stopped eating, why?

[herpocrite27]

Here is the background info. so, my male teguy is 1.5yrs old. He didnt hibernate much this winter and he has been up for about 2 months now. He has been eating extremely well untill this last week. I feed him primarily venison, ground turkey, and chicken gizards. I dust each of his meals with reptile calcium mixed with finely ground egg shells. He was eating a hand full of food every day untill last week. This last week and a half he only ate twice. He has been waking up each day and laying under his UVB bulb. He doesnt act like he is having trouble trying to poo. Anyone have an idea whats going on?

 

[m3s4]

Just a thought: it's possible he's becoming finicky with his food.

I used to feed my colombian mice around 1.5 yrs old. One day, he simply refused them. I tried numerous times, the result was always the same - he was done with mice.

So, I got him on eggs. He loved eggs; all of it - the shell, raw, hard-boiled and scrambled.

Next I got him on lean-turkey. He absolutely loved turkey.

Combined with supplements I would alter his food every other day or so, swapping between both turkey and eggs.

I couldn't get my gold to touch live food after the turkey and eggs - he wouldn't even go for dead pinkies.

However, one day while messing around in my room during the summer, a praying mantis flew in through an open window. It hit my closet door, stunned itself and fell to the floor. It was a remarkable thing to have happen because in Colorado, mantis are extremely rare. I'm a native and in my entire life, I think I've seen 2 others besides this one here.

So there I was, astonished at what just happened and apparently, Sam my gold, was astonished as well. I mean, before I could get up and go grab the mantis, he rushed over from his basking spot and promptly wolfed him down! I was like wtf just happened? Then my girl and I laughed like crazy. It's a memory we still laugh about when we reminisce about Sam.

That was one of the craziest things that goofy tegu ever did - I mean, it had been at least 2 years since he'd eaten anything live - let alone an insect - and of all the insects he had to eat it was THAT one? Needless to say, he didn't eat anything else live after chomping on that mantis.

Anyways - try some eggs...I've had 3 tegus and they all love eggs - even when nothing else seems to work, they'll lap up some raw eggs. I wouldn't recommend giving them raw eggs all the time, but once in awhile when they get finicky - if that's what your tegu is.

Sounds like he might be.

Good luck.

 

[reptastic]

Do you feed him the same meals all the time? They can easily become bored with their food if they keep getting the same thing, try something new and see if takes it

 

[laurarfl]

I would try some whole prey items. It may be something missing from his diet. Whole prey items like F/T mice or tiny quail chicks will add all sorts of minerals and vitamins that the other food isn't. Also, make sure humidity is up and that he isn't getting a bit dehydrated. How are the enclosure temps? What kind of bulb and how is it positioned? How old is it?

 

[herpocrite27]

I will go get another flat of frozen mice today. I used to feed him a mouse with every meal, but they sure arent cheap in this area. I like to buy food in bulk and freez it so i want to know if anyone does this. I buy ground turkey in bulk, flatten it out and freez it on a cookey sheat. While its thill soft i scribe square markings in it so that it breaks easily when frozen.
The nightime temp is 65 F and the daytime temp is 100F. I curently use a 100w power sun. Bulb is hanging straight down over his slate stone basking area, 10'' above him. I did order a 160w mega ray bulb the other day to try, but im not sure if it will be too hot or not. I have a monster water dish in the cage and i use 3 lg spray bottles of water in there about 2 times a week.
Thanks everyone for the info, ill keep you posted.

 

[laurarfl]

The basking area should be getting up to 110-115. Low temps could make him not eat so much. You can try making a basking platform to get him closer to the light.

 

[james.w]

What are you using for UVB? Is he pooping regularly?

 

[Orion]

My male is over 3.5 years old and from time to time he just decides hes not going to eat. The first time it happened was the beginning of last summer, for 3 weeks he only ate 3 bites of food. then back to normal. No reason just stopped eating....scared the crap outta me. then just one day started again. He has done this 2 other times for 10 days or so. Not saying hes normal, just saying not to worry to much. Not to many Tegus starve to death. Mine ate twice today and I still had to wrestle a black walnut out of his jaws when he was roaming around the yard.