New Tegu Owner Diet Questions

[IMJ]

Greetings,

I got my Argentine Black & White about a month ago and everything is going great. He tame and eats well. I have no idea how old he is but he is about 30" long and 1000g. He has nearly doubled his weight since I got him.

My question is regarding diet. Right now mine eats F/T rats, a ground turkey/beef liver/cod liver oil mix, dubia roaches, occasional chicken breast and occasional eggs. He is offered fruit daily but rarely eats it.

I see a lot of people who feed a similar diets and that on this diet they I read that they should only eat rodents a couple times per week. Then I see a lot of people are in favor of avoiding ground meats and feeding strictly a whole prey diet. Does this mean feeding whole rodents every day for a young tegu? I am interested in trying the whole prey diet but I'm seeing conflicting information on weather or not it is OK to feed rodents every day. I should point out that although he does eat dubias, he doesn't seem to prefer them. I leave a dis

Regards,

J

 

[Josh]

Welcome to TeguTalk, J! Sounds like your tegu is doing great!
It looks like maybe your message was cut off at the end? I'd personally recommend going for the most diverse diet you are able to provide. At least until you get a healthy growing (and nearly grown) tegu.
Other will be able to weigh in on the whole prey diet.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

I feed a whole prey diet but whole prey doesnt mean ONLY rodents. Whole prey means the whole form, meaning bones, fur, feathers, feet, beak etc. So you can easily add variety to a whole prey diet. rodents, chicks, quail, whole fish, shrimp, rabbit kits, etc etc etc. Important thing is to have good basking temps with whole prey (which really is needed regardless of diet)

I would caution using any cod liver oil at all, especially if your giving beef liver because you dont want to over dose the d3 and that could be toxic.

 

[tommylee22]

checkout https://www.hare-today.com/ this is where I order Biggins food.

T

 

[IMJ]

Thanks for the replies. Snakechamr - any suggestions on whole prey items that are small enough to feed a juvi? Like what kind of whole fish? He eats fresh tilapia but I would like to find whole fish to give him. I ordered a couple bags of the smallest chick's I could find but they seem far too big.

 

[IMJ]

checkout https://www.hare-today.com/ this is where I order Biggins food.

T

I went on that site a while back but I was afraid to order a bunch of stuff and not end up using it. What would you suggest from that site? Do you get ground or whole? It's also hard for me to judge what sizes I will need now and what sizes I will need 3 months from now. I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Matthew Krzemienski]

Well from hare-today, you get whole prey, in ground form as snakecharmer said above. Minimum order is 10lbs. It took my 2 hatchlings about 6 months to go through that (I feed rodents and quail additionally). I say just get 10 lbs of whe prey ground meats and see what your tegu likes. None of it goes to waste!

Matt

 

[tommylee22]

I went on that site a while back but I was afraid to order a bunch of stuff and not end up using it. What would you suggest from that site? Do you get ground or whole? It's also hard for me to judge what sizes I will need now and what sizes I will need 3 months from now. I'm open to suggestions.

I would suggest the Rabbit, salmore salmon,turkey,whole quails and more rabbit lol

 

[marydd]

I know of another place that sells whole ground meats that doesn't make you order 10 pounds. Try 'my pet carnivore'. I have not ordered from them yet but plan to because I was highly disappointed with my order from hare-today. If you do order from them please let me know what you think!

 

[Matthew Krzemienski]

I have ordered from hare-today twice and have been pleased with the results both times. The 10lbs minimum might seem like a lot but having two hatchling tegus, they went through it quite quickly. All I did was cut up the blocks of meet into hockey puck sized discs when still frozen, wrap in wax paper and store in the freezer. Now, they eat several of the pucks every other day. I take several out of the freezer (mixing up animal meats) and let thaw. They both love it and are growing like weeds.

 

[IMJ]

I'm thinking of ordering some ground rabbit. Should I order the whole carcass (with fur) or would the meat, bones and organs suffice?

 

[tommylee22]

I don't do the fur as he gets fur and feather with rats and quail. but I'm sure it wold be fine either way.