Heres what my tegu seller told me..

[Neeko]

He said live prey makes them aggressive at a younger age, bring them back to there instinctual hunting. Turkey and zoo med tegu diet x1 a week is what he does and is best. Put my 2 in a 40 breeder and after a couple of months and getting a feel how fast they grow to out them in a bigger enclosure. I know every seller breeder all have their own opinions, own data or none to back them. Question is im sure each of them should be in their own 40 breeder being close to or at a foot. Or bigger im trying to decide, i posted about it on another thread about height. Is whole prey better the same or worst as turkey, variety the best? I normally do turkey and dubias since i breed some

 

[spidersandmonsters]

That's what I've always heard. I have never fed live to anything but my spiders, but they're supposed to be aggressive haha

 

[Aardbark]

So far the only think my goo has eaten is live crickets. She ignores the turkey or banana or egg. I have to put them in her cage, cuz she wont let me pick her up and put her into a feeding cage.

 

[Toby_H]

I believe that feeding live prey triggers the predator in our "pet predators"...

Feeding prekilled prey and feeding live prey are very different situations. I believe the 'trigger' in feeding live is the need to capture the fleeing prey. My Tegu eats prekilled frozen/thawed rats, mice and chicks off of a plate all the time and it's never triggered any form of aggression.

From time to time I raise fish to use as food. Tossing a fish in an open area and watching my Tegu attack it is very entertaining to me, but when I did this I did notice a slight change in my Tegu. I quickly learned other ways to offer fish to my Tegu that did not include the need for him to "hunt" or "capture" the fish...

 

[Neeko]

I have a dubia colony, i feel its useless now to a degree.

 

[james.w]

Why do you feel your Dubias are useless??

Variety is best, I feed a mainly whole prey diet, rats/mice/chicks 4-5 days a week. I also feed ground turkey, chicken gizzards/hearts, tilapia filets and shrimp. I plan on adding salmon and chicken necks to his diet.

I was trying greens but he never took to them and as far as fruit I give him some with the turkey and fish.

 

[Neeko]

since that it may trigger a hunter response being live prey.

 

[james.w]

I fed my tegus crickets and Dubias when they were younger and didn't notice any aggression from it. I have even fed live mice recently and didn't notice any aggression.

 

[Aardbark]

Do incests trigger as much of a responce? There seems to be a difference between live bugs and live mice.

A tegu has to hunt and kill the mouse, but with a cricket, a tegu can just casualy walk over to it and eat it.

 

[JohnMatthew]

since that it may trigger a hunter response being live prey.

I freeze my roaches, no more movement usually means no more aggressive feeding response.

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You can even crush their heads if you want more fresh roaches to feed. Their legs will kick for days after a crushed head and no risk of them getting lose and starting to multiply in your house. A bit of leg movement usually isn't enough to trigger a charge/attack feeding response but just enough to catch their attention.

 

[got10]

Do incests trigger as much of a responce? There seems to be a difference between live bugs and live mice.

A tegu has to hunt and kill the mouse, but with a cricket, a tegu can just casualy walk over to it and eat it.

does "WHAT" trigger a response ?

 

[jerobi2k]

the big guy in my pic, eats live prey every week been feeding him live for 3years. he has no food response or anything when I enter his enclosure. he is fed in and out of the enclosure. hes is docile and as tolerant of people as it gets. I am a firm believer in a responsible variety. if you toss food in a enclosure and dont socialize your animals Im sure you will eventually see aggressive behavior.

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I should mention when he was young he was always tub fed live.

 

[CrankbaitJedi]

Sorry, this seems like a bunch of hogwash to me. I am not a proponent of live prey simply because mice/rats can turn a pretty lizard into a cyclops with one misguided bite. I don't think I have thought twice that using its hunting skills on live prey would turn it into some blood-thirsty beast. I feed pre-killed chicks and mice but I throw in live 'moving' dubias so the lizard can play around a bit. I do the same for my cat, never turned him into a man killer either. We really like to be smart and come up with cool theories... But lizards are lizards. They know what live food is and what dead food is... they are pretty smart when it comes to knowing food. Very important to their livelihood.
I just threw in some more live dubias... nope, no aggression. Just chomping of roach guts and licking of lips. Very nice.

 

[Dirtydmc]

My snakes refuse to eat dead things. They are tame as can be. Unless they aren't full when I take them out of the feeding box. And at that, ramses only strikes once. But only if I'm careless when putting my hand in.

 

[Aardbark]

I had to read it a few times to figure out what was wrong with it. Well that doesnt look good. Sorry about that. What I get for haveing dyslexia.