"My tegu stopped eating" concerns and thoughts

[Dana C]

I have seen numerous posts on this topic and while I certainly don't have all the answers, my tegus and my monitor reminded me of a couple of things over the last three days.
I feed FT rodents on occasion but their staple diet is a modified SDZ diet that I call the Dana Diet. I supplement the ground meats with vitamin powder and calcium and am fairly careful not to over do the supplementation. Having said that, my kids have only picked at their food for the last three days, much to my consternation. After a little hand wringing the light went on! Once before, I put a tiny bit more vitamin powder in their food and voila they wouldn't touch it. Well, remembering last weekend when I made up this latest batch, I am sure I put more vitamins in it than usual if I remember correctly, which they all hate apparently.

The reason I know that this is the problem is that, when offered FT rodents, they ate them along with chicken wings like they were popcorn so I know it is not something wrong with them. This is a problem where the chef, Dana, goofed.

I decided to post this because I know that seeing your Tegu not eat is worrisome and frustrating. Before hitting the panic button, think about what you are feeding. Has there been any changes in the diet? Do you feed one form on a consistent basis with out bringing in variety? Have you spoiled your lizard?, (yes, it can be done and I am guilty of it). Have you changed supplementation amounts or types? Is your lizard beginning the sheeding process? Have you move him or her, changed enclosures, added family members to its surroundings, added new pets to the household and so on.

In short, go over what has changed and you can likely narrow down the root cause of the not eating issue. In my case, my basset hound Dicky took care of the recipe goof and the lizards are back happily scarfing down the Dana Diet. It is amazing how just a tiny bit more vitamin powder in a mix makes it "icky" tasting for my and likely your lizards too.

 

[Diablo]

I'll keep all this in mind when I get my argentine BnW. I've seen a lot of those threads too but not being an experienced tegu caretaker I could never answer them well. This all makes sense to think about though before you start freaking out and worrying if there is something seriously wrong with you're lizard.

 

[reptastic]

Tegus and supplements are like kids and medicine, you gotta trick em, any time i use supplements i always use egg yolk to hide it, they can become bored with routinely feeding on one particular food,some will get a liking for a particular food , good post danaand refuse everything else, one thing to keep in mind is some tegus just arent big eaters(i havnt met that tegu yet lol)

 

[dragonmetalhead]

Sometimes animals aren't feeling their best or just don't have an appetite, so they don't always eat. I try to offer Kodo a different thing everyday and I don't have this issue on a regular basis. I have also found coating food in egg yolk hill arouse his interest if he's being peckish. In the wild tegus certainly don't eat everyday. This was a great thread, Dana, as I'm sure many tegu parents have had panic attacks because their lizard was being picky and need some reassurance nothing is wrong.

 

[Logie_Bear]

Is there a standard amount / ratio of Ca and Vit suppliment powder that should be added to your tegus meals each time you feed them?

 

[frost]

when i was feeding more dubias roaches to my extreme he would not want to eat any turkey or w/e else i was trying to give him and hold out for the roaches. but i eventually got him to like more of a varied diet and he isnt being a brat lol.

 

[Aardbark]

Intresting. Thats acualy kinda funny cuz my Zilla likes more vitamin powder on her ground turkey. Its like coating it in candy for her.