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jugde_matt
03-13-2006, 12:03 AM
what do you perfer?? and why?

i have been told that dead is safer and animals would be more tame than if feed live, is this true?

holygouda
03-13-2006, 12:38 AM
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 It seems the idea of feeding live rodents is becoming a little outdated.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. :)

Teiidae
03-13-2006, 12:52 AM
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 :wink:

yeaitsdave
03-13-2006, 02:58 AM
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.

Astigma
03-13-2006, 05:04 AM
what ever the pet store has preflaby live

austonhorst
03-13-2006, 05:44 AM
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.

Johelian
03-13-2006, 10:00 AM
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?

Teiidae
03-13-2006, 01:41 PM
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...

yeaitsdave
03-14-2006, 04:28 AM
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.

nnajda
02-14-2008, 07:00 AM
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.

txrepgirl
02-14-2008, 03:22 PM
I feed my Tegus frozen/thawed rodents,too.Check out this site if you want to.

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_01.asp

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.

Rick
02-14-2008, 10:27 PM
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. :P

Rick

GOT_TEGUS01
02-15-2008, 03:16 AM
:D 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 :D

HaskovoPunch
08-01-2008, 05:25 AM
I now prefer Pre-Killed rodents they wont harm your animal and they dont harbor parasites like live ones do.

Angelrose
08-01-2008, 06:06 AM
pre-kill, f/t are better for many reasons.

kjphoto04
08-04-2008, 01:44 AM
I have been breeding rats as feeders for my snakes. I am wondering what would be best to feed them or just buying F/T for my new tegu? What would be the best way to kill them? Right now I am taking them and whacking them off of something.

meanah
08-04-2008, 02:26 AM
haha nice.. if u wanted u could make a gas chamber. get a plastic tub with a good locking lid.. and drill a small hole in it then run like a macro line from a paint ball gun or some sort of line from a CO2 tank and gas them it will put them to sleep then they will die.. painlessly.

txrepgirl
08-04-2008, 04:50 AM
Here is some info for you.Hope that helps.

http://rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_01.asp

worldeater
08-04-2008, 05:02 PM
also, a cardboard or plastic box with a small pile of dry ice in one corner does it aswell.