Tegu feeding and calcium\phosphorus ratio

[LonelyBlackWolf]

Hello everybody!!
so,lately I have been interested in tegus,I even may get one soon,I know that they need a big inclosure(which my dad would easily build) and a lot of attention.
the question that's bothering me is what to feed on a daily basis(I know that most are carnivores and eat meat,insects),should it be a mix of ground meat,eggs,organs,mice\rats,fish and insects daily? I know that variety is a must (and that is no problem to me at all) but it would be good if someone could post a feeding schedule. and what about the calcium-phosphorus ratio?calcium and multivitamin supplementaion?[how much?how many times?and with or without D3(there will be UVB light)?]
I will allso be happy if someone informed me about the differences in feeding hatchlings\juveniles and adults.
Thanx for the help!!!

 

[Aardbark]

Im not the best one to answer your question, but a good variety of foods is always best. You can feed the different things on different days, even for several days feeding the same thing, but then switch to something else. The things you listed are fine, but also want to add fruits in there too. There is a good list somewhere hear on the forum, just gotta search for it. Always dust the food with supliments, I use with d3. A regular feeding time every day is good too. Hatchlings can eat more insects, crickets and whatnot, still dust them. As they grow older they will do better with a varied diet.

 

[laurarfl]

That is a lot of info to post. I don't have a regular feeding schedule because I add variety depending on seasonal fruits and what meat based foods are available to me at a given time. Warm weather and breeding season also affects how much and how often I feed. And then if one is getting too plump, I back off on the amount of food.

Our member, SnakeCharmer, regular posts information and photos about what she is feeding. I would recommending looking for her posts in the care forums and reading up on what she has on her tegu plates.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Thanks for the shout out Laura.

Personally, Im not a fan of ground meats, organ parts or egg. Its not nutritionally complete meaning you have to add in all the things that are missing. Whole prey is already balanced. *Theres a myth going around that rodents etc are bad because fur causes impaction - this is NOT true, not high enough basking temps and low humidity cause impaction.*

Scrap meats (organs, muscle meat or ground) are sometimes turkey or chicken but mostly vension, pheasant, duck, and rabbit --- I will only occasionally add them in for variety - maybe once a month.

Otherwise it is very, varied whole prey with lots of fruits and some veggies. I offer rodents, rabbit kits (pinkies), quail, chicks, a variety of fish both fillet with skin or whole, shrimp, crawdads, mini crab, mussles, squid, scallops, snails, nightcrawler earth worms, frog legs, whole raw quail egg, variety of insects (roaches, hornworms, superworms and sometimes silkworms).

Babies - feed daily - you can totally still offer a whole prey diet to a baby, just cut it up into bite size pieces.
Juvies 6mos-1.5yr < depending on size - every other day feeding
Adults 1.5+ < again depends on their size - every 3 days.

Adults fed daily will get fat.