Soupies/ food question

[OpalRaven]

I make soupies for my ferrets sometimes (with raw meat) I was wondering if this would be fine for the tegu.... if so I'll make extra for him and not add as much water so its more of a ground meat consistancy.... Here is my recipe:
8oz chicken meat
1-2 chicken hearts
1/2 a chicken liver
1/2 tsp powdered bone meal

This is a balanced meal for ferrets so please any changes you might think to make it suitable for the tegu feel free to let me know!

 

[DreamsOfTegus]

I'm sure he'd love some.

Great to hear other ferret owners feeding raw. I keep my guys on it and they do great.

 

[Justsomedude]

Who doesn't love a good ferret! That sounds like a bang up dish go for it!

 

[dpjm]

I'd add some finely chopped vegetables and fruits into that mix.

 

[OpalRaven]

I can always mix them in by hand afterwards for him specifically

 

[dpjm]

Right, because you make it for your ferrets, strict carnivores. Tegus are omnivores so adding produce in is really beneficial. I use a lot of leafy greens, bell peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sweet potatoes and some fruit. Those are probably the main ones. Most of them are lightly steamed to make them more digestible but I use some bell pepper and mushroom raw.

 

[OpalRaven]

So far he likes grapes, strawberries, spinach, greenbeans, tried carrots but not a huge fan yet...

 

[Walter1]

Do not feed them spinach.

 

[dpjm]

Some leafy greens have high levels of oxalates. Oxalates can bind with calcium making it unabsorbable, so they are not desirable to include in the diet. A few that are particularly high in oxalates are spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, and parsley. Better greens are dandelion, plantain, kale, arugula, bok choy greens, and collard greens - these will contribute calcium to the diet rather than take it away.

It is advisable to lightly steam any of these "cabbage" greens, (kale, bok choy, collards, arugula) or they can cause digestive upset. But I find that lightly steaming any of the greens make them way easier to work with anyway, so I steam them all. You don't want to over cook them. I cook them for about 2-4 minutes in the steamer, depending on the thickness - arugula being around 2 min and kale and collards around 4 min.

 

[dpjm]

Another thing to watch for with fruit is sugar content. Find a list online of the sugar content in common fruits and try to get your tegu to like the ones lower on the list. Strawberries are quite low and are a good choice for fruit. Grapes are one of the sweetest fruits, they can be around 18% sugar by weight, so maybe limit their use, they make good treats if you're training. If you can get him eating strawberries, blueberries, figs, papaya, bell peppers, and tomatoes then you're on the right track for fruit.