Question about diet

[isislima2]

Hi there,
I have a almost 4months old tegu called Gnarlo. He is a sweet heart but still learning how to deal with his own instincts.
My problem right now:
I’ve been feeding him superworms and he absolutely love it more than anything! I like to give it to him because I noticed he gets more consistent stools adding those to the diets - otherwise his poop is always runny.
But the problems with the worms is that he loves to hunt them as well, so right now all he’s focused the whole time it to hunt everything that moves around him.
I’d love to stop with the worms so he can stop this “hunting” behavior but I’m not sure what food I could use to replace it for that can help to keep his poop “looking good”.
Any advice?

 

[Stellalife1]

Hi there,
I have a almost 4months old tegu called Gnarlo. He is a sweet heart but still learning how to deal with his own instincts.
My problem right now:
I’ve been feeding him superworms and he absolutely love it more than anything! I like to give it to him because I noticed he gets more consistent stools adding those to the diets - otherwise his poop is always runny.
But the problems with the worms is that he loves to hunt them as well, so right now all he’s focused the whole time it to hunt everything that moves around him.
I’d love to stop with the worms so he can stop this “hunting” behavior but I’m not sure what food I could use to replace it for that can help to keep his poop “looking good”.
Any advice?

He should be able to start on a mash. This consists of ground turkey, talapia, egg yolk with shells green beans, parsley, blueberries raspberries, chicken liver, heart, gizzards and dried omnivore mix. There are many variations to this type of feeding as far as what you put into it. Calcium powder & vit D every 2nd 3rd feeding. All in a food processor to form " meatballs" that you can freeze to cut down on food prep. I always tap un the food dish & call to my female when feeding. No tapping, no food. He will catch on very quickly! They are very smart. I tong feed also. Make sure you go into his enclosure on a daily basis to just move things around so he gets to know it's not only his enclosure. Put a well worn (stinky) t-shirt of yours and put it in his hide. At that age they eat everyday so stick with it! They will not starve themselves, they are opertunistic eaters. Good luck! I hope this helps!

 

[isislima2]

He should be able to start on a mash. This consists of ground turkey, talapia, egg yolk with shells green beans, parsley, blueberries raspberries, chicken liver, heart, gizzards and dried omnivore mix. There are many variations to this type of feeding as far as what you put into it. Calcium powder & vit D every 2nd 3rd feeding. All in a food processor to form " meatballs" that you can freeze to cut down on food prep. I always tap un the food dish & call to my female when feeding. No tapping, no food. He will catch on very quickly! They are very smart. I tong feed also. Make sure you go into his enclosure on a daily basis to just move things around so he gets to know it's not only his enclosure. Put a well worn (stinky) t-shirt of yours and put it in his hide. At that age they eat everyday so stick with it! They will not starve themselves, they are opertunistic eaters. Good luck! I hope this helps!

Thank you for the reply.

Yeah, I actually do all that.
It’s not that he is aggressive - he is a total sweetheart - it’s just that he is getting confused with the worms and the fingers movement.

I feed him mixed veggies, meat (chicken, turkey, fish, shrimp, pork in small amounts), eggs, sometimes fresh dog food and fruits. Whatever makes a nutritious mix. I add calcium almost every meal (at least every other meal).
But nothing besides the worms seems to keep his stool hard and that’s my concern - I don’t want him to have runny poops and get dehydrated.
Any specific food that could help with it?
I’ll take a look in this dry omnivore mix, that sounds like it could work.
Any specific brand to recommend?
Thank you so much!

 

[isislima2]

Btw, here is my little one:

 

[Acre]

I've had great luck with ReptiLinks - they're 90% or more of my tegu's diet - but they are expensive.
No supplements necessary though - supplements actualy throw off the balance of the diet or so ReptiLinks advises.

 

[Stellalife1]

I've had great luck with ReptiLinks - they're 90% or more of my tegu's diet - but they are expensive.
No supplements necessary though - supplements actualy throw off the balance of the diet or so ReptiLinks advises.

Thank you for the reply.

Yeah, I actually do all that.
It’s not that he is aggressive - he is a total sweetheart - it’s just that he is getting confused with the worms and the fingers movement.

I feed him mixed veggies, meat (chicken, turkey, fish, shrimp, pork in small amounts), eggs, sometimes fresh dog food and fruits. Whatever makes a nutritious mix. I add calcium almost every meal (at least every other meal).
But nothing besides the worms seems to keep his stool hard and that’s my concern - I don’t want him to have runny poops and get dehydrated.
Any specific food that could help with it?
I’ll take a look in this dry omnivore mix, that sounds like it could work.
Any specific brand to recommend?
Thank you so much!

Egg whites can make his stools alittle runny. Im really not sure of brand as far as omnivore mix. He should be getting cacium every day and vit D 3-4x per week. As far as his stools being alittle runny, I think that is fine as long as all your temps & humidity. Are on point. If you have a meat grinder, you can use more whole pray items like whole chicken with neck gizzards, heart, liver ( just be careful of anything stringy like those long simues. You find in chicken, liver, gizzards) salmon, or whole day old chics, duck Quale... whole mango guava, kiwi, collard greens. It could be the fruits that would cause his poop to be runny. If its not super runny & he is doing well, I wouldn't really worry about it...

 

[Stellalife1]

I've had great luck with ReptiLinks - they're 90% or more of my tegu's diet - but they are expensive.
No supplements necessary though - supplements actualy throw off the balance of the diet or so ReptiLinks advises.

Reptilinks are a whole pray food as far as I know. That's why there is no need for calcium or other vitamins. I started my 2st tegu an Rapashy grub pie then started adding ground turkey, talapia and just kept adding and using the grub pie as a powder to dry out the mixture a bit. Rose City Reptiles has alot of great information about everything to do with tegus on youtube. You may find answers about runny stools there

 

[isislima2]

Thank you all for the thoughtful answers. I’ll keep experimenting with different things.
I’ve watched the rose city videos - that’s where my little guy comes from - it’s very informative. Maybe I need to get myself a meat grinder. Haha