Feeding tips and tricks.

[new2tegus]

Well like it says I'm looking for some previous tegu owners to help myself, and maybe some others out here. I'm trying to fatten the little guy up. A couple of problems I've had were feeding him outside the enclosure, which has become a catch 22. I leave my hand in there and he's okay with that, but still a little skittish. So if I want him out I have to stress him out, so any hints on how to get him out would be great. I have also gotten rid of the mulch, mainly because it's more problematic at this point. He gets it in his mouth and i'm worried he will get impacted or worse. So I now have carpet. Humidity and temps are good. I have a repti fogger and it works wonders. So any advice you guys and girls have would be great.

 

[kellen.watkins]

Put the mulch back in, that tegu must be miserable, I don't see the big deal in stressing them out a lil, its insane to assume they have no stress in the wild, if you don't wanna stress out the lil guy at all put a towel or shirt or paper towels in the enclosure and put his food on that in the corner and then all you gotta do is put it in the corner then all you gotta do is clean the sides off lol

 

[james.w]

Definitely put the mulch back in, they need to be able to dig/burrow. If you are worried about him ingesting mulch either do what kellen said or just take him out of his enclosure and put him in a bin/bathtub where the food has already been placed. Let him be for 15-30 minutes and then put him back in the enclosure.

 

[reptastic]

Unless the tegu is actually eating large amonts of the mulch you shouldn't have a problem, I agree put the mulch back in, I have seen pieces of cypress mulch in my tegus poop and never had a incident with impaction, add some cod liver oil to his food and he should pass it along

 

[new2tegus]

I will try, but it's not easy to get him, and I honestly don't feel chasing him around his cage instills much trust in him. Is this what everyone else did? I'm not at that point where he just let's me pick him up yet, and doing this each time to feed him I probably won't be.

 

[turtlepunk]

do what kellen suggested, it works pretty great! I was having the same trouble as you (my baby was getting a little mulch in his mouth) so i put down some newspaper in his enclosure during feeding time (on top of his mulch) and put the plate of food in the middle of it and BAM problem solved =) It worked pretty well for me

 

[new2tegus]

Well basically I'm going to make half mulch so he cam burrow under his field stone, then the other carpet to feed him on.

 

[Neeko]

reptile carpet is good and bad. The bad is it can tangle in claws/nails and some time they flip out and you can lose a digit. This may happen if he tries and burrows in it. I'd recommend taking it out asap.

 

[Toby_H]

Eco Earth Coco Fiber is a great substrate for baby Tegus. It's fine enough to not cause any threat of impaction, holds moisture very well and resists mold/mildew. The only downside to it is that it is expensive. It's too expensive to be practical for huge enclosures such as adult Tegus need, but is cheap enough to be used in hatchlings enclosures....

I highly suggest using a substrate the Tegu can burrow in. Not using it will add to his stress which adds to his skittishness...


placing the food on a large flat rock or board helps keep substrate out of the food.

 

[j.sawyer48]

i have chased mine arounds it enclosure to get him ever sense i got him but once he is out he understands and is very tame so i dont think its much of a problem for a lil stress not holding him would be worse

 

[Neeko]

i use eco earth to fill my 125g 4 inches deep for my hatchlings. price wasnt that bad.

 

[tora]

Yeah I've always just gotten them out, skittish or not. They're fine. If you start taking them out to bring them to their food, then they'll start associating being picked up with getting good things. It's win-win, I don't see why it's such an issue.

 

[adam1120]

why dont you just cut the repti carpet to fit only half the enclsoure ontop of the mulch on the side where his food dish is if you dont got time to take him out everyday to feed him in a bin just a idea he will still be able to burrow just have that repti carpet so he can wipe his mouth after hes done

 

[herpgirl2510]

There should be mulch/ eco earth on both the hot and the cold side. Like Toby H said they would have to ingest quite a bit. I still think it is a bad idea to hasethem all over their enclosure to take them out to feed them. I would work on getting your gu comfortable with your hand. I used to put the food in when mine were sleeping or hiding.