Baby black and white, having trouble eating

[mastroj]

Hello everyone,

I picked up my new black and white argentine saturday. He is awesome, great temperament, beautiful, and tiny. He is great with handleing and he is already exploring the house, and my cats are exploring him. Everything except for his eating is going great. I have been trying to feed him in a seperate enclosure twice a day, but for example today he was having trouble eating to I was left him in with his food for a couple of hours. I have tried tiny peices of soft boiled eggs, tiny peices of ground beef, and 5 wk old crickets. With the beef, when I first got him home he tried a couple of peices. HE has trouble getting them to fit in his mouth so I cut them smaller, since then he hasnt been interested. With the egg the same thing he had a couple of them the first time and since hasnt been interested in them. Today I put both eggs and beef ofcourse with clacium dust on them and he just walked by them. So once he gets bored with the dead food I throw in some crickets. I was told he would be fine with adult crickets but he is awful at catching them and once he does he cant fit them in his mouth. I have thought about putting the crickets in the fridge for a little while so they are nice and slow for him, but I figured I would ask for suggestions here. I also have a bag of chicken gizzards that I got from a whole chicken, but since I cant even get him to eat the beef would it even be worht it to try and grind these up? What do you all normally feed your tegus when they are this small. I attached pictures of him but he is only like 8 to 10 inches in total length.

I appreciate any suggestions, thank you.

 

[ThrillHouse]

well, i would suggest you dont give him any beer until after he has fed.

especially if he prefers dark beer, it kills apetite like nothing else.

(although i approve of samuel adams. its awesome)

 

[themedic]

first off, your tegu is cool looking and has a fat belly so thats good.

I could tell you to feed it some canned wet dog food, but people flame on that idea because its high fat content and preservatives. he could swallow dog food easily because its soft and moist and will break up with each bite your tegu takes, same with canned tuna.

also that tegu is big enough to eat pinky mice, you could get him 2-3 of those and see if he eats them, if he doesnt he probably doesnt know what it is but if he goes for it that is good means he is a killer!!

good luck!

 

[mastroj]

Ok thanks for the suggestions.I wasnt sure if he was big enough for pinkies or not. And with how much trouble he had with swallowing the crickets I wasnt sure. Ill pick one up and see how he does. Since he has lost interest in the other foods should I stop trying, or give him a whole smorgas board of food and see what he eats?

About sam adams, pretty close to the best beer and the best beer company. Their quality is top notch and all of their new beers keep getting better and better. I obviously drink other brands but sam adams is a fail safe.

 

[themedic]

yeah just dont over whelm him with food give him small amounts at a time

 

[mastroj]

Okay so today I tried some canned tuna (in water) not many preservatives. But regardless he didnt even touch it. I gave him about 30 min alone with it and got nothing. Then I threw some crickets in the fridge for about 10 min and then put them in the container with him. He went to town on them. He had atleast a dozen when they were slow and then a few more once the warmed back up and started moving. But still he is only interested in crickets. Is the way I am doing it smart? Offer him something by itself and if he isnt interested throw in some crickets, or is he smart enough to know that I dont need to eat this because crickets are coming soon. I dont know if he has made this association or not. If he doesnt eat what I offer him should I put him back in his tank and then try again like an hour later? I should try soft boiled eggs again last time the yolk was pretty much solid, I am sure he would like it more if it was runny.

And yes I am only giving him a few crumbs of food, if he doesnt go for it then its not much wasted. The thing that kills me is he started to eat the beef but never got any of it down, and hasnt been interested since. Any other suggestions?

 

[ThrillHouse]

another neat trick you can try is to use cod liver oil on the food. it smells really bad, but at least my tegu goes wild over anything with it on.

also, have you tried to boil an egg and mash it up? that stuff is also very popular around here.

edit: oh, you HAd tried eggs, sorry bout that!

 

[reptastic]

i never really had to deal with a picky tegu except for nero lately, who coincedentlly is the only tegu i have that was that size with me, at that size i fed her 2-3x a day but mixed her food up, for the most part she would get a small golf ball size of food, i fed her ground turkey/beef, chicken breast,beef/chicken liver, and boiled egg minced up sometimes with raw egg yolk drizzled on top, and added the tougher meats as she got bigger. when ever i added the calcium i drizzed the cod liver oil on top so she would eat, i gave her 2 pinky mice 2-3x a week. but this only lasted a few weeks because she grewso darn fast! at that size she ate anything that was in her bowl, sometimes she didnt eat much sometimes she ate alot but she always ate something, i think keeping them hydrated plays a key role in their food intake, i gave her a warm bath every single day at that size, and i think that and getting her outside in the sun alot kept her appetite up.

 

[mastroj]

Thanks for the ideas, i have been putting calcium dust on everything. Maybe that is turning him off. Tommorrow I will try some chicken gizard and see if he goes for it, without the calcium dust. During the week I really only have time to feed him once a day but on the weekends I can do more. As mentioned above he still looks good so I am not worried about him I just dont want this to be a behavior setting thing. Where he refuses to eat everything. But by the sounds of it this goes away quickly. Thanks for all the ideas.

 

[mastroj]

I figured I would update everyone on Jager my black and white arg tegu. He is eating good every day and is growing pretty well. After every meal his entire midsection is pretty distended so I know he is full. I dont have a chance to feed him twice during the week but I dont think it is hindering him too much. Today I fed him some chicken, I was preparing my lunch while he was sitting on my shoulder so I offered him a couple scraps by hand. No hesitation and less agression than normal. I dont know if hand feeding had anything to do with it but I hope so. After that I fed him fuzzies for the first time.One of them was pretty damn big and he struggled to get it down. He ended up rupturing it and its guts and some blood were coming out. This was pretty impressive, I didnt think he would have the jaw strength. He ate two and ignored the third one. I took some pics so enjoy!!

 

[mastroj]

Some more pics, including a drawing I did for my custom art business. Criticism is always welcome.

 

[mastroj]

More pics!

 

[chelvis]

Glad to hear his eatting, and eatting well. Have to say i love the name, i got a beagle named Jager.

 

[mastroj]

Thanks Chelvis, yea its a great name and great booze. I love the cream color on the tegus, your tegu sky has a nice look too!

 

[mastroj]

So my tegu ate two fuzzies yesterday and a few scraps of chicken which is more than normal. But the second fuzzie was realy a strugle for him. IT took him about two minutes to get down and he actually ruptured it in the process. Today he was still sleeping when I went in to clean up and once I started misting he woke up. I took him out and everything else. I went to feed him normally and he didnt eat. His torso still looked a little distended as it does after he eats. So I put him in a warm soak and he didnt poop at all. Then offered him more food which he didnt take. This is the first time he hasnt eaten for a while, should I be worried is he just still full?

MAStroj

 

[reptastic]

sometimes after a big meal they will will refuse more food until it fully digest. so no you dont have to worry about that.

 

[mastroj]

Okay awesome thanks alot reptastic. This was my assumption but with how much trouble he ahd I was hoping he didnt damage something.

 

[chelvis]

Sounds like his stuff, they know when they are full although by the amount they eat its hard to belive somtimes.

 

[mastroj]

After a couple of days he was eating normal again. He is spending a little more time in hiding though, maybe eating a little less I am not sure but only time will tell if he is getting ready to hibernate. I would miss him but whatever happens happens.