Tegu only eats fuzzies... should I be concerned?

[03venom]

My red argentine will only eat fuzzy mice, she is very active... drinks... everything. However I can't get her to eat ground turkey, fruits, etc. Only mice... she loves mice, I know this is good for her bones... but should I be otherwise worried that she isn't eating anything else? She eats a mice everyday.

[txrepgirl]

It is very important for the Tegu to eat different things. Tegus can go without food for a while. I would not give her any rodents for a few days but try to offer her some ground turkey, hard boiled eggs ( cooled down ), fresh fish filets ( without any growth hormones in it ), chicken hearts or gizzards, chicken or beef liver. All raw at room temps. When she is hungry enough she will eat what you give her. You also can try to put some fruit/veggie baby food ( you can make home made baby food, too ) in a syringe ( without the needle ) and put the baby food in the frozen/thawed rodents mouth ( gut load the rodent ). This way she will not taste the fruit and will more likely eat it. Please keep us posted. Are you sprinkling any vitamine powder on the rodent ? If she doesn't get any fruits her white blood count could be low.

[Anthony]

My argentine black and white was also picky at one point. He only ate meat. I tried lots of things I read in the forums and care sheets to get him to eat fruit to no avail. Then one day, I was feeding my blue tongue skink with a puree of apple, chicken meat, green veggies, banana, grapes, and various other things, all put into a food processor and ground into a paste, so that nothing can be picked out. It was ground to the point it looked like thick paste and can be slowly poured. I made extra and I decided to give it to the tegu, and he ate it! He even tried to eat the plate it was on, and wouldn't let go when I tried to take the plate away. I was surprised of this because I had already tried to make a puree to get him to eat fruit before, and he wouldn't even touch it. Back then I used chicken, papaya and grapes as the ingredient but he wouldn't eat it. I don't know why he ate it the second time with the different ingredients. Well, since that time, he has been willing to eat fruits, even without pureeing it. I give him chunks of banana and whole seedless grapes, apple cut into small pieces etc. and he eates them. Even kiwi fruit that I cut into small pieces he will eat. Make sure you cut them small enough so it can't choke on the food though, especially hard food like apple.

[the enigma]

Maybe you could try scenting the food item you want it to eat with mouse scent. This works for snakes maybe it will work for your Tegu.

[03venom]

Thanks guys, I will try gut loading the mice (good idea btw... never thought of that). Just a few more questions I have... when providing raw meat with the heat lamp it begins to stink up my room rather bad so I will replace it with new food. Is she more apt to eat the smelly raw food, or is it safe to say if she is awake and hasnt eaten it for a few hrs she isnt going to eat it at all?

And my other question being this... assuming none of thise works and I can only get her to eat mice and maybe one or two other things, besides mice what is the most essential food for the tegu that I should try to get her eating?

- No I do not dust the mice, I was under the impression that this could result in too much calcium. Should I do so?

[Nero557]

For you tegu, feeding just mice is definitely a problem. First off, they are missing out on many nutrients, it would be like you eating pizza every day, you will live, but you will be unhealthy and probably shorten your life span quite a bit. A varied diet is best. Along with the fruits and veggies you can try fish, crayfish/crawdads, chickens, quail, beef heart, roaches, crickets, hornworms, superworms, silkworms, wax worms, etc. Also, with the high volume of mice as a diet, your tegu will eventually have problems with all of the fur, and could get impacted. Also, mice tend to be fatty, which is fine once in a while, but after a lot of fatty foods your tegu will experience other problems associated with a high fat diet.

I would definitely work on getting your tegu to eat something else. Stop the mice for a while and about every other day, or every day, offer different foods to see if your tegu will try. Like said above, eventually your tegu will get hungry and eat what's presented to it. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Also don't be worried about your tegu starving, he can go without food for quite a while. I'd probably say after about a week, give a mouse or so and then start over again, although i know for a fact he can go longer than that.

[03venom]

Thanks, I gave her some grapes tonight... she got curious looked in the bowl then walked away.

What about some live small goldfish?

[Nero557]

I would highly advise against goldfish. They are horrible feeders. Not much nutrients, not to mention usually full of parasites and other diseases. By fish I meant go to the market and in the fish section you can usually get whole fish.

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[txrepgirl]

Your welcome. It was the vitamine powder not the calcium powder that you should put on the rodents . I don't recommend giving your Tegu any live fish. You never know if they are sick or have parasites or other problems ( like mentioned above ). I always get my fresh fish filets from the super market, too. I put it in some hot water for a few minutes so it's not going to be to cold for the Tegu.

[03venom]

Ok, thanks guys. I will pick up some fish from the market... any specific kind?

As far as gutloading the mice goes... even when I do get her to a "well-balanced" diet I would still like her to get as much nutrients as possible so what do you guys recommend I got load them with(as far as fruits are concerned?)