Diet

[CharliesMomnDad]

Hello all,

So first let me say this... I am afraid I am going to get flamed when I post this. My girlfriend and I are first time Tegu owners, and we want to give the best to our tegu. When we bought him about 9 months ago, I expressed to the guy that I wanted an exotic pet, but had an issue with feeding rodents to them. I have had rodents as pets and have a soft spot for him. He said, "No problem! You can feed tegu turkey and calcium supplement. It's fine."

Well I revisit this store recently, and they inquired about Charlie (our tegu). I received harsh criticism since we have never fed Charlie any rodents. We have fed him lean ground turkey meat with cod liver oil and ZooMed Repti-Calcium powder with no vitamin D. We have also attempted fruits and veggies, but he has no interest. For the last 2 months, we've been giving him cooked scrambled eggs as well. And when we have it, gizzards from chickens and turkeys.

Charlie is super active, walks completely upright (no belly dragging), very alert and curious, and shows zero signs of anything negative. But yet, we are concerned. I am pretty inexperienced and think he looks great, but maybe there is something I am not seeing or who knows.

So I open this to you all in hopes that I can receive hopefully lighter criticism and be guided in the right direction. Or maybe we are doing just fine. I will get some pictures together to see what you all think.

 

[tommyboy]

We would love to see some pics of Charlie. It all sounds fine to me. I would recommend using something else with bones in it if you choose to not use rodents. I use cut up chicken wings all the time as well as chicken necks. Just be sure there are no sharp bones sticking out after cutting them up. As long as they are getting the proper amount of calcium they will be fine, regardless of what food they are getting it from. Best of luck.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Welcome to the site and congrats on your first tegu . Just to add to what tommyboy said there are more whole prey items, as well as calcium sources you can feed other than powder supplements and rodents. Now that you're here take some time to read up on some need to know info threads, starting with this food thread under Tegu Articles.

http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=6452

 

[CharliesMomnDad]

Thanks guys. I really don't want to go back to that shop. They were very rude and I may not be educated in Tegus yet, but I will be. I want to be... and they treated me like I didn't care.

Anyhow. I appreciate the input. Reading the article now, and I will definitely look into other avenues for food!

 

[m3s4]

There is no scientific proof that I'm aware of that says feeding whole prey items is better then non-prey items with good supplementation.

Calcium is calcium.
Protein is protein.
The list goes on when it comes to nutrients.

Their bodies can only utilize, as well as absorb, so many nutrients and today's vitamin and mineral regiment of high-quality supplements is just fine.

I've never fed any of my tegus any live rodents and my 6 year old female is doing completely fine on ground turkey, eggs (mixed with shell), chicken gizzards/hearts and fish with good calcium powder, calcium liquid and a multi-vitamin supplement.

I've fed her a few frozen mice in the past, but very sparingly and only to offer her a little more variation in her diet, though she never refuses the above mentioned items.

There are also studies that have shown rodents to be problematic in terms of fat, so a strict rodent diet could be problematic in itself.

Quote "A strict rodent diet is not recommend either, as such a high fat diet will defiantly lead to an obese lizard. As it is, most people love to feed their tegus rodents such as mice and rats. Just be aware rodents are like McDonalds for many reptiles (you've seen Super Size Me, haven't you?)"

Your diet for your tegu is just fine. However, it sounds like the people you purchased him from need to learn a thing or two about the reps they sell.

my2.

 

[Dubya]

Hello all,

So first let me say this... I am afraid I am going to get flamed when I post this. My girlfriend and I are first time Tegu owners, and we want to give the best to our tegu. When we bought him about 9 months ago, I expressed to the guy that I wanted an exotic pet, but had an issue with feeding rodents to them. I have had rodents as pets and have a soft spot for him. He said, "No problem! You can feed tegu turkey and calcium supplement. It's fine."

Well I revisit this store recently, and they inquired about Charlie (our tegu). I received harsh criticism since we have never fed Charlie any rodents. We have fed him lean ground turkey meat with cod liver oil and ZooMed Repti-Calcium powder with no vitamin D. We have also attempted fruits and veggies, but he has no interest. For the last 2 months, we've been giving him cooked scrambled eggs as well. And when we have it, gizzards from chickens and turkeys.

Charlie is super active, walks completely upright (no belly dragging), very alert and curious, and shows zero signs of anything negative. But yet, we are concerned. I am pretty inexperienced and think he looks great, but maybe there is something I am not seeing or who knows.

So I open this to you all in hopes that I can receive hopefully lighter criticism and be guided in the right direction. Or maybe we are doing just fine. I will get some pictures together to see what you all think.

Sounds like what I feed mine. He is doing great. I give him other meats and a few bugs now and then. Try some beef heart too. It is extremely nutritious. I also have a soft spot for small mammals and part of the reason I got the tegu was because I wouldn't have to feed it rodents. Try food grade bone meal in your tegu's food.