Baby wont eat except crickets!!

[Beastly]

I've just adopted a baby b&w female and when I put food down she just licks at it instead of biting it but she'll eat crickets, is this normal? She is between 2 and 3 months old. Any ideas why she's doing this?

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

How long have you had it and what are you feeding? What they eat is not all instinct, they also have to learn what's food, good to eat, what's not and when captive that's where we come in. Crickets they usually take easily because they're alive, the movement stimulates them and triggers their feeding response.

 

[Beastly]

How long have you had it and what are you feeding? What they eat is not all instinct, they also have to learn what's food, good to eat, what's not and when captive that's where we come in. Crickets they usually take easily because they're alive, the movement stimulates them and triggers their feeding response.

How long have you had it and what are you feeding? What they eat is not all instinct, they also have to learn what's food, good to eat, what's not and when captive that's where we come in. Crickets they usually take easily because they're alive, the movement stimulates them and triggers their feeding response.

Raw egg, scrambled eggs, tegu food in a can, raw ground chicken, a fruit mixture in a can for tegus. She just licks at it and wont bite it. She drinks water when she's thirsty and has been defecating regularly.

 

[Beastly]

Raw egg, scrambled eggs, tegu food in a can, raw ground chicken, a fruit mixture in a can for tegus. She just licks at it and wont bite it. She drinks water when she's thirsty and has been defecating regularly.

I've had her bout a week now.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

I would cut out the eggs, some tegus get picky and will hold out for certain foods also eggs are not something they would eat everyday, it's seasonal. Canned tegu foods are a waste of money, you're better off making your own that way you can tailor it to what they like and add different things to their diet easily. Idk if you have seen and read this already but here is a food list thread to start with.

http://www.tegutalk.com/threads/tegu-food-list.6446/

Also start offering other whole prey other than crickets. With meat mixes sometimes they take to it quicker if you warm it up and add pungent things like liver, fish and or fish oil. The same goes for fruits just cut up what you already have at home instead of buying the canned most canned foods have unnecessary preservatives and other extras that they don't need anyway. Usually if the fruit's not ripe enough or sweet they won't eat it so you can cut it up, put it in a sandwich bag with some raw unprocessed honey or a little sugar and let it set in the fridge for a couple of days then offer it.

 

[Daniel.lizards]

Try and get feeding tongs and shake um around and make them look more alive. I still have to do this with my savannah monitor or he won't notice mealworms.

 

[Matthew Krzemienski]

Mine used to only eat crickets. Would I started doing was globbing ground meats on the crickets so the tegus would eat the meat as well when they went after the cricket. It worked very well and now mine will eat ground meats without a problem. They actually don't even like crickets anymore and actual prefer the meat.

Matt

 

[Beastly]

I would cut out the eggs, some tegus get picky and will hold out for certain foods also eggs are not something they would eat everyday, it's seasonal. Canned tegu foods are a waste of money, you're better off making your own that way you can tailor it to what they like and add different things to their diet easily. Idk if you have seen and read this already but here is a food list thread to start with.

http://www.tegutalk.com/threads/tegu-food-list.6446/

Also start offering other whole prey other than crickets. With meat mixes sometimes they take to it quicker if you warm it up and add pungent things like liver, fish and or fish oil. The same goes for fruits just cut up what you already have at home instead of buying the canned most canned foods have unnecessary preservatives and other extras that they don't need anyway. Usually if the fruit's not ripe enough or sweet they won't eat it so you can cut it up, put it in a sandwich bag with some raw unprocessed honey or a little sugar and let it set in the fridge for a couple of days then offer it.

I would cut out the eggs, some tegus get picky and will hold out for certain foods also eggs are not something they would eat everyday, it's seasonal. Canned tegu foods are a waste of money, you're better off making your own that way you can tailor it to what they like and add different things to their diet easily. Idk if you have seen and read this already but here is a food list thread to start with.

http://www.tegutalk.com/threads/tegu-food-list.6446/

Also start offering other whole prey other than crickets. With meat mixes sometimes they take to it quicker if you warm it up and add pungent things like liver, fish and or fish oil. The same goes for fruits just cut up what you already have at home instead of buying the canned most canned foods have unnecessary preservatives and other extras that they don't need anyway. Usually if the fruit's not ripe enough or sweet they won't eat it so you can cut it up, put it in a sandwich bag with some raw unprocessed honey or a little sugar and let it set in the fridge for a couple of days then offer it.

Yes I do have the food list that was posted on here. Just thought I would try the canned just for something different. I'm just not sure if she's old enough to start eating meat and fruit and thought I would try a few different things. She'll lick at it to taste it but wont actually eat it as nd was just curious about different ways to entice her to start eating moe protein packed foos since they need alot of protein in the early years to grow and be healthy.

 

[Beastly]

Mine used to only eat crickets. Would I started doing was globbing ground meats on the crickets so the tegus would eat the meat as well when they went after the cricket. It worked very well and now mine will eat ground meats without a problem. They actually don't even like crickets anymore and actual prefer the meat.

Matt

Good idea and thanks for the input. Any ideas are a huge help right now. I just wanna make sure she's getting enough protein since she is so young and small.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

They're old enough from the day they start eating on their own and the sooner you start her on a variety of natural foods the better off both of you will be.

 

[Beastly]

They're old enough from the day they start eating on their own and the sooner you start her on a variety of natural foods the better off both of you will be.

Thank you for the help and insight. I'm sure glad I stumbled upon this website.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Your welcome, that's what it's here for.

 

[Matthew Krzemienski]

Something Ty Park shared with me when I was having the same trouble you are is that he has raised literally 1000s of tegus and while they may go through rough patches, in general tegus figure it out and eventually do what they need to do to survive. It's in our nature as pet owners to worry of course but just keep trying and everything should work out.

Matt

 

[Daniel.lizards]

Matthew, I love the way you put that. It is so true about owning pets.

 

[Beastly]

Matthew, I love the way you put that. It is so true about owning pets.

I agree but with all the reptiles my wife and I have we always worry. I've got 6 lizards and she has 5 ball pythons and a rainbow boa. She has a tiger morph, an xanthic, lemon blast, spider, and a reg ball python but I stay home and take care of all the animals, including the 6 dogs and one cat we have. Lol we've started a mini pet shop but love and care for all our animals as if they were our kids. Lol. Half of our animals were either strays or adoptions.

 

[Daniel.lizards]

What's your pet shop called beastly? And is there a website? I love going to or just checking out websites about the smaller per shops that actually care for their animals instead of the price of them.

 

[Beastly]

What's your pet shop called beastly? And is there a website? I love going to or just checking out websites about the smaller per shops that actually care for their animals instead of the price of them.

Haven't actually went into business yet, this will b our first breeding season and we're very excited to see what new additions we have come spring time. We are currently in the process of setting up a website also. Most of the snakes we've had bout 2 yrs now but the lizards were all acquired in the last 15 months. One of the ball pythons and the tegu were adoptions that people relinquished to a local pet store where we buy most of our supplies at. I just found out yesterday that I have a Columbian not an Argentine tegu. When I said mini pet shop I was being funny not literal, lol sorry if I was misleading but we do plan on going into business very soon.

 

[Brettm]

Nice.
I think she will be fine I bought my B&W in October and she was being a picky eater too. I was worried that she wasn't eating enough and posting my concerns it's kinda funny now how we can overreact must mean we are good pet owners. I would give it a good two-three weeks getting used to you and her new environment. I bet she will be eating like crazy once she is settled in.