Is my tegu over weight?

[QueenElara]

Hey everyone I'm new here and my beautiful girl is an Argentine Black and white tegu (named Elara) and she is my pride and joy! My husband bought her for me and she's about a year old now (rough estimate).

She eats really well but lately after her second full shed, she is going crazy about food. I was feeding her rat pups. She doesn't like any fruits or veggies.

The last week I switched it up and started giving her raw turkey. Since her behavior change with food, I started feeding her every other day (she was only eating 2 to 3 times a week). But now I'm worried she's getting over weight. I'm thinking maybe feed her in the same time frame but less food? She's only eating about 3 table spoons worth of turkey (very rough estimate!).

I just want to make sure I am doing what's best for her and keeping her healthy!
Attached are some pictures of her just to see how big her belly is.

 

[TheTeguNovice]

Congrats on the Tegu, she's not fat she's just growing. Tegu's grow at a very quick rate and when they are about to take off they start to throwdown. Try to give her a varied diet, whole prey is essential, ground turkey seasoned w/ calcium and fruits if possible.

 

[QueenElara]

Congrats on the Tegu, she's not fat she's just growing. Tegu's grow at a very quick rate and when they are about to take off they start to throwdown. Try to give her a varied diet, whole prey is essential, ground turkey seasoned w/ calcium and fruits if possible.

Should I keep feeding her when she is hungry /feed her a little less each time? I don't want to over feed her and make her sick.

 

[LizardStudent]

The general guidelines I have seen are: for a baby (up to six ish months) feed everyday until they are full. For a juvenile (six months to a year) feed every two days roughly, i still feed until they are full. After that generally decrease, as an adult they will eat every 3-4 days. As they get older, gradually increase the amount of fruits/veggies being offered. I still gave my girl fruits as a baby, but it was hard to get her to eat veggies so I switched to reptilinks to be sure she was getting everything she needed. If I were you, I would still feed her the rat pups with the turkey intermittently. She probably doesn't want to eat fruits/veggies because she knows if she holds out on it, you'll give her a tasty rat or something she likes better. Try to blend some finely shredded veggies into her turkey to make sure her diet is balanced. At a year old and over, if she gets no fruits or veggies she will likely become overweight over time

 

[QueenElara]

The general guidelines I have seen are: for a baby (up to six ish months) feed everyday until they are full. For a juvenile (six months to a year) feed every two days roughly, i still feed until they are full. After that generally decrease, as an adult they will eat every 3-4 days. As they get older, gradually increase the amount of fruits/veggies being offered. I still gave my girl fruits as a baby, but it was hard to get her to eat veggies so I switched to reptilinks to be sure she was getting everything she needed. If I were you, I would still feed her the rat pups with the turkey intermittently. She probably doesn't want to eat fruits/veggies because she knows if she holds out on it, you'll give her a tasty rat or something she likes better. Try to blend some finely shredded veggies into her turkey to make sure her diet is balanced. At a year old and over, if she gets no fruits or veggies she will likely become overweight over time

That's an amazing idea! I'm definitely going to try mixing veggies in. I tried giving her fruits instead of meat when she was really hungry. She just refused to eat it even though she was hungry.

 

[LizardStudent]

That's an amazing idea! I'm definitely going to try mixing veggies in. I tried giving her fruits instead of meat when she was really hungry. She just refused to eat it even though she was hungry.

My girl will also only eat certain fruits, some she turns her nose up at every time I offer it, some she only eats occasionally if she's in the mood, and some she seems to almost always enjoy, so it could also be a matter of still trying to find what she likes

 

[QueenElara]

My girl will also only eat certain fruits, some she turns her nose up at every time I offer it, some she only eats occasionally if she's in the mood, and some she seems to almost always enjoy, so it could also be a matter of still trying to find what she likes

I just tried your suggestion and mixed sliced carrots in with her raw turkey. She ate it like she didn't even know they were there! Now I'm going to continue doing that and mix in other fruits and veggies to see what I can get her too eat!

 

[LizardStudent]

I just tried your suggestion and mixed sliced carrots in with her raw turkey. She ate it like she didn't even know they were there! Now I'm going to continue doing that and mix in other fruits and veggies to see what I can get her too eat!

Glad it worked! Hopefully that will help get her to eat a better balanced diet more easily