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View Full Version : Tegu - eating without us seeing?



Leezard
12-28-2004, 06:56 PM
Ok - I thought our tegu hasn't been eating at all. I figured the food we had been giving to him had just been shrivleing up, or getting lost - lol.

So - we gave him a couple of crix, and they were missing. I figured we just didn't see them.

So - we tried worms last night - meal worms. We woke up after putting 10 in the tank, and 8 of them were missing. We were out of the room for like 2 minutes - and 1 of them was left!!

Is he just sneaking out and eating when we aren't looking? There is NO way those meal worms snuck out on of the food dish - it's huge in comparison to our beardie dishes!!

So - I'm at work now, but we gave him some cook burger meat before we left for work (everyone is out of crix, or we would be feeding crix) I'm wondering how much will be gone when I get home!!

Leezard
12-28-2004, 06:56 PM
Oh - by the way, he has shed once since we got him now.

John
12-28-2004, 07:00 PM
Nice to see he's starting to settle in for you! I've had mine a few weeks now and he hasn't shed yet. Just pounding food. Keep us updated!

P.S. I work during the day on a computer so I'm always here!

Leezard
12-28-2004, 07:12 PM
I guess I'm just nervous now that I haven't been feeding him enough - knowing he hasn't been eating!! Do you actually see yours eating? I've seen mine drink water - but mine hides most of the time :( I've had him since the beginning of November.

John
12-28-2004, 07:32 PM
How long have you had it? How big is he? Maybe Try a fuzzy or hopper mouse. Mine took approx 2 weeks to really settle in and start eatting well. Now he will take the food from my hand (at times, he still isn't real into it). I don't reccomend this practice as they have very large teeth and powerful jaws that can do a ton of damage. I have a habit of hand feeding everything including the 10 1/2ft male retic I had. Anyways I'll be switching him over to a bowl as of tomorrow (his next feeding). As far as him eatting in front of me, he has always done that. He really watches me but I feel he trusts me now. He's never ran from me (except for our outside experience) and doesn't get deffensive. I feed him mainly f/t mice which he loves dearly!

Leezard
12-28-2004, 07:43 PM
I'll measure him soon - but last I checked he was over 1 foot.

He seems healthy - active when we take him out, runs when we try to take him out - lol - but very tame at the same time.

How could he sneak away and eat like that? I mean we were literally out of the room for at the most 2 minutes and another meal worm was gone!

John
12-28-2004, 07:50 PM
a meal worm is a quick meal. When you do watch him eat make sure to keep still. That really seems to help especially with stobborn snakes.

Leezard
12-28-2004, 09:08 PM
What I think is funny - is that we don't see him before - or after. The food just "disappears" :?

John
12-28-2004, 09:49 PM
with babies. My first which I've only had a few weeks was purchased as a 2ft juvie. I'm currently looking at picking up a pair of albino het snows from Ron and Stella which would be my first experience with babies. Anyways Good luck with him! or Her!

Rick
12-28-2004, 11:49 PM
My tegus eat inside the enclosure, on the couch, on my shoulder, in the car, on the floor, hell.. I could velcro them upside down from the ceiling and if you held a food item (hopper, cricket, superworm, etc) up there they would take it. Looking, not looking, touching, holding.. doesn't matter. Food is food and they want it if they see it. :)

I can drop in a hopper and before it bounces one of the tegus will have it in their mouth.

Tila (my daughters tegu) wasn't like this when we got her. She was at the pet store in a tank with crickets all over and she had no interest in them. I think she was stressed out. It took her a month to build a feeding response like Tux has.

Rick
theTegu.com

Leezard
12-29-2004, 02:44 PM
So perhaps I shouldn't worry?

I offered him a f/t pinky yesterday. Wouldn't touch it.

I saw him peek out on his own a little bit yesterday, so maybe he's coming around.

Like I said - he ate some meal worms - so I know he's eating!!

I guess I should start looking for a herp vet in my area.

John
12-29-2004, 03:06 PM
Leaving the pinkie in overnight. It will smell the next day, well that is if he doesn't eat it. It just may work!

Leezard
12-29-2004, 05:15 PM
I did leave it in overnight. No luck. Well - it's still in there, so we'll see when we get home!

FutureVet
12-30-2004, 01:58 AM
hi there,

The first time I fed a f/t mouse, I dropped it in there and Tessa freaked out and ran away. Then i grabbed it with some tongs and moved it around and dropped it in front of her, immediate response! She was fed live before, so the moving the mouse around helped with the response. The last mouse I fed she just dived after it right after I dropped it in the cage. I've had her about 2 1/2 weeks now. She is still shy and skittish around me, she has been shedding the past 2 days and is starting to look really nice. She does love to eat though. I drop crickets or worms in one at a time and watch her eat them, this way I know she is eating them. She won't eat anything out of her bowl, she kind of ignores it. lol One problem I had was that the worms would burrow in the substrate and get lost, this is why I started feeding one at a time. Anyways, try the wiggling thing with the mouse to make it look live, it may work like it did Tessa. Good luck!
:) ~Christie

Leezard
12-30-2004, 03:10 PM
I already tryed wiggling the mouse in front of him/her. He just freaks out and runs away.

I thought he was eating the worms, but we found about 8 of the 10 still in the tank. I dropped 3 crix in yesterday - and I'm hoping he will eat them.

I think our dogs may be stressing him out - so I'm going to clean out our office today, and get him in there. Perhaps he'll eat better without the constant distractions of the dogs. Or, I could perhaps put him in the dining room - where the dogs aren't alloud. That's where I previously had my snake.

I'm trying everything!! We've had him for well over a month now!

Rick
12-30-2004, 03:25 PM
Have you tried small bits of hard boiled egg? (I don't recall if I asked this) or perhaps small bits of banana?

Most tegus seems to like this more then anything else. This may not be true for all tegus, but works well for most.

This is not a long term fix, but if you get something into its stomach it will help. Once it it starts eating and gets the taste for something you can rub it on the food you want it to eat (pinkies/crickets).

Rick
theTegu.com