How old before whole prey

[Tkaz285]

Hi all. I recently got Young man by the name of Yoshi from Underground reptiles. He's one of their Ghost tegus and I absolutely adore him. He seems to be really enjoying his new home and settles in and eats a little more everyday.

My question is in regards to whole prey and generally what the rule of thumb is for how big of a rodent they need. He's been on a diet of insects, ground turkey, chicken, salmon, gizzards and hearts and he's been doing pretty well on them thus far and I was thinking of getting some frozen feeders next time I went to the store. Thanks in advance!

 

[Member1421]

I've had my tegu for about a month and a half. I believe he was two months old when I got him and the first thing he ate after some ground rabbit right out of the box was a very small pinkie. After watching him eat and observing his growth only you will be able to determine the appropriate size. I bought a few fuzzies once, and as sinister as it was, I cut them in half to ensure he could handle the general size. Like monitors, they seem to be able to move items down their throats skillfully, but you do not want to risk any situation where they might force it and choke, perhaps causing unnecessary trauma. Hope that helps.

 

[Zyn]

They can handle small pinks days after hatching basically go bye the width of their jaw and that’s about how big they can handle. I’ve seen my female blue take down small eats without issue they take it whole they don’t rip it apart or anything. But when I’ve had rats a bit to large I’ll usually cut them in half and she’s more than happy to take it in two halves lol

 

[Debita]

I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

 

[Member1421]

It's weird what we do for these lizards. I had a few cute frozen hamsters in my freezer that I used to bring a carpet python back from a hunger strike. After realizing they were just sitting idle and the desire for tegu diet variation kicked in, they were quickly blended up in the food processor. Not my proudest moment, but he enjoys it.

 

[Debita]

It's weird what we do for these lizards. I had a few cute frozen hamsters in my freezer that I used to bring a carpet python back from a hunger strike. After realizing they were just sitting idle and the desire for tegu diet variation kicked in, they were quickly blended up in the food processor. Not my proudest moment, but he enjoys it.

Hahahaha!! This is like horribly wonderful. I just said on another post - "we do love our lizards don't we!?" That bugger owns me.