her first real meal!!!

Erin · Member Joined: Apr 18, 2008 Posts: 27

yay!! my new Tegu that we named Piggy has had her first meal of chicken.instead of crappy dog food!!! i was so happy she jumped right into her plate for it!!!!

now for a few questions on her:

now that she has had her first real meal she is very agressive after she eats. hissing puffy up ect. will that stop in time?iam going to try fruits ,veggies if she dont like them will she be ok on an all meat diet?

Curty · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 11:57 am Post subject:

That's great!

You shouldn't hold her after she eats as she needs to bask and digest the food.

She will need some fruit and vegetables, I know it is hard. Mixing it with the chicken (Or a food that she likes, I'm assuming that chicken is that) will help. I got lex to eat it by making some scrambled egg and mixing it with fruits when it was ready.

Curty.
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i0r · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 3:10 pm Post subject:

Congratulations

I've also struggled with feeding issues so i know how happy you get when they finally eat.

As Curty said....after eating they prefer to be left in peace and concidering the general trust you'll build up with her it's worth to respect that. Since things like bothering them can break that trust.

I don't know the age of your tegu, but in time she will start to eat fruits. Especially sweet/tropical fruits. Try to avoid any citric fruits.

Good luck
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txrepgirl · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 3:08 am Post subject:

I'm sooooo happy to hear that she finally ate a real meal.Good job Piggy

.Do you feed her in her enclosure ? do you feed her until she is full ? make sure that your hands don't smell like food when you handle her.I know it is hard to make them eat fruits but if they don't want to and you tried every thing you can than you shouldn't worry about it.My Leonidas ( we got him in Oct.07 ) and he still doesn't eat any fruit and he grows like crazy

.He tried it about two times and that was it.Now our Zeus ( we got him in Dec.07,they both are still babies ) he eats every thing.

Erin · Member Joined: Apr 18, 2008 Posts: 27

txrepgirl · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:38 pm Post subject:

Sounds like you are doing a great job with your Tegu

.Let us know how things are going.

angelrose · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:55 pm Post subject:

Hi erin, don't get stressed about the fruits and veggies. there is no need to put such emphasis on this (when they are in the wild they would not be eating the same fruits as us, if any). if she likes them that's o.k. too.

one or two mice a week and / or quail and then all the beef liver, chicken gizzards, hearts, eggs, fish etc. that she wants to eat.
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2.0.0 Gold Colombian tegus
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Erin · Member Joined: Apr 18, 2008 Posts: 27

ok sounds good.

Wittgenstein · New Member Joined: Jun 23, 2008 Posts: 8

Another easy way to get them to eat fruits and veggies is in the morning. Not that it is because of it being early but because your animal has gone all night without eating. My lights are on usually with the sun, and so I try to feed my tegu's after they have had a chance to thermoregulate, or heat up. Usually they are much more receptive to veggies and fruit when they have empty stomachs too.