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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:52 pm Post subject: Red Tegu not eating
Hello everyone,
I have a small red tegu and lately he won't eat the mice I buy at the store (prekill). I usually got to a reptile store a hour away for pinks but lately the gas prices have been high so I haven't bought from there in a while. When I get mice from there he can eat like 5 in one day. He usually only eats once a week when I take the trip to the store. I have offered him ground turkey, superworms, frozen (thawed) hopper mice. I have him on Cyprus mulch and don't take him out of his cage to feed him because he is very nervous around people and is only comfortable in his cage. He has a bowl in there but he tends to throw his food around while eating.
Is it possible he ate a piece of the mulch? Should I switch the cage bedding over to something safer? He likes to borrow so I have left it in there thus far, he sleeps under it.
Joined: Nov 04, 2007 Posts: 940 Location: Canada, Québec, Pointe-Calumet.
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:12 pm Post subject:
First of all, welcome to the Tegu.
Second, I wouldn't change his susbrate, cypress mulch is good and hold the humidity.
Third, as for feeding in his cage, of course it's better to feed him outside of his enclosure to reduce food aggression. Yes, you can feed him in a bowl, but you should put a plastic plate or something like that under the feeding bowl. Because, if some food fall out of the bowl, the Tegu won't eat cypress mulch by mistake.
Fourth. maybe your Tegu has an impaction because he/she had eaten a piece of the substrate. Take a look at him, to see if he poo easily. If you see him wiggling his butt, and trying to poo hard, and nothing is coming out, then you should bring him to the vet. An impaction can slowly kill a Tegu.
Fifth, you need to give some information about your enclosure and feeding schedule.
1) What is your humidity level
2) What is your Temperature (cool side to basking spot)
3) What is your feeding schedule (eating morning, how much,etc)
hope it helps! _________________ Ben
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mistery, but today is a gift...that is why we call it the present". -Tortoise Oogway
The Tegu seems fine even though he never eats. I don't see him poop and since his substrate is wood i barely ever see fresh poo in it. He pees just fine and has lots of energy. I also soaked him to soften him up a bit and felt around his belly but there was nothing. What are the chances of recovery if he swallowed a wood chip?
I haven't checked humidity and the hot end of the cage is around 90 while the cool end is around 70. There is no feeding schedule since the only things he eats i only get once a week. He only seems to like pinkies from a specific store. Sometimes he will eat 5 at a time! He ignores everything else i offer him and since its meat i can't leave it in the cage over night.
Joined: Nov 04, 2007 Posts: 940 Location: Canada, Québec, Pointe-Calumet.
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:24 pm Post subject:
It depends of the size of the wood chip that your Tegu had eaten.
If it is a very small piece, the chance to have a impaction are minimal, but it could happen with a lot of badluck.
As for your temperature, it needs to change. The basking spot, most be 100-110 degree. The cool must be 75degree (but 70 is not bad).
I don't know how old is he/she. But here is a feeding schedule for the 3 different age.
-Baby: Everyday
-Juvenile: 3-4 times a week
-Adult: 2-3 Times a week.
I don't know how big is your Tegu, but maybe you should give him bigger mice instead of 5 pinky mice.
Here are the other meat that you could give him.
-Turkey
-Cooked egg
-Crickets
-mealworm/silkworm/superworm
-Snails
-Sole fish
-Locust
As for fruit, you can try to do some pudding with them, take 5 different fruits (example: grape,melon,strawberry,cherry,papaya), but them in the blender and create a kind of pudding. Just spread the pudding on the meat and the Tegu will eat it
Also, having a uvb/uva lamp help the Tegu to raise his appetite.
Hope it helps
good luck! _________________ Ben
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mistery, but today is a gift...that is why we call it the present". -Tortoise Oogway
Joined: Apr 30, 2008 Posts: 393 Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:56 am Post subject:
redtegu, Before it is to late I really suggest tub feeding you can probably pick up a cheap one from wal- mart also what are the temps in your enclosure and how big is he let me know so I can give you some Ideas.
Joined: Oct 16, 2007 Posts: 2555 Location: San Antonio,TX
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:49 am Post subject:
Hi redtegu.Since you sad that you have a small Tegu I recommend feeding him/her every day until he is full.One of my Tegus got impacted once when I first got him because I fed him in his enclosure.I had to take him to the vet and got some meds for him.About 5 days later he pooped it out.I had to give him short baths every day to help him poop.Try to give him a bath again and see if his butt wiggles back and forth and is having a hard time pooping.Also look at his vent and see if it looks bruised from pushing so hard.Mine would eat either.I do recommend trying to handle him more even when he is a little stressed out at first.The sooner you start the better because it will become harder and harder to tame him and get him used to people.Since you have a red Tegu he does need to eat some fruit.Ben gave you a great tip on how to do it.It is also allot cheeper to bulk order the food.Like crickets,superworms,roaches and frozen mice.Good luck and please keep us posted.Thanks.
Joined: Oct 03, 2006 Posts: 561 Location: Central FL
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:06 am Post subject:
I agree with all the great advice given. Red tegus are said to require more fruit and he needs to eat more than once weekly. Also, coating food with a little mineral oil can help with moving things along.
There are many things can stop a tegu from eating.
*Temps too low in the basking side.
*Internal parasites
*Insufficient UV exposure or calcium/d3 supplementation
*poor diet leading to decline in overall health
*stress
Most tegus are eating machines, so it is a concern, especially if your guy isn't eating after a week. Pinkies do not offer much in the way of minerals because they do not have bone development yet. If the tegu is not receiving UV exposure either through a bulb or natural sunlight, that may be contributing to his loss of appetite and leading to further problems. It is also not giving him enough calcium in his diet which could lead to metabolic bone disease. Young, growing lizards and a strong need for calcium in their diets, but you don't want to over supplement, either. That's why moving up from pinkies to a walking mouse is better as soon as the tegu can handle it. Making a fruit pudding to smear on the mouse is a good tip, too.
If after making some corrections, the tegu still isn't eating, consider a vet trip. Keep us posted! _________________ Laura R (FL)
0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
0.2.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.0.0 Red Tegu
1.0.0 Green Amevia (yet another teiid)
8 other lizards
1 little gator
13 snakes
4 frogs
some bugs
and a partridge in a pear tree
I was told tegu's didn't need UVB. I moved to recently to a more populated area of the house so he could get used to people. Since then he hasn't had a uvb light and i thought it was ok. He seems to poop fine and i can't feel any6 hard lumps in his belly. He only eats in his enclosure thats why i haven't tub fed him. I'm going to put the uvb light back on the enclosure and see if that helps. I have been force feeding him supers since he goes without eating for weeks on end. I think it has been a month or two since he ate by himself.
Hi redtegu, what is the actual size of your tegu ? do you have a pic of him ? does he have any lumps, bumps or swelling ?
UVB is a Definite Requirement for Tegus. please start right away. tegus should have illuminated basking spots.
imo, it sounds like both lack of nutrition and UVB.
if you start feeding him outside the enclosure (doesn't have to be a bin) he will catch on. all mine get fed in the kitchen and that's where they know to go.
this has been going on for a long time now. I strongly recommend seeing a vet *as soon as possible*.
There are no vets withing 1 hour's drive that even work with tegus. He moves around just fine and does not have any visible sign of illness. I put a reptisun 10.0 bulb over his cage and hes loving it. I put a small bowl of super worms in in case he gets hungry. After a few days I will feed him some pinks in a tub.
Hi redtegu, did you try the all the suggestions above ? how many days have you had him in under the UVB now ? is it the proper distance ?
it's been about 10 days since you first wrote in and he did not eat anything ?
he is a very beautiful tegu. looks like he is ready for more then a pinkie. as said above there is really nothing to pinkies.
I'm looking at the pic and imo his belly looks a little bloated in comparison to the base of his tail.
considering the amount of time gone by which is crucial in treatment; for the sake of this beauty he is well worth the trip to the vet.
if something is wrong time is not on his side.
thank you for sharing a beautiful pic and I'll/we'll be here to wait to hear from you.
This picture was taken when i first got him. He is about a little bigger then the base of his tail and he looks bloated cause he eats about 5 pinkies in a sitting. Now hes got extra skin cause hes losing weight
He also has issues shedding which i am using shed aid for. The UVB is a 10.0 reptisun and its about 5 inches away from him through a screen. His heat lamp is about the same distance and i recently added a reptile humidifier.
If you think i shjould move from pinkies then i will need some suggestions s he is far to small for adult mice imo. They are larger then the space between his eyes.
He is a bit skittish around people but is really warming up to me. Every day he comes out to bask and drink and i see him moving around all the time. He does not look or act sick and this is the second day he had the uvb. I left super worms in the cage and will be offering some cat food or other tasties goods probably tomorrow. I want to make sure he is ready to eat before i buy food since i had to trash at least 15$ by now and it stinks up the house if i leave it in there for more then a hour.
I can get a more recdent picture of him so you can see how well hes doing. Also i want to get back that bright color he lost due to shedding issues so suggestions are appreciated.
In the event i get his tank in the picture its a 30x20x30 which will be a 40 gallon when he get bigger. substrate is Cyprus mulch.
yeah pinkies suck for a tegu. too much work. SUPERWORMS are great! you can throw some calcium powder into the worms' tub and shake it up and then you don't have to worry about it. quick, easy feed!
turkey is key. go to the store and get some ground turkey. take a spoon and scoop out globs of meat and put em all on plates or whatever and put the plates in your freezer. so now whenever you want a quick feed, you can just go to the freezer and microwave a turkey meatball for your little friend. and it lasts for weeks.
redtegu, i have a b&w tegu that looks like it is exactly the same size/age as your red. mine is also very nervous and skittish and likes to hide when he is outside his enclosure. BUT i think the best think for us (both having nervous baby tegus) is to take it out to feed. my hopes are that, as he gets older and smarter he will learn that theres no danger outside his tank. i feel bad too, when i try to take him out and he doesnt want to come out, but i think they will get used to it as they grow. if i'm wrong, someone better let me know! good luck
(i've been using one of my shirts as his hide and lately he's shows interest in me when i open the top of his enclosure)
if he is eating that many pinkies then he is ready for a fuzzie maybe a hopper (I can't see his exact size) there isn't much nutrition in a pinkie.
from what I read he is lacking in nutrition + UVB. therefore not shedding well. does he have a moist hide ? did you try crickets, roaches, scrambled or hard boiled egg, raw meats such as turkey, chicken, lamb, or venison, liver, hearts, gizzards.
speaking for myself I have waisted a good amount of food on some picky tegus. their diet changes as they grow. how long have you had your tegu ?
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