No UVB

[Matthew Colella]

Hi guys I was out of town fro two days and didn't have Jumanji's UVB bulb on. As soon as I got home I went to turn on his lights and one wouldn't turn on. I found him under his rock and woke him up. He was shaking pretty bad and wouldn't eat. After being under the remaining light for a bit he stopped shaking but still won't eat. I would appreciate any suggestions on what to do. Thanks

 

[Roadkill]

Increase the calcium content of the diet, replace your bulbs, get a measure of the UVB your tegu is getting exposure to, get some blood work done by a qualified veterinarian. Under a good, healthy regime, 2 days without UV exposure should not result in your animal having tremors. The fact that you're seeing this is an indication that your tegu is probably just skimming the lower limit of a healthy calcium regime and any error results in an immediate health problem. This is not good.

 

[Matthew Colella]

Well I found out his heating pad was off. He just ate 13 crickets (7 were dusted)

 

[Roadkill]

I'll reiterate: The fact that you're seeing this is an indication that your tegu is probably just skimming the lower limit of a healthy calcium regime and any error results in an immediate health problem. This is not good.

Or to put it in other words, your tegu should be able to go a month without UVB or calcium supplementation and still not experience this. Feeding invertebrates? EVERY insect should be supplemented with calcium. You should also look into gut loading. While being cold will typically make a tegu's movement uncoordinated, I'd still highly recommend re-evaluating your husbandry.

 

[Al914]

The vet can/should/would administer a vitamin D shot and provide you with liquid calcium to administer at home.
Keep that in mind if it progresses.
Also, depending on the size, feeding small/medium rats will provide a good source of calcium, amongst other nutrients....
try rubbing some egg on a rat(frozen/thawed) also if it's not eating right away...they seem to be weak for eggs

 

[RickyNo]

I feed mine two mice a day along with fruits, I really dont have anything to dust with calcium but from what I read a good whole prey diet he shouldnt need calcium suppliments?

 

[Matthew Colella]

Well I can't feed him mice or rats yet, he Is only 6 months.

 

[Al914]

Ah, rat pups/pinkies?

 

[tegu.crz]

I am a little confused. I am a new owner so maybe I am not understanding. Through my research I have come to the conclusion they rodents should rarely be fed as they are so high in fat. Its my understanding we should feed mostly poultry for meets, bones, organs etc. This and eggs should make up about 75% of the diet and about 25% should be fruits and veggies. Now I know young ones eat mostly insects or you can purchase ground poultry including the bones and organs at places such as hare-today.com. have I misunderstood something? I keep seeing people talking about feeding rodents.....

 

[Matthew Colella]

I thought you couldn't feed s pinkies until they are yearlings

 

[RickyNo]

I am a little confused. I am a new owner so maybe I am not understanding. Through my research I have come to the conclusion they rodents should rarely be fed as they are so high in fat. Its my understanding we should feed mostly poultry for meets, bones, organs etc. This and eggs should make up about 75% of the diet and about 25% should be fruits and veggies. Now I know young ones eat mostly insects or you can purchase ground poultry including the bones and organs at places such as hare-today.com. have I misunderstood something? I keep seeing people talking about feeding rodents.....

NOOOOOOOOO you are all a s s backwards! Why cant your tegu eat mice at 6 months? My Loki turns 7 months old on the 4th and for the past month now he has been eating 2 large mice a day and about 15 to 20 berries mixed with other fruit. I'll tell you what I have learned from many on here. Eggs should be a treat not something daily. Something in it can cause this or that idk. Although a bit more expensive a whole prey diet is whats best for your tegu. buying ground meats mixed with this or that is not giving him everything he needs nutrient wise... Having the entire prey will allow him to get his nutrients from the entire body and get his calcium from the bones.

Your tegu basking temp should be 125-138ish, ambiet temp low 80's. Buy a heat gun, constantly measures the surface temp, he needs that heat to digest a whole prey diet. As long as you keep your temps good he will have no problem getting fur in one end and out the other...I thought at first all i needed was whole prey twice a week up untill my little 3 month old Loki got mbd. I quickly changed up the diet and he is all well now. humidity at 75-80% consistently. I have a thermostat in my enclosure. It controls my humidity and my ambient temp with a heat emitter. two 4ft 10.0 uvb bulbs to keep the uvb flowin. Im not going to write a book but thats just a head start. Search old threads or ask new questions you'll quickly find out how much your not doing right realll quick...

 

[tegu.crz]

Wow way to be encouraging. Like I said, before we got our tegu we did a lot of research. Saying I will "quickly find out how much your not doing right" was a little much. Obviously we know enough cause she had a loving owner before us and the old owner trusted us to be the new owners. I posted for encouragement not discouragement. I don't think that's what this forum is for. And my topic was diet not heating and humidity.

The old owner was feeding her whole chicks. Through my research I think this is a great diet. In the wild small birds and eggs are shown to be one of their main food sources. What are other people's opinions on this? Just rodents, just poultry, just fish or some combination of these?

 

[RickyNo]

Sorry man, im super stoneddd

 

[RickyNo]

But fine be that way! Learn some **** on your own!

 

[Al914]

While different animals, I tend to think of it this way... snakes don't eat anything but whole prey...you never need to add calcium or vitamins -ever because the whole prey provides all the nutrients they need.
I need to find the site, but there was a comparison of mice vs rats vs DOC (day old chicks) as far as nutrients
I thought DOC would have been best...but no, RATS are the most nutrient dense of the 3. Also a rat the size of a mouse, is more nutritious than that same size mouse.
If your tegu cannot eat a small rat yet, go for rat pups.

 

[Deac77]

Hmm personally I wouldn't feed a ground meat diet, they are way incomplete. I've fed whole prey since day one with no problems. The key is variety. Most ays my meals go like this,

2 mice, 1 chicks, some form of whole fish and a fruit or berry.

Yes you asked for diet questions but the heating is part of it. If the animal isn't properly heated they can't properly digest.

I'd forget the ground stuff and insect and switch to whole prey. Road kill is right your gu should be able to go much longer than 2 days without a problem if re-evaluate your husbandry

 

[tegu.crz]

I think there may be some confusion. My tegu is totally healthy. We have her on whole prey diet with a small amount of fruit and veggies. She eats chicks. It's what her old owners always fed her. We have all the right lighting and that wasnt my concern. The only thing I was questioning was the food because through my research I see a lot of different opinions. Thanks for the input. We will definitely look into adding some rats into her diet.

 

[Mootworm]

I think there may be some confusion. My tegu is totally healthy. We have her on whole prey diet with a small amount of fruit and veggies. She eats chicks. It's what her old owners always fed her. We have all the right lighting and that wasnt my concern. The only thing I was questioning was the food because through my research I see a lot of different opinions. Thanks for the input. We will definitely look into adding some rats into her diet.

You can never do enough research! New information on captive husbandry practices come out on a daily basis, I'm constantly reading to make sure my care is up to date. I too thought ground turkey would be sufficient as a staple protein source when I first started my research. I still offer it, but Molly also gets rats or soft furs as well (2-3 per meal), in addition to a sea food item every day or so. She looooves to chow down on her rodents. I figure it can't hurt to offer everything Anything that doesn't have bones in it gets dusted.

 

[maxxdout]

Wow....this is different from other forums I've been on. Were supposed to help each other out and be encouraging. That's why people ask questions. If they're doing something wrong, there IS a tactful way to correct them. I'm kind of scared to see the replies to my post now.