How to get a red tegu to eat meat and fruits

[Jungle Girl]

My b/f have a red tegu name Torch. He is a great eater he is eating roaches, waxworms, fuzzies and rat pups. But the only problem is he refuse to eat ground turkey, fruits and frozen fuzzies and rat pups. I know that fruits are part of they diet. Is there anyone who can give me any advices or tips. It will be greatly appreciate.

 

[reptastic]

what you could try is find a meat that he really likes and put it in the blender with some fruit, grind it up really good. try smaller amounts of fruit at first, then increase it over time. try a bit of cod liver oil or egg yolk on top of the food to intice him to eat it. hope this helps.

 

[Jungle Girl]

Thanks for answering but he will smell the meat and fruits and just walk away. We even try to but a roach or some waxworms in the dish with the meat and fruits to get him to eat it, and it still doesnt work.

 

[reptastic]

That is what the cod liver oil and egg yolk is for, it could hide the smell of the fruit, or try something strong like fish, find something your tegu just cant resist!

 

[Guest]

What kind of fruit have you tried feeding him?
Mine likes pineapple, melon, peach, strawberries, pear, plum and other "soft fruits" and they need to be as ripe as it can get without being too old - if you know what I mean?


If I put egg yolk on my tegus food it won't be eaten, so I guess that one won't work on all tegus :roll:

 

[reptastic]

cod liver oil seems to be one thing no tegu can resist(at least in my experience) i never had to trick my red tegu in to eating fruit he always took it willingly whether it be with meat or alone. i did get my tegu nero to take fruit on occaisions by adding the eggs and/or cod liver but then again eggs were one of her favorite foods. you just gotta try a few things and see what he likes!

 

[Guest]

How old it your tegu. From the size of the food it is eating it sound like it is small. Young tegus seem to want to eat meaty foods. Have you tried moving the frozen rodents around. They should be the same temp at live foods. I used to have a ball python that wound not eat frozen rodents from Petco or Petsmart. It would eat them from locals breeders. As they grow older they start eating fruits and veggies. My did not really like fruit till about 1 year old. We started with baby food like banana, papaya and plum. In order for yours to eat turkey we put baby food on it. At almost 4 now it loves fruit. His favorite are cherries. I mix the veggies with his turkey mix. It seems to want to eat everything now.

 

[Guest]

The turkey should at least be room temp. You can also try warming it up a little.

 

[thomasjg23]

Mine cannot resist ripe grapes and he is still very young.

 

[thomasjg23]

Make sure you cut the grape in half and have him lick the inside! Hope this helps.