Refuses to eat whole foods

[Lizz]

The previous owner of my tegu only fed her dog food, and now she won't eat anything else.
I offer her berries, veggies, mice and fruit everyday but she only eats the dog food (which is the same stuff I feed my dog, it's a brand called "Vaisto")
I'm pretty sure the dog food isn't bad for her because it's really good stuff with mostly meat, bones and organs, but she needs to eat other things too.

So, anyone know how to get her to eat better?

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Not had any problems with whole foods myself but I've read that people slit the bellies of the fuzzys to entice their appittites more...
Alpha doesn't eat veggies either so I'm thinking of juicing them up and mixing some in with his daily foods to try and give him/her the taste and in the long run wet his appittite for these too.

 

[Walter1]

Along those lines, you could add a few pinks or fuzzies in the dog food. Gradually increase the ratio.

 

[Lizz]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that, and see if she'll eat it

 

[TeguPuppy]

I had an issue with Alice refusing to eat mice that weren't chopped in half. It turned out, she just needs the smell of blood to put her in feeding mode...now I just prick them to draw a bit of blood and she goes to town.

Maybe that helps?

Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

 

[Lizz]

I had an issue with Alice refusing to eat mice that weren't chopped in half. It turned out, she just needs the smell of blood to put her in feeding mode...now I just prick them to draw a bit of blood and she goes to town.

Maybe that helps?

Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

I'll certainly try, thanks for the tip!

 

[Zyn]

I used to have the opposite problem with Sev, all he wanted was F/T baby rats and he'd go nuts thrashing and bitting them in half, then not want anything else lol. Now he eats everything in sight though but I can tell he'd enjoy a nice baby baby rat instead of his ground turkey/beef liver mix. He gets 2 small rats every 5 days now. At 4 months old though he's eating less getting ready to hibernate I think. Only coming out to eat or bask about every three days.

 

[Walter1]

I used to have the opposite problem with Sev, all he wanted was F/T baby rats and he'd go nuts thrashing and bitting them in half, then not want anything else lol. Now he eats everything in sight though but I can tell he'd enjoy a nice baby baby rat instead of his ground turkey/beef liver mix. He gets 2 small rats every 5 days now. At 4 months old though he's eating less getting ready to hibernate I think. Only coming out to eat or bask about every three days.

Zyn- You've got a good understanding captive care of tegus.

 

[Zyn]

Thanks Walter feels good hearing that. Just hoping to continue to gaining knowledge from this forum and apply it to keeping Severus happy and healthy.

 

[Lizz]

I thought I should update the situation:
I've tried to cut up the mice, but she's not interested at all.
Only time I've gotten her to eat veges is when I stuff them into her dog food so no pieces are visible (If they are visible she won't eat it)
So I can only cram about four small carrot pieces in there without her noticing.

I have however found one other food she really likes, raw quail eggs (haven't tried boiling them yet, because I've gotten mixed feedback on if it's a good idea to boil eggs or not)

My only hope is that she will become hungrier when spring comes, because at the moment she only eats about one quail egg or dog food ball a week.

If anyone has any other suggestions to get her to eat better I'm all ears!

 

[Zyn]

Ground turkey beef liver and some cod liver oil instead of dog food. Make sure temps are correct that's about it unless she's cooling down for winter. My young blue before cool down would destroy some dubia and his F/T rats he tore apart and gulped down like it was thanksgiving at fat camp

 

[dpjm]

That dog food "Vaisto" seems pretty good as far as dog food goes, at least as far as I can tell. Look at the package and see if you can find a calcium and phosphorus amount. That is important - it will tell you if you need to add extra calcium supplement into the food. Let us know what they are and we can help you, Also look into the fat content.

As far as eggs go, either way is fine. What I used to do is separate the whites from the yolk then cook the whites and run the raw yolk on over top to serve. Though I don't think this has been shown in reptiles, humans can only absorb about 60% of the protein in raw eggs but over 90% in cooked eggs.

 

[Tegunation]

Alto of tegus will refuse Veggies and fruits its a hit or miss. Dog food is good for tegus i know Ty Park in florida only feeds his tegus dog food and he produces 1500+ babies a year. Try fish i give my tegus salmon and they love it.

 

[Guman]

I have been looking in to whole prey do to an ill gu. I am curious if you used whole ground prey to reduce. For example, mixed it with the dog food and slowly increased the maybe you could cut out dog food.