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Go with prekilled. I think that freezing the mice kills off a lot of bacteria/parasites and other stuff. I've noticed that its typically cheaper to buy prekilled and you can stock up on them so it lowers the amount of trips to the petstore. People tend to think it keeps their animals from being aggressive, but both of my tegu's had a crazy feeding response either way.
I see really no reason to feed them live mice except for maybe your own thrill of watching them. It seems the idea of feeding live rodents is becoming a little outdated. Thats just my opinion. Just feed them. Thats the key.
Joined: Mar 25, 2005 Posts: 1354 Location: Denver, CO
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:52 pm Post subject:
I've fed both ways, however I feed pre-killed now - The response is somewhat more mellow, however there are day's that they throw them around like they just caught a live one - Although I have 4 breeder mice who aint been doin their job that may be fed live _________________ 1.0.0 Ball Python "Albino"
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I've always fed prekilled. I have fed him a few other things alive tho, like anoles that he seems to enjoy chasing. I had a snake that had a bad bite on a mouse and the mouse turned around and sunk a tooth into the snakes eye at the store I work at. I'll never feed live again after that.
Always prekilled. Tegus are garbage disposals when it comes to food, esp. meat and they will take it all. I fed my tegu live when it was small and only needed fuzzys and hoppers, now that it is larger I feed it f/t (Frozen/Thawed) rats. I would never ever feed it a live rat. They can and will do serious damage. I also believe that tegus are much more mellow when fed food that is not moving and is in a bowl, mine is rather calm. _________________ 0.1 Argentine B&W Tegu
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Always prekilled. Tegus are garbage disposals when it comes to food, esp. meat and they will take it all. I fed my tegu live when it was small and only needed fuzzys and hoppers, now that it is larger I feed it f/t (Frozen/Thawed) rats. I would never ever feed it a live rat. They can and will do serious damage. I also believe that tegus are much more mellow when fed food that is not moving and is in a bowl, mine is rather calm.
I would agree with the damage issue; a desperate mouse could latch onto a tegus eye or tongue and injure them. I know that nature doesnt serve up pre-killed mice for wild tegus, but a wild tegu would be expected to sustain more physical injuries and possibly die at an earlier age than a captive. A rat is even more dangerous.
With regards to feeding response, mine still lunges at food as though it might escape. The positive side is that he doesnt lunge at me; only towards his dish and whatever is in there. I am contemplating placing food around his enclosure for him to find though, since not having to look for food much surely mean that his instincts and intelligence are stagnating. Anyone got any good ideas for tegu "toys" that involve food in some way to give him something more to do?
Joined: Mar 25, 2005 Posts: 1354 Location: Denver, CO
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:41 am Post subject:
Johelian wrote:
I would agree with the damage issue; a desperate mouse could latch onto a tegus eye or tongue and injure them. I know that nature doesnt serve up pre-killed mice for wild tegus, but a wild tegu would be expected to sustain more physical injuries and possibly die at an earlier age than a captive. A rat is even more dangerous.
With regards to feeding response, mine still lunges at food as though it might escape. The positive side is that he doesnt lunge at me; only towards his dish and whatever is in there. I am contemplating placing food around his enclosure for him to find though, since not having to look for food much surely mean that his instincts and intelligence are stagnating. Anyone got any good ideas for tegu "toys" that involve food in some way to give him something more to do?
Mine too sometimes lunge at dead rodents and one of mine will sometimes bring the rodent back in it's enclosure, eat it in there, go back out and grab the other one and bring it back in as well - Not always the case though however I believe some kind of instinct that the rodent will not escape the Tegu in the enclosure... _________________ 1.0.0 Ball Python "Albino"
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Mine almost always responds quickly and aggressively towards f/t. Normally he'll flip it around a few times like he's trying to kill it unless its cool, and he just swallows it right away.
If it's a live RAT, as in...pretty good sized rat...I would not feed it to it alive. Everyone is spot on, those things can GNAW you like nobody's business. And they DON'T feel good lol.
My friend owns a 3.5 ft. long Tegu and feeds it only live, but not rats, just large mice. This is good because the mouse, even though full grown, is no match for the Tegu's jaws, and the Tegu just devours it real quick. They'll never be able to do damage unless the Tegu pauses for a while.
One of my Tegus is still hibernating but when I feed my Leonidas frozen/thawed rodents ( in a empty clean bin ) he goes to the mouse and licks it a few times,picks it up and shakes it around.Than he starts to squish it from head to tail than he starts eating it.The only live things I feed him are crickets and worms.
Joined: Nov 06, 2004 Posts: 972269 Location: Central Maine
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject:
I too feed only prekilled. Sometimes frozen/thawed, sometimes fresh killed. I never feed my tegus live rodents. I have found through my experiences that a tegu fed live rodents can have a horrible habit of 'grab first, taste later', which means if you have a tegu on the floor and your spouse/child/friend happens to walk into the room in his/her socks.. well.. You better hope the person moves quicker than the tegu.
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:16 pm Post subject: rodent dead
I only feed dead rodents with all my herps . my herps never get biten. and the rodent dont suffer in wild is a different story. plus keeps tegus and other rodent eatin herps from getting food aggressive _________________ TEGUS TEGUS AND MORE TEGUS
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I only feed dead rodents with all my herps . my herps never get biten. and the rodent dont suffer in wild is a different story. plus keeps tegus and other rodent eatin herps from getting food aggressive 