How can I make mice more appealing

[Guest]

I tried feeding my baby a ft pinkie yesterday but it showed little interest.. The pinkie, being ft, was placed onto the feeding dish and set inside the enclosure. My tegu checked it out for a few and then walked off, I'm pretty sure it was the first pinkie its seen. I'm assuming it might take a few tries before it eats the pinkie, is there anything I can do to make the mouse more appealing?

I was tempted to get some tongs but I'm not sure if that would qualify as "hand feeding"...

 

[chelvis]

Just give him time. Some tegus will chow down on inscets for a few months and then switch. Others wont touch insects or mice ever and then its gorun turkey, fish and chicken. I wouldn't worry about it unless his not eatting at all.

 

[slideaboot]

Boosh, my first B/W, wouldn't touch mice at all until after his first hibernation. I think the fact that he was probably STARVING helped in getting him to take mice. However, he wan't very excited about eating mice, ever. He definitely preferred ground turkey and live insects to them. There are a few people on here with MONSTER tegus that hardly, if ever, eat mice.

I definitely would NOT starve a tegu to get it to eat mice, for what it's worth. It's just kinda how it happened with hibernation.

 

[Guest]

I've heard that dipping them in raw egg or putting a few drops of cod liver oil on them sometimes helps.

 

[bruce bull]

Try crushing the skull so that the brains are exposed the smell of the brains can trigger a strong feeding response, or try a live one the movement and killing of the mouse will also trigger a strong feeding response. once he associates the mouse as something good to eat it should not be a problem getting it to eat ft mice.

 

[JohnMatthew]

Since they're f/t cut one in half lengthwise when still frozen. It'll thaw really quick and have some nice smells/colors to get your GU interested.

 

[Guest]

Cool thank you for your answers. I didn't have any cod liver oil laying around but I did make an incision around the pinkies gut and that worked almost instantly.

 

[slideaboot]

Nice work! Rodents are super nutritious and great for natural calcium, in moderation.

 

[Guest]

I was planning on one a week, unless (s)he starts looking plump or thin.

 

[Guest]

I was planning on one a week, unless (s)he starts looking plump or thin.