my tegu not a fan of the crickets...

Discussion in 'Monitors & Tegus' started by JustMe, Jan 27, 2005.

  1. JustMe

    JustMe Embryo

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    I tried to feed my gold tegu today some crickets, but apperantly he didn't like them...i just put 2 in to test it out, but that was a no go...so i just placed 2 fuzzies in the enclosure hopefully the 2 crickets in there do not distract my tegu from eating the fuzzies (i'll have to figure out how to find them and get them out later tonight after work)...i tried some feeder fish yesterday too and nothing...so far my conclusions are that my tegu will eat pinkies, fuzzies, and egg yolk. I might try some turkey or ham and see if that works, but is it ok to keep feeding him fuzzies? I don't want to get him sick of eating fuzzies, b/c then i'm down to minimum food choices for him..
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    ground turkey is good. forget the ham. yes it is ok to keep giving him fuzzies. montiors and tegus rarely get sick of eating rodents for some reason
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. varanus_rex

    varanus_rex Embryo

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    i have 2 monitors that are partial to a variety of foods. most tegus and monitors will eat just about anything but not partial to crickets. they r meateaters and scavengers in the wild. i feed mine shrimp, some cheap steaks u can usually find in the discount section in gro store, eggs, fish, of course mice and rats, if u really want to treat them they will also eat small birds. just have to experiment and see what he likes though. as saying goes different strokes for different folks. there is a wide variety to choose from. but please no raw chicken. only cooked
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. JustMe

    JustMe Embryo

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    i tried to give him some shrimp but apparently, he doesn't like that too much either...lol...i'm telling you, he's the pickiest eater i've every seen...i even tried a little sliced turkeym which he bit and then just dragged off of the plate and that was the end of that...tomorrow it'll be some ground turkey, hopefully he likes that...maybe my problem is that i'm I am switching the food out too fast, i see that he's not eating it and then 30min or an hour later I switch the food to something he will like...do you think maybe I should the leave the food in there until he eats some of it? or should I know right away whether he'll eat it or not? (because when i put egg in the enclosure, he runs straight to it and eats it...) Thanks for all the info thus far...
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    most will not eat shrimp, unless they are a water loving type of monitor/tegu, such as a water monitor. what you can do is mix an egg with ground turkey and that should get him to eat. slowly ween him off of eggs and feed him just the turkey. try feeding him rodents. they will rarely refuse rodents, i think it is because they taste the blood when they bite into the animal
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. JustMe

    JustMe Embryo

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    should I cook the ground turkey? or raw?
     
  12. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    leave it raw, just put some calcium powder with it
     
  13. CornSnakeBabe

    CornSnakeBabe Embryo

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    My tegu doesn't like crickets either but...

    My tegu is pretty lazy and he doesn't bother chasing crickets anymore. I think because they are quick and its takes so many now to make a decent sized meal for him.

    Because I know insects are an important part of a young (and adult) tegus diet, my boyfriend crushes up our crickets in a little water and takes a syringe without the needle (you can buy them in the old-people section at a pharmacy) and stuffs a defrosted fuzzy with the stuff. we also stuff fuzzies with grated veggies, fertilized egg yolk, and Wellness brand wet catfood. (just to let ya know, wellness is an excellent brand-it is nearly all human-grade meat as opposed to cheap wet cat foods that are 25% animal-parts. wellness also has stuff like apples, cranberries, garlic, potatoes, and such in it...its in a different league than fancy feast or sheba.) I like to give my tegu a bite of the wellness cat food whenever I get the chance (once every 2 weeks?) because its nutrition-packed but nothing compares to a full-animal as a meal like a bird, fish, or mouse.
     
  14. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    insects arent really that important, its that they are easy to digest for a tegu/monitor and that is why they are fed to young. Please get rid of the cat food, no matter how high quality it is, it is not meant for any herp to eat.
     
  15. Danac

    Danac New Member

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    My Tegu occasionally gets cooked chicken liver, (high in iron etc.), fish based cat food, (lots of calcium from crushed bones), egg, crickets, some fruit.
    By the way, quality cat food is ground up mammals and fish....very much like live, only cooked and ground up. If you go to Agama, the worlds best authority you will find that they feed a little cat food as well. Ron St. Pierre does as well and he breeds beautiful Tegus. In fact, some cat food is more balanced than turkey burger and some of the things people feed their monitors and Tegus.
     
  16. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    but most cat foods also contain high amounts of fat and that is no good for tegus. as for the chicken liver, almost all tegus/monitors seem to love it
     
  17. JustMe

    JustMe Embryo

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    chicken liver huh? i may need to try that...by the way klik my tegu loved that ground turkey idea...
     
  18. KLiK

    KLiK Well-Known Member

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    good to hear
     

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