Gelatin base for tegu diet.

[TegusRawsome80]

We already established it was lacking. =)

 

[SomethingTegu]

What kind of gelatin is that, did it come from a jello packet? Sugar or sugar free? I have 5lbs sitting near me of pure unflavored beef gelatin powder that I use as a supplement for myself, it's really cheap in bulk on Amazon. I was thinking about how much it helped me perform in high intensity running and weightlifting with more ease, how we as people generally do not get enough of it in our natural diet, and that animals may not be getting enough of it in their diet if they don't consume whole prey that often.

I would agree with adding fish to the gelatin meal one way or another, to make the protein complete. Adding in some fat to the meal wouldn't hurt. Another thing, if that gelatin is coming from jello type packets I would ditch those due to the "natural"/artificial flavoring which for some natural and artificial flavors have shown some evidence to be bad for human health, so we cannot be sure it has no negative side effects being a part of a reptile's diet.

I was thinking of a way to flavor the gelatin in semi-cooked form without using any shady additives, and one idea that came to mind was buying one of those big bags of mixed berries, thawing a half cup or one full sized cup full, squeezing some of them of their juices into the gelatin mixture, and putting the rest inside the yet to be jello'd gelatin.

Of coarse, I support feeding lots of whole prey, feeder bugs, fruits, and vegetables the most because it's rather obvious how well that works for tegu... But feeding gelatin once or twice a week with the rest of their food some gelatin could possibly be beneficial to the tegu diet.

 

[Dubya]

I majored in Political Science. Now I'm in law school but I work as a broker internationally for a real estate company based in Dubai.

"Sniff" I love you, man!
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[kim86]

This is just one weird ass thread.

 

[Little Wise Owl]

Wow, get your politics out of here. This is a tegu forum.

Regarding the TOPIC OF THE THREAD:
We don't know enough about tegu nutrition to formulate a single food item to be "complete and balanced". In order for this to ever happen, studies and extensive feeding trials would need to be done followed by extensive blood work. You'll have to do a lot of guessing and go through a lot of trial and error to ever come up with something useful. Do you want to risk your tegu's health just so you can make a non-natural diet?

Until we know what exact nutrients a tegu requires to THRIVE (not simply survive), stick to what we know. And what we know is that tegus are scavenging omnivores. Their diet consists of small mammals, birds, insects/arachnids, amphibians, mollusks, fish, eggs, carrion, ripe fruits, and vegetables/leafy greens. While we may not be able to provide the EXACT species a tegu would eat in the wild, I think we have a pretty damn good selection of healthy, whole foods.

Small mammals: Mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, even piglets
Birds: Quail, chicks, whole chopped up chicken (entrails and feathers included)
Invertebrate: Crickets, roaches, superworms, hornworms, earthworms, snails, locusts, mantises
Fish: Sardines, mackerel, smelt, salmon

Not to mention the vast amount of fruit and vegetables easily found in grocery stores along with meaty scraps to even further the variety... A varied diet is easily attainable if you care enough to offer one.

To address you gelatin concoction itself....

Dubya's Down Home Te-Goo:

1 pound (after cooking) gelatin (for protein)
2oz freeze dried insects (your choice)
1tbs calcium carbonate
1/2 tsp Kaytee guinea pig vitamins
1 tsp organic spirulina. (vegetable)

Gelatin is lacking in any real nutrients. Seeing as it's the bulk of the diet, you're essentially just giving your tegu empty calories.

Insects by themselves are mostly useless. What are these insects gutloaded with? Are they even gutloaded at all?

Calcium is necessary but is it enough? What is the Calcium/phosphorus ratio? I would personally use human grade bone meal due to its balanced Ca: Ph ratio.

Kaytee Guinea Pig vitamins... All I can think of is "Why?" First of all a guinea pig is a herbivore and a tegu... is not. Secondly, domestic pet vitamins are usually meant to be fed with an already vitamin enriched diet so the vitamins/mineral amount is reduced. A full dose of a multivitamin for a pet that's already fed a diet enriched with vitamins/minerals would cause more harm than good. Using a domestic pet multivitamin will likely have your tegu missing out on a lot of key vitamins/minerals. Not to mention, you don't know how well your tegu is absorbing said vitamins/minerals or where they were sourced from.

Your diet seems very unbalanced and, in my opinion, quite dangerous if used long term. He might seem fine now but down the road he'll likely start showing health issues and by that time, it may be too late. A varied diet with fresh, whole foods will be 100% more complete and balanced than any homemade mess.

And for the record, I think a rat is more nutritionally complete than any homemade recipe.