Wild Game and Seafood

[Fins&Scales]

Hello to all, I'm new here and also to the tegu world.
Mainly a boa guy but had monitors before Savannas, golden Col. & BW Col tegus. Didn't really get in to it as much as i am now. Went back to the serpents for the past 18 years.


Recently got an Arg. Red in a trade, very laid back.
Young though about 15-16 in from tip to tip. I'm an avid fisherman and hunter, wing shooter mainly(ducks,dove)
Not too many big deer down here in S FL. Hogs different story.

Anyway, would it be acceptable to give my little guy the dove, duck hearts and other fleshy innards, maybe a chopped up breast. I have been reading on here they eat fish and seafood as well? I always have fresh fish and seafood. How about lobster, shrimp, clams?(yep, we catch those here too, gotta love S FL's variety)
As you can tell variety isn't a problem, just don't want to make him sick.
I haven't tried ground turkey yet, that's today. Keeping my fingers crossed, he eats it. Going to pick up some gizzards too.

He has been with me for a few weeks now. Eats calcium dusted super worms off tongs, crickets and hopper mice. Mice I'm offering 2-3 times a week. Incects are just left overs from my fat tail geckos.

Any suggestions or comments will be greatly appreciated

I will post in the other sections about his/her living conditions

Thanks for your time
Bobby

[bubblz]

Hi :D welcome to the site,.. and congrats on the addition.

The biggest issue with feeding fresh wild game and seafood is parasites. We freeze and or cook our food so its not much of a problem for us but should be fed raw to tegus. Yes they have stronger digestive enzymes than we do but certain parasites are designed for that.

If you do it with out freezing anything first I would keep a close eye on its weight, appetite and poop.

[Fins&Scales]

Thank you. Will do on the doo doo :)
I remember back in culinary school the parasites associated with wild game and other meats.

I'm going to try feeding outside the cage, next session. Hopefully it won't be a problem.

[nordica]

Yeah, any parasites would be my only concern, but once you address that, the variety will be AMAZING for him. :)

[HernandosMom]

Especially with regard to freshwater fish and wild small mammals, freezing may not be enough to eliminate some pretty serious parasites. I don't know about how freezing might work for game birds. Removing the stomach and intestines might be an additional safety measure. On the fish, check the skin, especially around the gills, lips and eyes, for anchor worms (not sure if that's an accurate name). If you see any visible parasite, don't feed any portion of it to your pets.

Rather than feeding lobster straight to your lizards, just pack those things up nice and cold, alive, and mail them to me please, and I will inspect whether or not they are worthy of a tegu, and dispose of them if not.;):grin: Seriously, shellfish may be experimenting a bit far afield even for these little omnivores. Lots of humans acquire a severe allergy or sensitivity to certain naturally occurring chemicals in some shellfish, so you might want to proceed with extreme caution. Not likely their systems evolved to handle that.

Now, tegus aside, I really want to encourage you to shoot as many of those wild hogs as you can. They are very tasty, much better than their farm-raised cousins. And they are non-native destroyers of both natural habitats and agricultural lands. If they don't dig up the crops and eat them, they pollute the food with e.coli and worse. And they destroy the nesting areas of the game birds. And they are, unfortunately, not threatened or endangered. Perfect for hunting! :grin::grin:

[Fins&Scales]

I'll probably just stick with fish and some wild game.

Hogs- yeah plenty around the state, here. My sister called me when heading back up to school in central FL, she said she saw a couple small dogs on the side of the road, walking down a dirt road near her. As she got closer, 4 little piglets.

Lobster- or as we call them "Bugs" maybe we can work something out, remember it's just the tail you eat. So it would be cheaper just to overnight just the tails.
That would be, good trade out some seafood for a new goo.
I have gotten some nice boas over the years by trading out my landscaping & tree services. :)

[txrepgirl]

Hi Bobby. You got some very good advice from the others :) . I also would make sure not to feed the fish to often because of the high mercury. If you give him some fish I wouldn't use any of the skin.

[Fins&Scales]

Happy 4th of July to all!! Have a safe holiday.

Working on things he will and won't eat. Anything with fowl in it loves it.
Fish and seafood not too much.
Reminds me of my pythons, had to dip the rat in chicken broth for any response.

Have a great and safe holiday.

[nordica]

I wonder if he'll take to fish if it's dipped in chicken broth... ;)

[Dana C]

Since parasites in fowl and mammals are usually found in the gut, I wouldn't worry to much about venison meat, heart and liver. The same goes for duck heart, liver and gizzards. I feed my guys a mixture of turkey, beef heart, gizzards both chicken and goose if I am given some, ground venison, beef liver or chicken liver. If I can find a really lean piece of beef like rump roast on sale I will buy it, trim all the fat off. I slice and dice it and it goes into the food processor to add to the mix.
As for fish, I have a Tilapia hatchery close so I buy small tilapia, remove the heads and into the food processor they go. I remove the scales by the way. Occasionally, raw shrimp unpeeled can be given.
Your access to wild pig would be great as it is very lean.

[jtrux]

I think catching your own is a great idea, I have lots of creeks near me where I can place a trip for a few days and come back and collect the bounty. Would be a great way to add variety and save a little coin. Crawfish are easily caught as well on the banks of most creeks, lakes and ponds near me.