Monitors & Tegu's

[Ian.g]

Originally Posted by Chuckwalla

Hiy Ian
ARe you using chick as well,
My big male will woolf down chick, usually I dont give one food source, I usually mix the bowl, such as chick & scrambled egg, mince & spratt etc,
If they leave anything in the bowl, the next day they dont get fed,

i haven`t got any chicks in at the moment...but will be getting some in next weekend (my male ivory bull snake is being a swine and not taking rodents at the moment) so i will add chicks to the diet too...as for leaving stuff in the bowl, it took me around 4 days to get the amounts right...i think i was over-estimating her appetite a bit, and she was leaving almost half of everything i was giving .....i must admit (probably due to her size) she is much more interested in the meaty foods and egg than the roaches to be honest, she loves the chace but when she catches them she seems to enjoy killing them more than actually eating them lol...they are pretty cat like in their ways IMO well she is anyway, she seems to enjoy playing with the roaches...grabs them, gives them a little crunch (just enough to disable them) and then follows them around as they try to escape...poor things! i actually feel sorry for them

[Chuckwalla]

Originally Posted by Ian.g

i haven`t got any chicks in at the moment...but will be getting some in next weekend (my male ivory bull snake is being a swine and not taking rodents at the moment) so i will add chicks to the diet too...as for leaving stuff in the bowl, it took me around 4 days to get the amounts right...i think i was over-estimating her appetite a bit, and she was leaving almost half of everything i was giving .....i must admit (probably due to her size) she is much more interested in the meaty foods and egg than the roaches to be honest, she loves the chace but when she catches them she seems to enjoy killing them more than actually eating them lol...they are pretty cat like in their ways IMO well she is anyway, she seems to enjoy playing with the roaches...grabs them, gives them a little crunch (just enough to disable them) and then follows them around as they try to escape...poor things! i actually feel sorry for them

Sounds like she is having fun then, and she would only be inquisitive if she was happy and her conditions were correct.

[Ian.g]

Originally Posted by Chuckwalla

Sounds like she is having fun then, and she would only be inquisitive if dhe was happy and her conditions were correct.

oh she is deffinately inquisitive when the mood takes her...i already need to re-think the water bowl/bath...she has tipped the large litter tray twice already the little mare! ...you can hear her banging around in there at night usually an hour or two before lights out (herp room is next to living room)...she is certainly arranging things to how SHE wants them!...looks a right mess in there now lol...still like you say, as long as she is happy.

[Chuckwalla]

Hiya bud
Take the litter try out, and get one of the large plastic underbed storeage tubs theyre great and hold quite a lot of water, but if she is still small put a rock or log outside the tub and inside the tub for her to get in and out easily, she will not be able to tip that over

[Ian.g]

Originally Posted by Chuckwalla

Hiya bud
Take the litter try out, and get one of the large plastic underbed storeage tubs theyre great and hold quite a lot of water, but if she is still small put a rock or log outside the tub and inside the tub for her to get in and out easily, she will not be able to tip that over

good thinking! cheers mate...will have a look for a good sized one next weekend

[sam gamgee]

Originally Posted by kimmie86

see this is why i love the hands on advice, cause i could read all the info about tegu's yet the advice from the owners is the stuff thats worth its weight in gold. Cheers everyone!!

Agreed......and Chuckwalla, good idea to not offer food next day if they dont, er, clean the plate, so to speak!!
Commonsense, simple and effective (I hope.......!)

Dave.

[Dan Bristow]

Originally Posted by kimmie86

hey all...im in shock today...my tegu is still a fussy eating have managed to persuade him to eat a few strawberries..but nothing substantial so i will be trying the meatloaf tommorrow..So i thought i would ring the rep shop i got him from...oh my god...basically told me they dont feed their tegu's fruit and veg. They feed them cat food,and they have a high diet of mice/rats....

oh and apparently i have my temps wrong, and that its too cold in his viv..
my temps are hot end 95 cool end 85 basking 114/115.

please tell me have i got this wrong but i ve done a lot of research and listenand absorbed a lot of info of you guys...no i dont know everything.

I was putting him not eating down to it still being a new place, not that the strawberries. kiwi, banana, and veg was alien to him..

Sorry but he will not be getting cat food off me!!

your temps look fine. also a good tip i got off varnyard herps(bobby hill is a big american tegu breeder) give cod liver oil once every 2 weeks. one tablespoon.either mix it with turkey or dip the back end of rodents in it. it gives them all the vits fruit would and helps massively with shedding. can buy it from tesco/pharmacys etc. reason i know is my tegu will not eat anything bar rats,a bit of cubed turky and some tilapia fish. i had tried everything to get him to change but to no avail-and before i get given ways to try, i mean it,ive tried everything!!thats why contacted bobby and he said he has quite a few like that too and as long as they are getting whole food items along with the cod liver oil he says he notices no difference between them and the fruit eating ones....oh and another thing,this time of year your tegu may be slowing down regardless of temps. mine does it every year-hardly moves or eats even though temps are same ,then in spring time he goes back to his usual greedy self!

[kimmie86]

thanks cause i ve offered him mice, pilchard, prawn, salmon, crickets, locust tonight,and he just dont want none of it, he licked the cod liver off the pilchard but went back to sleep!! Im trying to get hold of a poop sample to take the vets!!

[Dan Bristow]

Originally Posted by kimmie86

thanks cause i ve offered him mice, pilchard, prawn, salmon, crickets, locust tonight,and he just dont want none of it, he licked the cod liver off the pilchard but went back to sleep!! Im trying to get hold of a poop sample to take the vets!!

just leave him completely alone for a few days(like 4 days) bar misting and water changes. he'll be fine. if he still wont eat and isnt loosing too much weight id put it down to the time of year. it used to worry me like mad when mine first did it but now id be worried if he didnt do it!!

[kimmie86]

cool will try it. Like i said i ve only had him over a week. but cheers for the advice.