live vs dead

[thenikkix3]

I've been feeding my tegu live mealworms (well - we crush the head before we give it to em), waxworms, etc. and he seems to like those (also some fruits and veggies).. but I've been seeing the dead crickets and mealworms in such in pet stores - Not sure if I should try it or not. Anyone use the already dead ones and can give an opinion??

 

[Strange_Evil]

Live insects, you cannot gut load something thats dead, and crickets are no good unless you gotload the crap out them and cover them in calcium. Also the whole cutting the head off of the super worm thing is just non sense. It won't eat its way out.

 

[kellen.watkins]

I don't even feed insects ever not even to lil baby gus. I find it a waste of time you wind up taking care of tegus and insects

 

[dragonmetalhead]

Those canned insects are a blessing. I don't have the resources at my museum to raise live feeders and it's easy to buy canned food in bulk. Kodo seems to have lost his taste for insects as he's gotten older, but when he was young he used to eat the crickets straight from the tin. He never ate mealworms, live or dead. They also have canned grasshopper and snails, which Kodo loved (he still likes the snails). I prefer to feed prekilled prey as it keeps the animal at a lower aggression threshold since they don't have to kill.

 

[thenikkix3]

My boyfriends paranoid and squishes the head before he feeds him the mealworms sometimes since he read somewhere they were bad. I feed him them live. I only buy enough for a few days - I hate bugs and do NOT touch them or want to take care of them. He only gets crickets rarely since they hop everywhere and its a pain.. so I figured I'd ask how the dead ones worked. I mean.. I won't stop feeding him live ones.. I just wanted to give em a variety ya know?

 

[numarix]

We bought Jericho crickets and a feeder so far one got out and i caught him after 3 try's. Wasnt too bad but we bought 36 from petco @ 5 and there wasnt that many so i wouldnt go there lol.

 

[spidersandmonsters]

Mine won't touch pre-killed insects unless they're mixed in with turkey. However, you can get them gut-loaded freeze dried. They also have extra vitamins and such.

 

[Strange_Evil]

if you hate crickets so much then find another feeder insect, crickets stink,chirp,die fast and do nothing for a tegu. Try some more nutritional easy to manage feeders like dubia roaches. Roaches should not be too hard to come by in NJ. Or you could just leave insects alone completely if u hate them. You have much more other options for variety other than insects.

Check this out,
http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=6452#axzz1Q497VwII

 

[kellen.watkins]

Or just buy raw meats and frozen feeders. I buy tilapia, turkey, and gizzards put them in feed size bags and freeze them, a pound of each lasted eli and vanilla about a month in a half when they were real small eating up to twice a day (getting pre-killled mice on the weekends) and that cost about.... maybe 10$ and they both grew immensely. Not including the mice which are about a dollar a piece at the local herp pet store

 

[chelvis]

My gu ate insects for two weeks and then wanted nothing to do with them, except super worms and night crawlers. It was one to mice, turkey, chicken and anything else I could bulk up on. I stopped with the supper worms when he was pounding through almost 500 a week!!

 

[omgtaylorg]

Id personally stay away from the insects period unless you go with an actual good insect to feed like dubia roaches...they dont smell they are easy to manage and they breed like CRAZY. You can buy 50-100 online and you will never have to purchase them again and you can keep them in a plastic tub in any dark spot in your house. They are more nutritional as well. Once your tegu is of size though insects are the most pointless food you can use, I dont do any insects anymore unless I had a hatching tegu. Raw meets and rodents are all you need for the first year, protein is how you get a fast growing/big tegu.

 

[thenikkix3]

Id personally stay away from the insects period unless you go with an actual good insect to feed like dubia roaches...they dont smell they are easy to manage and they breed like CRAZY. You can buy 50-100 online and you will never have to purchase them again and you can keep them in a plastic tub in any dark spot in your house. They are more nutritional as well. Once your tegu is of size though insects are the most pointless food you can use, I dont do any insects anymore unless I had a hatching tegu. Raw meets and rodents are all you need for the first year, protein is how you get a fast growing/big tegu.

well right now the different kinds of worms and sometimes eggs are all it wants right now. I'm gonna start puttin meats and such in with his worms to see if he'll eat em that way.

 

[omgtaylorg]

Ya thats the bad part about feeding it alot of one thing, they tend to stick with it and reject all other foods. I try to switch it up every single day by feeding something different so its never stuck on one kind of food and can enjoy a big variety of meats and other things...I really do suggest trying dubias though, it will save you tons of money and time and you dont have to deal with the smell and hopping around. One large tub with some egg cartons in it for them to sleep in and you can feed them literally any food and they will eat it, I use lettuce and other veggies. Heres a great website to buy them from and get them shipped to your door if your interested :
http://www.theroachcafe.com/

 

[thenikkix3]

Thanks; I'll look into that. Well.. I give him a few different kinds of worms - crickets rarely - I try to keep him eating a few different kinds of things.. been sneaking some eggs, fruits and veggies in with the worms to try that - next is turkey and such.