in one sitting

so ur 1 1/2yr old should have been "big enough" for mice & rats for almost a year. 
yes pinkies would be a treat for a baby tegu but you really need to get him on some whole prey & soon


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## Herplings (Jun 11, 2010)

My 36 inch Tegu eats small and small/med Rats with out issue.

I only feed her one a sitting thou.


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## MIKE-ZILLA (Jun 11, 2010)

I had the same problem when mine was young . not enough uvb and whole prey items. I corrected it myself with natral sunlight, calcium and by feeding eggs(with the shell and small mice. that was two summers ago and my tegu's doing fine. shes around 33" long and is very active and eats well. I think your gu will be fine. follow the vets instructions and dont forget to feed whole prey items like mice chicks ect. I stopped giving my gu calcium supplements . just feed mice and eggs several times per week. also natral sunlight is very helpfull if its possible to take your gu outside.


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## carcharios (Jun 11, 2010)

Thanks so much for the rodent website. Also, in terms of feeding eggs, I just feed my tegus whole chicken eggs (uncooked). Sometimes they eat the egg shells and sometimes they don't. How much calcium is in the shell anyway? Is it comparable to the amount of calcium found in rodent bones?

I was also wondering if anyone fed their tegus cornish hens? I know they are pretty small and I would think that the tegu could ingest the bones and get some calcium from them. Anyone try this?


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## tora (Jun 11, 2010)

Hm, you should boil the eggs to cook em first, then give the whole thing to them. I heard uncooked eggs aren't great for them because it messes with biotin or something along those lines.


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## mastroj (Jun 11, 2010)

ITs the egg whites that is the problem. If you soft boil them correctly you can make it so the yolk is completely runny but the whites are solid. I put the eggs in cold water bring the water to a boil and after 1min of boiling I run them under cold water and throw ice on them to stop the cooking. They come out perfect for me.


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## carcharios (Jun 12, 2010)

I'll try the softboiling technique, but in the wild, wouldn't they naturally be consuming non-cooked eggs? Why would this be a problem in captivity? Just curious.


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## carcharios (Jun 12, 2010)

I'll try the softboiling technique, but in the wild, wouldn't they naturally be consuming non-cooked eggs? Why would this be a problem in captivity? Just curious.


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## chelvis (Jun 12, 2010)

You don't have to cook them as long as eggs are not being used as a stable. Like Bobby said and im a big beliver in this is variety is key. A tegu will eat raw eggs in the wild why doesn't it muck them up, becuase they then go off and eat a mouse, bird, fruit of some kind or fish or hell scavange a carcuss. The problem with captivity is people start to creat these "perfect" and "conviant" foods for tegus ie the ground turkey and cod liver oil meal. If you read under those directions it says to offer a varied diet and this is just one thing to help with that. 

What i'm saying is raw eggs every now and then are not bad, eggs should be a treat not a main stable of the diet. 

Sorry if this sounds like a rant, but it seems to be a growing problem that people are not offering a good balanced and mixed diet anymore. I admit its a step up from the dog and cat food phase, but it still can cause problems.

For those serving eggs at every meal, try switching to one a week or using quail eggs (smaller and less egg whites) the calcium is the shell is less than that of bone found in a small mouse and most tegus don't eat it. Alot of them just get use to the hi protine and hi colestrol diet and will become picky eaters. 
Just my two cents.


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## eddyjack (Jun 12, 2010)

So chelvis, are you saying feed say a quail egg in it's shell? I have seen raw eggs fed minus the shell but what you say, if I am understanding you right makes sense. Just put an egg in it's shell and let them have at it?

Thanks


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## chelvis (Jun 12, 2010)

Yep i let them have them raw, i waited till my tegu was almost an adult (about 30") before i introduced raw eggs to his diet. Not for nurtrional reasons, but just incase he did injest part of the egg we would be big enough to either swallow it or throw it up with little problem.


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## reptastic (Jun 12, 2010)

chelvis said:


> You don't have to cook them as long as eggs are not being used as a stable. Like Bobby said and im a big beliver in this is variety is key. A tegu will eat raw eggs in the wild why doesn't it muck them up, becuase they then go off and eat a mouse, bird, fruit of some kind or fish or hell scavange a carcuss. The problem with captivity is people start to creat these "perfect" and "conviant" foods for tegus ie the ground turkey and cod liver oil meal. If you read under those directions it says to offer a varied diet and this is just one thing to help with that.
> 
> What i'm saying is raw eggs every now and then are not bad, eggs should be a treat not a main stable of the diet.
> 
> ...



i 100% agree, i have always gave my tegu a huge variety of meats and rodents as well as eggs. but eggs make up the smallest portion of their diet and is only given 2 maybe 3x a month! im a firm believer in having a varied diet is the key to having a healthy tegu, this way they are getting various nutrients from different foods!


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## dadasgirl (Jun 13, 2010)

This info is great - I cant thank you guys enough - the herp vet Rx of calciquid is starting get on my little guys nerves. Its sweetened but we have to use a pet syringe to administer his dosage by mouth and he's starting to associate us with the unpleasantess of getting medicine - not exactly the relationship I want to build. 

My intention has always been to vary the diet - he has been superpicky- like I said - he didnt like the beef - but I know he needs it. And on occasion we would forego feeding for a day or two just so he would be hungry enough to eat something other than eggs & turkey & fruit. He has shown favoritism to horm worms & I'll be getting some pinkies ASAP.


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## chelvis (Jun 13, 2010)

I would avoid pinkie, like people have said they are just fat. Fuzzies or larger if possible. What size is your tegu agian.


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## carcharios (Jun 13, 2010)

Any thoughts on chicken livers? My wife just picked up some for my Gu's. I was initially looking for gizards and hearts but I can't seem to find them anymore. Even walmart, which had tons on the shelf just a few weeks ago, is out.


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## chelvis (Jun 13, 2010)

sure liver won't hurt them.


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## carcharios (Jun 13, 2010)

Well, the liver didn't last long. They snuffed it out immediately. Even Diego came out of hiding to wolf some down.


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