Enrichment

[Guman]

Let's your ideas for enrichment for your Tegus.

 

[Walter1]

An outdoor or extremely latge enclosure, hide mice in various places.

 

[Guman]

An outdoor or huge enclosure, hide mice in various places.

Walter, I have been thinking about hiding food. Have taken him out a few times, and Ragu freaks out and tries biting everyone. Also, not much time for him to spend outside in the Colorado mountains bc not often do we see 80. I am thinking about adding some ledges and a tunnel network. We kept his enclosure simple at first because of his mobility problems. However, he has come a long way, and I do think he could handle changes such as a ledge. Hiding the food a great idea.

 

[Guman]

An outdoor or huge enclosure, hide mice in various places.

O' and his current enclosure is 8x4x4. Substrate still the pet paper clumps that we used after all his hospital care for his recurrent prolapse's. But, it has been almost a year since we had one. One thing we do is no over feeding, and he is still on large mice. Rats will make him prolapse, or full chicks do the same.

 

[Walter1]

Mine are fed medium-size mice for more small food. Also, their calcium level is higher than large old females. Every bit helps.

I wonder if you could place a mouce in a rubber toy that they can eventually extract. Reminds me of peanut butter in a kong for dogs???

 

[Godzilla Earth]

Also try not to leave the mice for too long or you risk having all kind of nastys on the mice. (though he'll probably find them before that)

 

[Guman]

Also try not to leave the mice for too long, or you risk having all kinds of nasty on the mice. (though he'll probably find them before that)

Yuck, no one wants that! Most of the time, we hang his mice in the enclosure to thaw, and he tries to get them. Guess that is enrichment in its own way. But, he is very interested during the thaw.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Yes I'm also thinking of a large collapsible (Due to rental regulations) Outdoor enclosure.

I also prefer to feed smaller mice at bigger quantities too.

I once attached a chicken thigh dangling on wire from the top of the enclosure (I never let it out my sight and had perfect access just incase) to give Alpha something new........ He loved tugging on it and death rolling pulling chunks off...... but I decided this was encouraging more instinctive and wild behaviour with still having a juvenile Colombian and all its bad reputation...... May try again come to think of it now Alpha is older and I have more trust with him.

I was also thinking of maybe setting him up a shrimp pond or something maybe ???????

And, or snails too????

 

[Walter1]

Hadn't thought of hanging food for them to work at.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

I thought it would be good exercise and work out....... Alpha was under 1 the only time I tried it though and I was still building trust so because of the way he bounced at the meat due to still being skittish I chose to put it on hold...... But I now have full confidence in him and he takes his food more gently so this could be fun for both of us.

could maybe also put honey in a kong or tennis ball and hang it so he can lick it out????

 

[Walter1]

Given their wide-foraging strategy and keen sense of smell and sight, I think any activity that encourages search and extract is a good direction to go for their enrichment.

Feeding mine is akin to slopping hogs. However, seeing them move around a lot during feeding got me to thinking about hiding some of the food and placing individual mice far from the food platter encouraged search activity. Tongue-flicking, hunting, searching. Then, they flop in a sunny spot for a few hours.

In that regard, when I tong-feed my Eastern North American rat snakes with frozen thawed mice I provide them with a brief struggle for similar reasons. ,

 

[Godzilla Earth]

In that regard, when I tong-feed my Eastern North American rat snakes with frozen thawed mice I provide them with a brief struggle for similar reasons. ,

I feed my californian kingsnake that same way. even though he's a little guy, he has an enormas amount of power! (heard a snap one time from the mouse.. Yikes!)

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Gonna try one of these

 

[Walter1]

Gonna try one of these

Eager to see how he responds.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

I'll try to remember to let you know

 

[Guman]

I thought it would be good exercise and work out....... Alpha was under 1 the only time I tried it though and I was still building trust so because of the way he bounced at the meat due to still being skittish I chose to put it on hold...... But I now have full confidence in him, and he takes his food more gently so this could be fun for both of us.

could maybe also put honey in a kong or tennis ball and hang it so he can lick it out????

Never thought about honey, it safe for Tegus?

 

[Guman]

I'll try to remember to let you know

Video it please!

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Never thought about honey, it safe for Tegus?

I've read that it is and Alpha has had it Quite a few times on his dinner with no problems .

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Video it please!

The Toy arrived yesterday so on my next day off I'll try to catch some thing....... I also put him 16 snails in last night (first time) so lets see if I get home to any....lol

 

[Walter1]

Eager for the update.