Feeding question...

[RickyNo]

I can never find a straight answer on google so I have a few questions that I would greatly appreciate answers to.

How often can I feed a 3 month old tegu pinkies? Or even as an adult?

How often should I give him calcium and multivitamen? If he has uvb he doesnt require d3 right?

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

It depends on what kind of diet you want to provide, some people don't offer whole prey, some only offer a little and some like myself, do mainly whole prey. I believe whole prey should make up a good portion of a diet, especially for a growing young tegu. However pinkies are pretty pointless, not much in the weight of calcium unless they are FULL of fresh milk from mama mouse. so I would always offer the largest prey item they can take, for a 3month old a fuzzy or even a small hopper mouse should be no problem. You would be surprised what they can swallow. The older(or larger) the mouse the more nutrients it will have and more calcium because of the denser and more developed bones. a 3 month old tegu should be fed daily, so I would do 1 fuzzy mouse a day, in addition to other food items and include variety. My adults get fed every 3 days on average, mice being in every meal along with other whole food items (rodents, quail, chick, fish, crawdads, shrimp, snails, large roaches, etc etc) and fruits/veggies.

If you are feeding whole prey, no additional supplements should be needed. I dont dust with calcium or vitamins on my whole prey, but when given any ground meats, fillets, organ meats, eggs or fruits/veggies I heavily supplement... meaning I don't just sprinkle or dust. I really put a good amount on there. I use calcium without d3 as they can overdose on d3 however extra calcium just goes through the body and the body only uses what it needs so no worries about over "calciuming" it. If you arent providing a heavy whole prey diet, I would supplement with calcium on every feeding and then with calcium with d3 2x a week so rotate your supplements.